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Family As Characters by Santa
Family is very important to me and, interestingly enough, to my stories. They play very important parts as both a solid unit and as the individuals that make up that particular unit. In my first book my heroine, Melissa, is raised by her Uncle Lou and Aunt Stella. It was at their knees that she learned about food and love and how the two are related. Lou and Stella are larger than life. They live the joy in their lives in an infectious manner.
Uncle Lou and Aunt Stella were important to Melissa and Jake’s story. Melissa still needed their guidance and wisdom even when she had achieved all her career goals and was living her dream of owning her own restaurant, publishing cookbooks. She had it all – except for love. Jake was the missing ingredient in her life and it her aunt and uncle played a large role in getting her embrace that.
Here’s a glimpse of how Uncle Lou and Aunt Stella live as they love. Melissa stops by their house to ask her uncle a favor.
They opened the back door and found Uncle Lou bent over at the waist, tying some tomato plants to their frames. His movements were a little slower than they used to be as he unfolded himself to his full height of five feet. His jet-black hair had gone silver in the intervening years, but his coal-black eyes still gleamed mischievously. His voice still had the same boom as he turned to greet them.
“Now isn’t that a pretty picture. Never have I seen such beauties before!”
“Oh, Lou!” Stella smiled, still blushing at his words as he bussed a kiss on her temple, enveloping them both in an embrace.
“What brings you all the way out here, Mellie?”
“I just wanted to come by to say hello and to ask a favor of you.”
“Anything for you, cara. What do you need?”
“Well, I think I’d like to have you act as host at the restaurant. I think people would love to see a familiar face and the tourists would really enjoy having a charmer like you greet them at the door. What do you say?”
“Yes, well, I’ll have to think about it,” replied her uncle scratching his head.
“What’s to think about, old man?” Bellowed her aunt, eyes narrowing in on her uncle, hands fisted on her hips. “Your niece here is asking for your help. What are you going to say? NO?”
“Take it easy, Stella! I just said I was going to think about it! I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do it!”
“The man’s crazy! Melissa it’s a great idea. It would get him out of the house and out of my hair for a few hours a night. A woman has to have her alone time with a good book and a soak in the tub. He’s cramping my style.” Aunt Stella blustered, the twinkle in her green eyes belying the tone of her voice.
“Come inside with me, Mellie. I’ll make us a nice tall glass of iced espresso, va bene?”
“Sorry, I have to get going.” From the corner of her eye she could see her uncle cross himself while pleading his case to the heavens.
“LOU!” Stella yelled out the door, “Mellie’s leaving. Come and say goodbye.”
”Well, cara. We are both so excited for you. I see only great things coming from this. I’m getting one of my feelings.”
“Don’t listen to her, he uncle begged her, “One of her feelings usually means she has indigestion.”
“Stop that!” Stella yelled, playfully swatting him in the arm. He looped his arm around her and gave her a big, sloppy kiss to stop her from bickering any further.
These people make sense to me. Lou and Stella are in love and their love is so simple and so strong. They provide a perfect mirror to what is possible when one opens oneself up to loving and being loved.
In my second novel, tentatively titled No Soup For You, Val’s family an eccentric, eclectic group embraces his fake fiancé, Nola, as one of their own. Nola and Val’s family are artists at heart with entrepreneurial souls. In a way, their crafts are what fuel their successes. Val has yet to learn this secret and so spends his life in a straight forward path to success. Straight forward meaning dull and lifeless in their eyes.
The following is Nola’s first introduction to Val’s family. They mistakenly think Nola is engaged to Val. This rouse provides the perfect cover for Val who feels that if his family thinks he’s in love, they will leave him alone to pursue his career.
Nola took in a deep, cleansing breath as Val reached for the front door knob. She found her exhaling breath squeezed out of her by two tree limbs that came around her crushing her to a barrel chest. Rapid fire Russian sprang up over her head. Her meow of pain brought the crush-fest to a halt.
She smiled weakly at the handsome visage of Val’s father. If she had age progression programming, Val’s father represented what Val would look like twenty years from now. Great! His looks like fine wine would age wonderfully with time. If she was smart, she’d run like the wind. If she was smart, she would turn herself over to the authorities and confess her transgressions.
Too bad she’d never been too terribly bright.
‘Come in. Come in.’ cupping her face in his hands. ‘Val, what a gorgeous face. I must paint it. Natasha – get my paints.’
Val’s father chuckled as he propelled her into the living room. It was huge and it was packed. The room had built in bookcases chock full of everything imaginable. It was as if a museum collided with a research library and landed in New Jersey. Dusty tomes that looked as if they’d been catalouged by Alexander the Great were piled atop what looked to be encrusted petree dishes.
‘NO PAINTS! I just cleaned the living room out.’ Came a determined voice form the kitchen. Val’s mother came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a dishtowel. Nola held out her hand. Smiling, she reached for Nola’s hand, only to drag her into yet another spine crushing hug. Who knew that a woman who barely topped five feet and walked like fairy-like could be so strong.
‘Cleaned it out? Where am I going to paint? I must have the light in the living room to paint.’
‘What’s wrong with the light in the back? Didn’t we build it for you to paint.’
‘I don’t like that light. It no longer speaks to me.’
‘So change the light bulb.’ She quibbed.
Val’s parents are electric and alive to me. They are driving forces in the story and need to be reigned in on occasion but the story wouldn’t move forward without them in it.
There are many other families who’s stories have drawn me to them. Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton had us returning again and again to reach each sibling’s story. One of the best parts for me was seeing most of the siblings together again in each novel. It was like seeing relatives you love but don’t get to see very often. Eloisa James’ Essex sisters were four ladies whose stories made us laugh and cry and fall in love with each book. Stephanie Lauren’s Cynsters have managed to keep thousands enthralled. Some of my favorite contemporary families keep me coming back for more. Chief among my favorites are Nora Roberts’ McKades, Lisa Kleypas’ Travis family (delish) and Christina Dodd’s Manly brothers and who can forget those Wilders!
I’ve just named a few and shared with you a glimpse into my fictional families. Do you have any family favorites among romances? Do families figure in at all in your own writing?
Books by the Crew
29 comments:
I loved the Bridgertons as well.
Going a little further back, Jude Deveraux's Montgomerys and Taggerts. They were definitely some great families. Still are when she uses them in her stories though it's been a little while I think.
I haven't really used families in my fiction stories. And I'm not sure my next story has a family dynamic either. We'll see though....
I *miss* the Bridgertons. And I loved the Essex girls. Recently I was introduced to Balogh's family...oh, what were they called? The one with the stuffy Duke who had the monocle...and they were all kinda loud? The Bedwins?
Agree with Marn: I loved the Taggerts and the Montgomerys! *LOL* Cut my teeth on them. Those were some MANLY men.
I love Lindsey's Malory family.
The families I also seem to adore in my reading, and I hope to see in my writing, are the families that are made. Those groups of characters that bond into a unit and choose to be together call out to me and I love that they are usually polar opposites.
I'm enjoying Kleypas' Hathaway family and I'm tempted to revisit some of my favorite authors because, in a large part, they wrote some wonderful families. Most mentioned already, Julie Garwood and Jude Devereaux come to mind. I also loved Lindsey's Malory family. Like Hellie, I cut my teeth on these favorites. But, while I love families in my romances, when I see a family history tree at the beginning it makes me groan! Then I'll still probably dive in - - but make sure I'm starting at the beginning! As a kid, I wrote out HUGE family histories myself and expect everyone to know them. *picture handing out scripts to my playmates* LOL
In my own writing family plays a big part. Last week I was just thinking what a useful secondary character the sister of my hero was to my story, both for characterization of the hero and heroine and as a sort of "errand girl" for the plot. But not any "friend" will do. It's the brother/sister dynamic and that bond that forms when they are the only family either of them have. As the sister to the hero, she saw her big brother as a hero first. Just the fact that she likes the heroine and thought her worthy of her brother I think makes the heroine more likable. And as the sister, she also grieves the death of her brother (ghost hero) and that makes her open minded and even a little jealous that the heroine still has a connection to the hero.
Yep, family plays a huge part in how I see the hero and heroine develop. They are a product of their environment.
I loved the Bridgertons. I also loved Suzanne Enoch's Griffins, and Victoria Alexander's Effingtons.
I tend to kill my families off. :) So I guess they are important. I'm learning though. Typically my hero's family is huge and close knit. My heroine's tends to be dysfunctional with nothing to bind them together.
I think I might be the only romance reader on the planet who has not read the Bridgertons. But I've read many othes. Loved the Malory family so much, Malory is my daughter's middle name.
The Essex are wonderful, but I adore both Beverly's Mallorens and Balogh's Bedwyns. And like her or not, you can't leave out Nora's families. So many good ones, but the Irish ones might be my favorite. I know she has families from her ealier series that I've yet to read, but Janga raves about them. Which is good enough for me to believe they're good.
For my current WIP, when the idea first came to me well over a year ago, I had an opening scene where the hero shows up on the heroine's doorstep with her drunk sister in tow. For some reason, when I started writing it, I took the sister out. Well, that didn't last long. By page 70, the sister demanded to be included and by page 75 informed me her story was next.
I like writing the family dynamic partially because there are so many options, everyone can relate to them, and it gives a writer something besides the H/H to broaden the story. What I've learned is that it's very hard to create a simple love story with only the H/H and no outside forces (that aren't killers or really bad people. *g*)
I confess, I haven't read the Bridgerton's either and I haven't read any of Nora's families. There are and will always be huge gaps in my "what I've read" knowledge base.
it’s very hard to create a simple love story with only the H/H and no outside forces (that aren’t killers or really bad people. *g*)
You can say that again! (Or I'll just copy and paste it in. Hee. Hee. :)) I know I had too many secondary characters in my first WIP, and I've been trying to drill into my head the question of "how is this character enhancing the hero or heroine?" At first, I also had the question "how is this character advancing the plot?" but that continued to get me into trouble.
I'm with you, San. Family is central to my life, and I can't imagine writing a book that didn't include family connections. BTW, I love that museum colliding with a library image. It sounds like my kind of place.
Terri's right. I always rave about Nora's families. I've read the books with MacGregors, MacKades, Quinns, Concannons, Gallaghers, Stanislaskis, O' Hurleys, etc. so often that they seem like old friends. Susan Mallery also is good with families.
I love the Essexes, the Bridgertons, the Mallorens, the Bedwyns, and the Hathaways too--also Balogh's latest family, the Huxtables (but I wish she had used a different name. Anne Gracie's Merridew sisters are also favorites, as is the motley mix of brothers in her Devil Riders books.
Terri, you have never read a Bridgerton book? I'm speechless from shock and pity. :) But I'm envious too to think what delight awaits you when you discover them.
Just popping by very quickly to say ahoy to one and all. Thank you, Terri for posting this for me. I think I may learn how to navigate this ship on my days once I'm on vacation.
Janga, thanks for mentioning the Bedwyns. One of my all time favorite families! Not to mention all the other Roberts families.
I've gotta run back to work but will be by later.
I keep writin' orphans...though through the course a' their story, they find families. Or make families. Or even have families thrust upon them, a tactic I enjoy immensely!
I liked how Dallas and Roarke build a family. And I think the families I read in most Jennifer Crusie novels be delightful!
The Essex sisters were fun ta read, even if I did want ta reach through the pages and strangle them as they left their yougnest flounderin' about all confused 'bout sex.
I know, I know! That's the historical reality, but it still made me hand want ta slap 'em...
Janga - It's not because I don't own them. *rolls eyes* It's almost a crime how many books just linger on my bookshelves, waiting for me to get to them. If I move as I'm considering, I admit, many of these books are going to find new homes before I go. No way am I moving all these again.
But the Bridgertons, Ter! Reading them is like a course requirement for Romance 101. :)
I predict a new family will be added to many favorite families of romance list when Sara Lindsey's Promise Me Tonight hits shelves on February 2. The Westons are wonderful!
Fine, I'll keep the Bridgertons. You've guilted me into it. But lots of others are going.
K, this is totally off topic, but I get these ads in my Yahoo mail on the side and some new phone from Sony just popped up. They put this purple graphic behind it and I swear it looks like a dildo coming out of the phone.
How could all the ad people not see that? And that might be an interesting feature they should start adding to phones.
Oh, as for other question about how families figure into my writing: they don't usually. I like to make my characters pretty much as orphaned as Harry Potter. I don't mind reading about families--sometimes--but on the whole I'd rather have stories about friends who are LIKE family. Mostly I find family are people you can't get rid of and whom you would never have been friends with in the first place.
Mostly.
Saw this and thought some pirates might be interested...
Agent Irene Goodman is auctioning critiques for charity:
http://bit.ly/4ZFMwT
Sabrina - That looks like a fantastic opportunity. Oh to have something finished and ready to go. I'd love to get her feedback. I wonder how high the bidding will go.
Hellie - Do you intentionally leave family out, or does it just happen and looking back on what you write you've noticed it?
I don't do it intentionally. I notice it more when I go back. The "real stuff", the emotional stuff happens between my heroine and her friends; and her family, if she has anyone at all, it's all brief instances of stuff. No coffee talks, no insights, no hugging and Hallmark moments--so it's very much like my actual family interactions. You'll get witty stuff occasionally; and I think the father in my Girl on a Grecian Urn is sorta like my dad, in a sense...but on the whole, they're very two-dimensional. Basically a reminder that my character wasn't born in a cabbage patch, but she may have been brought to these people by aliens and that explains everything.
Every time I write Elizabeth--she does not have a family, she does not have parents. And I'm on my second version of her.
Family plays a lot of villianous stuff in my stories--they're holding the heroine back in some way. If they do something helpful--it's always a surprise.
I think for some characters, it makes sense. If I was writing two 20-something characters living in a city where they did not grow up, then it would make sense that they have no family there. Since I pretty much live this everyday (though I'm not 20-something), I know it's the case for many people.
But if I set a story in a small town and one or more of the characters grew up there, I think it would be odd if they didn't have relatives around. Unless it's explained and makes sense, totally possible.
I guess what I'm saying is it depends on the story and what it calls for in the way of family.
Well, there is family and there is family! I prefer found family, though born family usually presents the greatest challenge to a character's growth. Let's face it, we all be so helpless in the grips a blood family... And if they be payin' attention as we grow, they plant deep hooks inta us. And if they don't pay attention, the hooks still be there. Because we wonder why we weren't important enough ta garner attention!
Family really f*cks up the brain!
Though the potential be there for assistance like no other...what is that quote? With great power comes great responsibility? Well, also comes great opportunity to wreck havoc and make magic. Me 2 cents on family!
Hi! Last Chance! Not talkin' 'bout you, ya know...
I’d rather have stories about friends who are LIKE family...
Family plays a lot of villianous stuff in my stories–they’re holding the heroine back in some way. If they do something helpful–it’s always a surprise.
I feel the same about both statements. I can also relate to creating "family" and that my fictional characters' family interactions have similarities with my own family. The holidays always bring this up since my blood family doesn't celebrate holidays but my son and I spend them with friends. And it was with friends that I left my son with for a month last year when I moved to find work.
Family is whoever you can count on. My characters always seem to have to figure that out and find that "traditional" families aren't perfect either.
I find, when creatin' a character, givin' them less family makes it easier ta see them form attachments free a' obligation. I had this debate wit' a friend 'bout vampires and the angst I could imagine as family died and they were all alone. They'd have ta form found family or jus' go nuts.
I have a couple who have a sort a' immortality thrust upon them and they struggle wit' makin' and maintainin' contacts... They need family/friends/support or they will sink inta despair... It ain't natural ta live forever, ta see yer children die afore ya...
I think the idea a' family plays an important part when yer dickerin' about wit' immortality.
Family is whoever you can count on.
I think this sums up why I'm willing to claim Dad as family and neither of my siblings.
Maybe that's why I don't bother with most anyone I'm blood related to.
When you talk about family that is more friends who become like family, I always think of Beverly's Rogues series. And I think Putney's Fallen Angels series is similar. These are men who would die for each other and their bonds are stronger than most any blood family you can find.
Great blog, Santa! I love families and am always drawn to stories that center around them. I am also very fond of the family atmosphere created by really close friendships.
My personal experience is with lots and lots of family and I'm very close with my sisters and cousins. They are my closest friends. So that is the kind of dynamic I understand, but I always envied people who had that connection or that dynamic with a group of friends from outside the family. Bonds formed in high school or college appeal to me.
I do agree that relationships very rarely happen in a vacuum or bubble and so including families is natural. It also is an awesome way to flesh out characters. Talk about dysfunctional tendencies and such - I could write a book! :)
JQ's Bridgerton's are great! You've gotta read them Terri (once you start they'll fly by and you'll have them read in no time. LOL) I love Nora Roberts families (all the ones Janga mentioned), Mary Balogh's families (like the Bedwyns) and her connected circle of friendships, SEP creates great relationships within families incorporating others along the way. Robyn Carr's family atmosphere in her Virgin River series is very palpable. I like the feeling of community all of these authors create.
Let me know when I can go to Barnes and Noble and pick up your books, Santa. They sound right up my alley!
Hey there, Irish. I'll read the Bridgertons someday, promise. And I think we can write the book on family disfunction is because we're on the inside and know all the secrets. I believe everyone is dysfunctional, it's just to what degree they're able to hide it. :)
I was surprised no one mentioned the Virgin River series before. Are those more a collection of inhabitants in the same town or members of the same family?
It is more a collection of inhabitants in the same town. The first book introduces Jack Sheridan who owns and operates the local bar/eatery in Virgin River. His buddy, Preacher, is the cook and helps run the joint. Preacher and Jack served together in the Marines and came to Virgin River to live after putting in their time. Jack is around 40 years old.
As the series progresses you meet Jack's family (his sister is the heroine of Book 3), and a core group of guys he served with in the Marines. They all come up to Virgin River to fish and hunt with Jack and Preacher. Throughout the series new characters are introduced - people passing through, moving into the area, vacationing and/or visiting and then deciding to stay, etc. It is a great series about community. The love stories are very good, though.
See, I didn't know any of that about those stories. Another series on my someday list.
Great blog, Santa. So nice to be able to read a few snippets of your WIPs.
OMGawd this made me laugh!
Family plays a lot of villainous stuff in my stories–they’re holding the heroine back in some way. If they do something helpful–it’s always a surprise.
Family plays a lot of importance in my stories too. In fact Fact and Family is all that I have to write about, since I have no Fiction. WTH? Family. They'd never dream of holding the heroine ( that would be me since I don't have any fiction ) back in any way. They do try to be helpful... but you know how Family is... And In my case the it’s always a surprise would be my family gasping "Julie we can't believe that yiou wrote about That !"
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