March 2018: Runaway Characters
~ Luanna Stewart ~

CTR asked:
How do you handle characters who change personality without your say so? Or, how do you handle characters whose spontaneous actions change the plot or course of the story?

Luanna Stewart said:
All of my characters surprise me at some point in the creation process. In the earliest drafting stage of Love and Mayhem I knew that Sybil, the heroine, would be an independent, intelligent, and curious woman. And I knew she would be determined to remain unwed regardless of her family’s attempts to marry her off. She was almost thirty and was running out of time to snare a man, according to her sister-in-law. But even though Sybil didn’t want a pesky man meddling in her life, telling her what she could and could not do, she was curious about what she’d be missing in the bedroom by not having a husband.

What surprised me most were the lengths she’d go to in her research into marital relations and the risks she’d take. None of her close friends were married and she had no sisters. Her attempts at questioning servants were thwarted by embarrassment on everyone’s part. Respectable ladies weren’t supposed to discuss such things!

Being a somewhat sheltered woman from the country, Sybil shouldn’t even have known about ladies of ill repute much less desired to make their acquaintance. But once the idea was planted she could think of nothing else. Who better to tell her what “it” was like than a woman who did “it” professionally? So when Sybil learned of Maria’s existence I decided to see where that would lead. Heavens! Sybil certainly got an education. She also displayed great courage, risking disgrace or worse in her quest for knowledge.

– Website – http://www.luannastewart.com/
– Twitter – @luanna_stewart

Love and Mayhem

[Historical Victorian Romance]

Sybil is happily on the shelf, tending to her sheep. But she fears she’ll depart this life without experiencing physical love, which she suspects is rather enjoyable. When her long-lost fiancé returns from sea, she decides he’s the lucky man who’ll receive her virginity.

Max is eager to return to his sugar plantation and has no intention of remaining long in London. However, he didn’t bargain on a wilful, pretty, exasperating spinster determined to take him to her bed.

He insists on marriage but she wants only his body. Her heart is not part of the deal. Unfortunately, love doesn’t always follow the rules.

Available in Ebook & Print:

– Kindle – https://www.amazon.com/Love-Mayhem-Luanna-Stewart-ebook/dp/B072TQGG3J
– Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-and-mayhem-luanna-stewart/1126952180?ean=2940158555770
– Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ebook/love-and-mayhem-1
– iBooks – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/love-and-mayhem/id1252491353

More Authors Dish about their runaway characters.

Read them all: https://coffeethoughts.coffeetimeromance.com/welcome-authors-dish/