March 2018: Runaway Characters
~ D. Reneé Bagby ~

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?

D. Reneé Bagby said:
Okay… So what had happened was… I set out to write an MF story about a black heroine traveling back in time to the medieval era, because you don’t see many black characters in time travel romances. There is way too much baggage in history unless you’re sending the characters all the way back to Egyptian times or something. But anyway…

This book was all set. I had notes and scenes written and knew how it would end and so on. I was ready to get this book finished and contracted. And then Ranulf, a secondary character at the time, was having a heart-to-heart conversation with Eris (the heroine) while Lucien (the hero) was out of the room. In a low voice, Ranulf asked Eris if she would have fallen for him if she’d met him first.

Whoa…

Hold the hell up!! Where did that come from?! I kid you not. I wrote that and then stopped and stared at it for a good long while, trying to figure out where it came from and why it had popped up when I was almost finished with the book. I was sitting there thinking, “Dude! You couldn’t have brought this up 39K words ago!!?”

Just like that, I scrapped everything I’d written and started over from the beginning to turn a MF story into a MFM story that ended up at 162,000 words. Thankfully, no characters have blindsided me like that since (knock on wood). I do have instances of characters changing personalities or saying something in a scene that changes the course of the plot or even fleshes out the plot and explains it to me (thanks!), but nothing as drastic as what happened in Eris.

But that’s the fun of being a pantser. My characters dictate where the story is going. I have a general idea of the destination, but the journey is entirely up to them.

– Website – http://dreneebagby.com
– Twitter – https://twitter.com/dreneebagby

Eris (Eternal Truths, Book 1)

[Time Travel Fantasy Romance, MFM]

Only time knows if they are meant to be together.

Immortals Lucien and Ranulf have survived to see the modern era to be with the woman they both love once more. Equally anticipating and dreading the reunion, they’ve vowed to let her decide which of them she wants to be with. But are they prepared to let one woman end a friendship that has lasted centuries?

Eris has just started her dream assignment. She’s not looking for an office romance, but her new bosses aren’t making it easy for her to avoid it. And right when she gives in to their joint seduction, she ends up tossed back in time to the medieval era where the men she loves have no clue who she is. What’s worse, they think she’s the enemy.

The Lucien and Ranulf of the past are rough and dangerous. Eris is doing everything she can to survive them while searching for a way back to her time. But returning home means confronting an undeniable truth, one that could end their relationship forever. It’s up to her to decide if her heart is strong enough to handle the love of two men and the reality of their enchanted existence.

Available in Ebook & Print:

– Kindle – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZPXMLF
– Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eris-eternal-truths-series-d-renee-bagby/1100404503?ean=2940154347294
– Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ebook/eris-eternal-truths-book-1
– iBooks – https://geo.itunes.apple.com/book/eris/id1228926537
– Google – https://play.google.com/store/books/details/D_Renee_Bagby_Eris_Eternal_Truths_Book_1?id=TaWzDgAAQBAJ
– Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/719526

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