Guest Post by Emily!

Character Creation

by Emily Ann Putzke

My character in Ain’t We Got Fun is Georgiana (Gi) Rowland, the older sister of Bess. Their family is struggling during the Great Depression, so Gi takes off for NYC to make a fortune and help them out. The sisters recount their adventures, joys and heartaches to each other. My co-author, Emily Chapman, and I wrote this story in letter form in January. Our characters are very different people! Here are a 5 things that helped me bring Gi to life, and give her a personality that’s all her own.

1.  Give Your Characters Flaws

None of us are perfect, so our characters shouldn't be either. Gi is a fun, loyal, light hearted girl with big dreams. But she has a flaw that she struggles with throughout the entire story. Pride. She’s very stubborn, independent, and doesn’t want anything from anybody.

2. Use That Flaw to Stretch and Change Your Character

Pride gets Gi in quite a few scrapes. Throughout AWGF, she’s constantly battling with it. Everytime she thinks she can tame her pride, it flares up again. It’s not until the end of the story that she finally makes headway into defeating this flaw. She realizes that she can’t do everything on her own, and that she needs to rely on God, not herself.

3. Make Them Lovable and Relatable

Even though my readers got aggravated with Gi for making stupid decisions, they still seemed to like her! This is crucial, because the last thing I’d want is an unlovable character. She has her stubborn streak and sinful pride, but Gi is also a bit silly, offbeat, loving, and compassionate. I tried to balance out her flaws and weaknesses to make her real.

4. Give Them a Quirk

One of the things that stands out in Gi’s character is her obsession with coffee. Everyone has a quirk, and that can be used to give a character more of a personality. Coffee is a big deal to Gi, so it needed to be threaded into her letters.

5. Know What Your Character Looks Like

Gi looks like me, and Bess looks like Emily Chapman. We actually planned that! So that made it easy to picture Gi: dark, curly, untamable hair, and green eyes. But we also had a shared Pinterest board where we pinned pictures that resembled Gi and Bess, and ourselves.

If you have any question regarding Ain’t We Got Fun or writing in general, you can send me an email at authoremilyannputzke(AT)gmail(DOTcom or leave a comment on my blog, www.authoremilyannputzke.com

Author Bios:

EMILY ANN PUTZKE and Gi Rowland have two big things in common: their love for God and coffee. Besides writing historical fiction, Emily enjoys being an aunty, photography, Irish dancing, spending time with family, attempting to play the guitar, reenacting, and reading. She loves polka dots, war movies, and all things vintage. Her first novella, It Took a War, was published in December of 2014. You can learn more about Emily Ann Putzke and her books at www.authoremilyannputzke.com and www.facebook.com/authoremilyannputzke.

EMILY CHAPMAN, also known as Bess Rowland, is a young hobbit living in the dear old South, and she is entirely bonkers. She's a dreamer, an optimistic pessimist, and an introverted people person. Blue skies, dancing, Disney, and whipped cream make her happy, and she swears she's once been to Narnia. She's been a reader all her life, became a writer because of that, and published her first novel, Cry of Hope, in March of 2014. But without her Savior, all of this would mean nothing. It is in Him that she puts her hope.You can learn more about Emily Chapman and her books at www.emilychapmanauthor.com and www.facebook.com/emilychapmanauthor.

You can purchase Ain't We Got Fun through:

Amazon (Paperback) 

Amazon (Kindle) 

Createspace (Paperback)

Smashwords (ebook)

About The Book:

It was never much of an issue for Bess: living contentedly on her family's farm, despite the Depression which loomed around them. But when her older sister Georgiana takes off to New York City to make a fortune and help Papa out, feelings of adventure and wanderlust strike Bess at home. Through their lively letter correspondence, the sisters recount to one another their adventures, surprises, and heartaches, leaving little room for depression. For in a world of such wonder, ain't we got fun?

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