Take a C.A.R.D.

by Bethany Maines

While I was reading Sparkle Abbey’s recent blog post about how real her characters in their Pampered Pets Mystery series, I laughed and sympathized with the authors who are clearly suffering from C.A.R.D. – Character / Author Reality Disorder.  Most authors I know suffer from this.  We invest a lot of time in these people and we go through a lot together. Of course it’s only natural that they start to take on a life, even if it’s only a virtual life, of their own.  Sparkle Abbey described their characters as the best (fictional) friends a girl could have.  But what happens when you don’t like one of your characters?  It’s possible that I created a character to be an excellent villain and now they… Just. Won’t.  Die.

The third novel in my Carrie Mae Mystery series High-Caliber Concealer (on sale November 17 – available for pre-order now!) brings back all the girls.  Nikki, the heroine, and linguistics major, with a nagging mother who tries to keep her job as an independent espionage agent for Carrie Mae a secret from her CIA Agent boyfriend.  Jenny, the bombshell blonde with a beauty pageant history and a love of firearms.  Ellen, the grandmother of two, and well-trained sniper.  And Jane, the geeky Intelligence Analyst  who keeps the team up to speed, but fails at keeping them politically correct. But at the very end of the book, I also bring back a character that’s been kicking around for two books now insisting on getting more “screen” time, and of course, that segued right into book four – Glossed Cause.  And I have this thought: Oh, now I remember why killed you.  It’s because you are SO ANNOYING. 

Is it ok to fight with your characters?  Just punch them in their virtual face a little bit?  Or do I need to check myself into the library and get a stiff dose of non-fiction to combat the raging C.A.R.D. outbreak I’m clearly suffering from?

    

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of Destiny and An Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.