Connie Vines Was Just Wondering, "Do Fictional Characters Pick-up the Habits of the Writer?"

From Inside Books We Love Blog, posted Saturday,  June 28, 2014

Years ago I located an article about Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind.  Apparently, there was a great deal of press about how she hid sections of her novel beneath couch cushions, this was her very first novel etc. All of these statements may have a ring of truth but Margaret Mitchell was a journalist. 

Whether you agree or disagree with the premise of the Pulitzer Prize winning book or the screenplay or the resulting Academy Award Winning Picture, you cannot argue the fact she created exceptionally real characters.   It has been nearly 80 years since the book was published and nearly everyone in the U.S. (and who knows how many other countries) recall ‘something’ about Scarlett and Rhett.

Interviews tell us that MM would sit in front of a mirror and watch how her earrings (earbobs) moved to help in her descriptions.  She said she had every detail in her mind before she sat down at the typewriter. She also had relatives who lived during the era of the Civil War.

In MM’s case this may have been true. Her character may have been pieces of herself and her life.

However, in my case, I’m not so sure this is the case. 

Yes, my heroines and I may have many of the same interests.  Rachel Scott, my heroine in Lynx, Rodeo Romance Book 1, has many of my physical attributes at her age.   Amberlynn Maddox, my heroine in Brede, Rodeo Romance Book 2,is knowledgeable about Native American works of art. 

(These are WIP that I plan to pitch to my wonderful publisher: Books We Love.  Surprise!)

However, in one of my current WIP, Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow, I seem to be picking up Meredith, my heroine’s habits.  I am beginning to wear disposable latex gloves when I wash my hair (why, I don’t know).  I keep a food diary online and I carry on conversations with Siri (which is very difficult to do).  And, lastly (I hope), I keep purchasing hand lotion.  Do I need all this hand lotion?  No I have a place to store extra hand lotion (besides my desk at my day gig)? No.  Will I keep purchasing hand lotion?  I hope not.

Now on to my anthology, Gumbo Ya Ya—for women who like romance Cajun & Men HOT & SPICY.  Five stores in one book.  Doesn’t this mean 5 times the crazy habits for me?  It would seem so.  Beignets and café au lait, should I be having these type of dreams?  Perfume, I’m obsessed with perfume and I’m worried about gators.  Seriously?  I live in SoCal.  I really don’t think the L.A. river is going to become infested with gators in the next, say . . .million years or so. Then there’s the heroine who works in day time TV.  Well, I do have the beginnings of a three-act play on my hard drive.

Anything else?  Time Travel to the 16^th century and werewolves (contemporary)--so far, nothing to report on those two topics. Which is good news to me.

Now, Rand Rodeo Romance Book 3, oh, boy—do I have stories to tell!

Thank you for stopping by to read my guest post to the Books We Love Blog.

Happy Reading,

Connie Vines

(Go to: About.me/ConnieVines ornovelsbyconnievines.com for more info)

Rhobin Rambles/Halloween Blog Post

Thank you Rhobin for inviting me to participate in another Round Rhobin Rambles Blog (Halloween) Fest!

Topic: My scariest Halloween moment.

Upon looking back, the reason I was so frightened was because I soo did not expect to be frightened at all. 

Three of my friends wanted to catch an old black-and-white movie on Halloween night.  Black-and-white  movie?  Sure, I would go along.  I am a fan of the old Universal Studio Monster Classic movies.  "The Mummy" with the wonderful special effects and amazing storyline (remember 'talkies' were high tech in the mid-1930s), and of course "Dracula" (who can forget Bela Lugosi's wonderful Slavic accent and mesmerizing stage presence?)

However, this was a Zombie movie.  Ummm. . . zombies?  I wasn't a huge fan of ghouls.  Was a zombie anything like a ghoul?  Suddenly, I realized I wasn't very well versed on Monster Culture.  Still, the synopsis seemed a little campy and very low-budget.  While Amy and Joyce were edging out of the ticket line, Connie (yes, there were two of us) verbalized my thoughts "How frightening could it be? This isn't the Exorcist!  And the storyline is. . .uninspired!"

Synopsis:
Barbra and her brother Johnny travel by car from Pittsburgh to the countryside to visit the gravestone of their father in the cemetery. Out of the blue, they are attacked by a strange man and Johnny is murdered. Barbra runs and releases the brake of Johnny's car since the keys are in his pocket, and flees to an isolated farmhouse, where she locks herself inside. Barbra is in shock and soon she finds a man, Ben, who is also escaping from the inhuman creatures, and he reinforces the doors, windows and openings in the house. He also finds a shotgun and a radio, and they learn that the radiation from a satellite that was returning from Venus has somehow reactivated the brain of the dead. Then they find five humans hidden in the basement: Harry Cooper, his wife Helen and their daughter Karen that is sick; and Tom and his girlfriend Judy. Harry has an argument with Ben, since he believes that the basement is the safest place for them, and Harry goes not to agree. . . .

Yes, we were going to be bored into a coma!

I do not wish to disclose spoilers for the 1968 version of: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.  I will divulge:  I have never been so ready-to-bolt from my seat, and have never experienced that I-may-never-fall-asleep-again feeling which the same intensity as I did in that San Diego theater with my friends on Halloween night.

To quote Sheriff McClelland, "Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up."

So take that, "Walking Dead" fans!  This movie started the Zombie craze.



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