Meet Chloe Walker: My Heroine

By K. L. Bridgewater

Nine weeks ago, I mentioned how I find my story ideas by discovering the ending first. Then, I moved on to talk about my problems with knowing my characters enough for the audience to fall in love with them. Well, for the past two months, I have been reading and highlighting Characters, Emotions, and Viewpoints by Nancy Kress, in between reading fiction books to review here. It has been a wonderful help. Last week on October 7, I introduced you to my hero, Devin Sanders. Today, I want to introduce you to my heroine Chloe Walker. I attached an image of Topanga Lawrence aka Danielle Fishel from Boy Meets World, who fits the  description of my heroine.

26 years old    

Academic Honors Diploma

BA in English

MA in Writing

-Middle child of five. Always felt pushed into a corner. Never good enough to please her parents. Both parents are now divorced who called it quits weeks after the youngest, Kaleb, graduated from high school.

Biggest goal: To write a suspense novel.

Biggest fear: Afraid of water. She believes she will die by drowning in a car that has driven into the bottom of a river or a lake.

Biggest lie: Not good enough.

Preferences:

-Perfectionist

-loves Coffee

-Pizza (Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Black Olives)

-Rock Music (Metallica, Skid Row, Wolves at the Gate, Close Your Eyes, Thousand Foot Krutch, etc.)

-Clothes:   Stylish, yet comfy. Jeans with a hoodie. Sweaters. Shorts. Tank tops.

-Hair: Spends a lot of time making sure it looks just right.

-Chloe doesn’t like the way she looks. She feels fat, but when she works out, no results so she gives up.

-Introvert

-Organized

-Biggest Pet Peeve: A dirty bathroom (who would want you to use a bathroom that is dirty? Really?!)

-Cautious

-Afraid to let anyone in because they probably will find something wrong with her.

Character’s abilities: She can argue her way intelligently whenever she needs to prove a point. Knows a good book or movie and recommends them.

How do you handle frustration? I usually blow up when no one is around and mumble to myself about the injustice. Sometimes I will throw things to make me feel better. I really never let anyone see me get angry or know that something is bothering me.

What stands in the way of your happiness right now? On the outside, I seem like a happy person, but on the inside, I’m complaining to God on a daily basis. Why don’t I have my dream job? (Being an editor at a book publishing company) Why don’t I have a book published? (I have been doing this writing thing for ten years) Why don’t I have my log cabin in the woods?

If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be? I would have kept dating Devin Sanders.

Have you ever done this for a character? Are there any suggestions I should include to fully develop more heroine more realistic for my characters?  Here are the ultimate questions: Do you like or dislike Chloe Walker? Could you see yourself spending time with her in a three part book?

Good-bye to Summer

By K. L. Bridgewater

As the labor day and the closing of summer approaches, I reflected on this past summer. As a rule, I HATE summer. I'm more of a person who tends to lean toward fall and winter. In the coming weeks, I will include some of my favorite things about fall. But for today, I wander if this summer was fun. It wasn't that hot in Indiana, which was a huge blessing.

Right now, if you walk outside the weather is 100 degrees for the heat index. The hottest it has been all summer. I hate sweating, bugs, and having to endure the heat.  My golden retriever, Happy, is panting hard as she sits outside next to her five gallon bucket, refreshed with cold water from the first thing in the morning. On the other hand, Snoopy, our beagle, is sunbathing directly in the shade, which I find odd because he's a dark colored dog, and he enjoys the summer. The winter, however, is a different story.

This summer, I took my boys swimming at the local swimming pool that overlooks a huge lake. There is a curving white slide that leads into the three feet, which makes it easy for little kids to enjoy their sense of freedom. My two oldest boys, age 12 and 9 ventured off the diving board into the 12 feet, while Obadiah, who just turned 6, paddled into the four feet after going down the slide himself.

We did the summer reading program and introduce the children to many new classic books. Isaiah enjoyed The Three Musketeers by one of my favorite authors, Alexandre Dumas; Elijah kept reading the Percy Jackson series; Obadiah read a few Franklin and Disney books.

Personally, I moved on from my disappointment of not winning any contests and kept praying and worshiping God. I have started a three book series with the first book titled, Face of Admiration. It is the story of Devin Sanders, a detective, and Chloe Walker, a bookstore employee. In October, I will be introducing them to the world. I can't wait. I wrote the first chapter and the synopsis, which I have the joy of having DiAnn Mills, author of Firewall, critique when I attend the ACFW conference next month.

I have found the joy in writing again. In my first chapter, Chloe finds a dead body wrapped in a clear plastic bag with the words "Devin" etched across its chest. On the other side of town, Devin takes a call from an obsessed fan who claims to have killed someone.

Do I have you interested yet? What was your favorite part of this past summer? Did you start a new book? What's it about? Did you branch out and experience something new?