Friday's How She Does It with Margaret Tanner

1. How do you create your characters? Do you have a specific process?


They just come to me, but in a very basic form, so I then set about "flehsing them out,." so to speak.



2. Do your characters come before the plot? Do you sketch out your plot or do you let the characters develop the route to the end?

My hero and heroine always come before the plot. Although when I think of my main characters, a few of their dilemas seem to pop up viertually at the same time. I am a pantser, so the majority of my story falls into place as I write. After I have finished the story, I then go back and tweak a few character traits to enhance the plot.

3. Do you know how the story will end before you begin? In a general way or a specific one?

I always know how the story will end. In fact, I usually know the ending before the beginning, strange as that might seem.

4. Do you choose settings you know or do you have books of settings and plans of houses sitting around?

I try to choose settings that I know. I write historicals so it makes things a little more difficult than if I were writing a modern day story. I usually try to set my stories in the same country area give or take a few miles, that way it does cut down on research. And lets face it, countryside, terrains trees, flowers etc. haven't changed much in a couple of hundred years.

5. Where do you do your research? On line or from books?

I do a lot of research in libraries. I do some on line research, but am very selective as I don't put too much trust in some on-line sites. I have found quite a lot of historical errors on line, unfortunately.

6. Are you a draft writer or do you revise as you go along and why?

I write an initial rough draft, and by write, I mean with pen on paper. After that I type it on to my computer and do most of my editing from there. I find ideas seem to flow much better when I use long hand. A computer screen doesn't do anything for my creative juices.