Writing a character's backstory

Writing a Character's Backstory

So whilst we're in Covid-19 lock down, I've been tackling a variety of projects around the house. That's what I'm telling folks. But honestly, I've just been baking, eating, cooking, eating, playing with the puppy, eating, ignoring housework, eating, helping out the in-laws while my father-in-law recovers from heart surgery, eating, watching television, eating, making a couple of baby quilts (which are a super duper cute), eating, dealing with pesky doctors and MRIs, eating, and mulling over some background plot ideas for Book 2.5, the love story between my main character Jack Diamond and the love of his life, Claire Wilcox. Oh, and eating.

So several people along the way have asked me how I come up with my characters' back stories. And honestly, the majority of the time I truly don't know. They just sort of come out. I'll be merrily writing along, and the next thing I know, I'm jotting down info about where Nick Buchanan went to school, and the fact that he had a baby sister, and his football career, and so forth. It just writes itself, and I don't really think about it. Honestly. Things just write themselves right out of my fingertips, and sometimes I'm just as surprised as you are when you read them.

But I've been mulling things over about my sweet Claire, and I have to give her back story a great deal of care and thought.

I know how Claire met Ron Wilcox and his daughter. That much has been obvious to me since the very beginning. I know why Ron Wilcox is an alcoholic. 

I know where Claire and Jack Diamond meet.

I know what Claire does for a living, and I know one of her co-workers.

But I had to think about Claire and her house where she grew up, and her folks and wondering if she had any siblings.

And I had to think about why she decided to become a cosmetic surgeon, specializing in pediatric facial reconstruction.

And this morning as I was lounging about in bed, not wanting to face the world because today is housecleaning day, I started thinking about Claire's background.

And several scenarios started making their way through my thought processes.

To take it back a step, Jack Diamond had a very violent past. Much of this is hashed out in books 1 and 2, so I won't bore you with it here. And when I was writing Book 2 I had to reconcile the problems with Jack's violent past with Jack's adorable and lovely Granini. How did she not know? Why didn't she try to fix it? Was Granini Jack's father's mother? or his mother's mother? That reconciliation caused a great deal of time and grief and tender care when writing Book 2.

So now it's time for Claire's back story. I don't even know if it's going to appear in Book 2.5, but I have to know what it is in order to figure out who she is, and how she came to be that way.

Do I want her to have an equally challenging childhood so that she can Jack can bond over trauma?

Do I want her to have an innocent and carefree childhood free of all the drama? Would someone like that be someone strong enough to be a mate for Jack?

And how did she get interested in facial reconstruction?

So I started playing out several different scenarios in my mind:

*Abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the boy, kills the mother, and goes to kill Claire, but she kills him.

Too violent.

*Sexually abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the mother, strangles the boy with his own umbilical cord, and goes to kill Claire. BUT, Claire's older sister, whom the father has been sexually abusing for all these years, grabs a pair of scissors and kills him first.

And as much as I love the evil thought of the horrible man strangling his own 'defective' son with his umbilical cord, trying to pass the murder off as a 'natural' accidental death, the whole scenario is just way too violent.

And honestly, blech! Who wants to read about child sexual abuse?!!!? It's bad enough that it happens in the real world. Why does it have to happen in my books?

*Accidental death
Claire's mother gives birth to a baby boy who is born with a cleft palate. The birth is quick, and at home in the middle of the night. There's so much blood and it happens so fast, that everyone is caught of guard. Claire's father runs out of the room to grab a pair of sharp scissors to cut the umbilical cord. Claire's older sister wakes up. She asks her daddy what's wrong. He quickly tries to explain that everything's okay and he tells her to go back to bed. Claire sleeps through the whole thing. Claire's mom cries out for help. Claire's dad turns to run to get back to Claire's mom. He trips on the rug in the hallway. He lands on the very sharp scissors he's carrying and bleeds to death in the hallway. Claire's mom bleeds to death in the bedroom. And Claire's baby brother dies before medical attention can arrive.

This super sad story may be the one I go for.
It serves multiple purposes.

1. Both of Claire's parents are dead. Both of Jack's parents are dead. Even though Jack's father was horribly abusive, and Claire's was not, being an orphan does connect them to each other in a way that most young 20 somethings don't have in common.

2. This storyline means that Claire now needs to be raised by someone other than her parents. I don't know if it will be a family friend, an aunt, or a grandparent. But being raised by someone in a loving home is truly important to both Claire's and Jack's positive upbringing. Without the positive influences, both Claire and Jack could end up having significantly different personalities. I want these two to have complicated childhood backgrounds that gives each of them compassion and a mission to do better. This positive upbringing by someone other than her parents also endears Granini to Claire, which adds to the benefit of this story line.

3. Claire's baby brother being born with a cleft palate could easily become the motivation that Claire needs to become a surgeon who repairs birth defects. She has a soft spot for babies and young children with birth defects, or those who suffer from facial deformities due to accidents, and for the parents and siblings who care for these children. These two facts will then explain how she becomes motivated to become a surgeon and why she falls in love so dearly with Ron Wilcox's daughter, and has a soft spot for Ron, himself.

4. This story line now gives Claire an older sister. Which I didn't even know was a possibility. An older, lovely sister. And now I get to go and mull about Claire's older sister and find out how she turns out. Will she be a lovely person? Will she be productive and amazing and inspirational? Or will she be sad and depressed and go down a dark hole and be someone Claire is embarrassed to call her sister? Oh, I say let's go positive. Today I'm in a happy mood. I don't want any more darkness. There's soooo much darkness in this world.

So.

That's how I start thinking about characters' backstories. It's long and complicated and will end up being given more thought along the way. But this is how it starts.

And that's it for today. I'm going to go eat some strawberries.

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Currently writing:
Book 2.5: Yet to be named: Jack and Claire's love story

* * * * *

Granini's Orange Cranberry Pecan Scones

Granini's Orange Cranberry Pecan Scones

Yum!

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream (if you don't have heavy whipping cream, you may substitute ⅓ cup melted butter, cooled
¾ cup half & half, slightly warmed)
2 cups flour
½ cup (take 1 Tablespoon away) sugar (you'll need 2 more tablespoons later)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ cup candied pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup craisins, roughly chopped
2 clementine oranges, zested (you'll need one more). [You'll need roughly 2 tablespoons of zest, but don't bother with the measuring spoon. A rough guestimate is fine.] *And, yes, you can substitute oranges. I just don't happen to have oranges lying around, and my fridge always has clementines. So whatever. Honestly. This recipe is completely adaptable.
1 piece of parchment paper & a cookie sheet

For the topping:
1 tablespoon butter, melted to brush onto the unbaked scones

2 tablespoons sugar
1 clementine orange, zested. [You'll need roughly 1 tablespoon of zest, but again, don't bother with the measuring spoon. A rough guestimate is fine.] 
In a small bowl, stir the sugar and orange zest together

I adapted & fidgeted with a recipe from epicurious (click here for original recipe) that called for apricots (blech) and lemon (which I didn't have). It also called for heavy whipping cream which I also didn't have. I'd blame Covid, but frankly, I almost never have heavy whipping cream on hand.

Frankly, you could probably add in any dried fruits and/or nuts that suited your fancy, or whatever you happened to have in your pantry, and you'd make a pretty darned tasty scone.

I've made scones before, but they haven't always turned out. Often they weren't sweet enough. Or they were a bit stodgy. This time, however, they were quite delicious. I think adding a wee bit of sugar on top really helped to sweeten them up without ruining the dough. I hope you enjoy!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 415℉.
2. Melt butter and allow to cool to room temperature, without solidifying.
3. Heat up your half & half so that it's warm, but not hot.

*If you have heavy whipping cream, you can obviously skip steps 2 and 3.

4. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom.
5. Stir in the chopped pecans, craisins, and orange zest.
6. Carefully mix together the cooled melted butter and the half & half in a bowl. If the two do not want to mix together on their own, use an immersion blender to encourage the marriage.
7. Pour the butter and half & half blended mixture into the dry ingredients.
8. Very carefully, stir the ingredients together. You do not want to overmix, or the scones will be chewy and dense and stodgy. Only mix until all the dry ingredients have been moistened.
9. Form the dough into a large ball and pat it down until it's roughly 1 inch thick. Slice into 12 pieces. Or, maybe into 8 pieces. 12 pieces makes small scones. I think I honestly prefer larger scones. But hey, whatevs. This recipe is adaptable, remember??
10. Put a piece of parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.
11. Carefully transfer the scones onto the cookie sheet, leaving a wee bit of room between each of the scones. They will expand while baking. But I did find that all 12 of them fit onto one cookie sheet. I just alternated the way they were facing to make them fit (see picture below).
12. In a small bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of sugar with 1 Tablespoon of orange zest.
13. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter.
14. Gently brush melted butter on top of each scone.
15. Sprinkle sugar/zest onto each scone. I found there was ample sugar for each scone to get a rather liberal sprinkle.
16. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
17. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly (or completely) before serving.

Next time, I think I'd like to make some lemon curd to serve alongside with the scones. I've heard of clotted cream being served with scones too, but I've never had nor made clotted cream. Perhaps I should look into that.

Anywhoooooo, the scones did NOT last long. They're tasty and delicious and yum.

I hope you enjoy!!

See pictures below.

Making the sugar orange zest for the topping

Dry ingredients all mixed together.

Added in the milk and melted butter.

Formed into a ball and patted down to 1 inch thick. Ish. It's not as if I get out the ruler and check.

 Cut into 12 pieces. Immediately regretting not cutting into 8 pieces for bigger scones. There are 4 of us living here now. I think two apiece sounds good. Three each feels a bit guilty. Hmmm.

Brush with butter. I wonder what they'd taste like without the butter. Hmmm. Something to try.

Sprinkle some of that sugar orange zest onto each one.

Ready for the oven.

Mmmmmm, boy howdy that looks amazing. SOOO hard to wait until they were cooler to eat!!!

Deliciousness on my plate. Yummm!!

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Currently writing:
Book 2.5: Yet to be named: Jack and Claire's love story

* * * * *

Granini's Cheesy Biscuits

Granini's Cheesy Biscuits

I've been making biscuits for a gajillion years.  They're incredibly easy to make, and are so very simple that they're hard to screw up.  Not only do we eat them with breakfast (biscuits and gravy!), and dinner (soup and biscuits), but sometimes I sweeten them up with a bit of powdered sugar, and we eat them for dessert as a 'base' for strawberry shortcake.  We've also been known to eat them for snack time, sliced in half, and toasted with melted sharp cheddar cheese.

BUT THEN...

I got addicted to Kashmiri chili powder. There's a long story there... but needless to say, I started putting it in everything.

So I've adapted my original biscuit recipe, and turned it into a cheesy biscuit recipe, and the kiddos and the hubster LOVE them. This morning I made them to go with mushroom gravy and scrambled eggs. Delish!!!

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons butter (unsalted) or margarine

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's original creole seasoning
½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder 

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 cups flour

2/3 to 3/4 cups buttermilk

** I truly do prefer these biscuits using buttermilk, rather than milk.  However, I very rarely remember to save any buttermilk aside after having made my buttermilk pancakes.  But if and when I happen to have buttermilk just hanging around in my fridge, I use it.  If I don't have any, I use regular milk, but then I add in 3 teaspoons of lemon juice (sounds weird, but I promise, it works), and the biscuits are still quite delicious!  I promise.  It won't be the end of the world if you don't happen to have any buttermilk.  No need to dash off to the store just to make these biscuits.  And, just to be honest, 9 times out of 10, I make them without the buttermilk.  They're just über delicious with the buttermilk.  Just sayin'.

Directions:

1. Using a pastry knife, cut the butter, salt, baking powder, and flour together until the mixture looks like course oatmeal.
2. Pour milk over the mixture.
3. Using a fork, using as few strokes as possible, slowly stir the mixture together until a dough ball forms.  
4. Sprinkle a little flour onto a surface area.
5. Turn the dough out onto the lightly floured working area.
6. Gently roll the dough to about an inch and a quarter thick.  When I'm in a hurry, I just pat the dough flat, skipping the rolling pin altogether.  Why wash another thing?  I'm lazy, I know.
7. Lightly flour a biscuit cutter and cut the biscuits out, and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 390° for 12 to 15 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown.  Best served while hot.  But they're VERY tasty when they're room temperature too.

Oh yeah.  That's just mouth waterin' goodness, right there.  

Try them with Granini's Biscuits and Gravy.  

With super cheesy scrambled eggs.  

Mmmmmm.

What's that? You want the recipe for my biscuits and gravy?  Why, of course!!  You can find the recipe here: Granini's Biscuits & Gravy

And here's the link to my original biscuits recipe: Granini's Biscuits

Enjoy!

* * * * *

I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!

Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions

Diamonds for Diamond 
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed

(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)

Currently writing:
Book 2.5: Yet to be named: Jack and Claire's love story

* * * * *