Greta van der Rol's favourite character

While I was revising some old titles amongst the books I'd written I got to thinking about which of my characters was my favourite. And then I wondered what other writers would have to say if asked the same question. So - since it was my idea - I'll go first and tell you about my favourite character.

Why I love Morgan Selwood

Morgan is the hero-person in my (ahem) Morgan Selwood series. She came into being at a time when I'd written a couple of chapters of a then very new WIP for what became The Iron Admiral. I chucked the work at the wall (as you do) and muttered, "Who would want to read that rubbish?" I'd discarded my WIP and had to think of a new story.

Morgan nudged me. I knew my leading lady would be a computer nerd. I'd worked in the industry for many years, so it was 'write what you know'. So a cyborg? Around that time Terminator was the big thing, and I didn't want to go there. I hate dystopian stories. There's too much evil in the real world. But I could see a future with a Rise of the Machines. I stewed on that concept. What would come after, when the machines were defeated? If the machines were defeated? And that led me to Morgan Selwood. A cyborg, but a very, very human cyborg, actively controlled by the Powers that Be so she and her kind could never threaten humanity again.

I've written Morgan as tough and (of course) smart. But even within her Supertech group (that's what the cyborgs are called) she's different, something of a renegade. That tough exterior, complete with swearing, hides a very female interior. (I almost wrote soft!) Morgan is very much a woman and I thoroughly enjoyed writing her toughness, her weakness, and her iconoclastic sense of humour.
These few paragraphs from Morgan's Choice will give you some idea.

Morgan and her ship mate, accountant Jones, are on board an alien warship and have just been scrutinised - through a sealed window - by the ship's senior officers. Morgan, true to form, has impressed - but offended.

 ************

It seemed the performance was over. Daryabod Ravindra stood, the two lesser mortals followed suit and all three left the room. So far, so good. With a bit of luck they’d teach them the local language; always a good place to start.

"You’re not much good at body language, are you?" Jones said when the door had closed on the aliens.

She bristled. "What d’you mean by that?"

"Be careful what you do with your hands. It’s one of the things you learn in business. The wrong gesture on the wrong planet and you’ll offend somebody. Didn’t they teach you that at military school?"

"No, they didn’t. They taught me how to salute but I wasn’t much good at that, either. They take me as I come." And if they didn’t, too bad.

"Well… you’re not exactly a people person, are you? But that’s okay. Let me handle the people bit for you."

"The people bit, huh? So what are you expecting? That we’ll get invited to the officers’ mess for dinner?"

"No, of course not. But we’re going to have to try to fit in—"

"You’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t know anything about these aliens or what they intend to do with us."

"Well, given they haven’t done anything horrible yet, I figure we might as well try to set up some sort of rapport with them."

She snorted. He must fancy himself as a diplomat. Idiot.

Jones frowned. "What are you expecting them to do?"

"I don’t know. But we’re still in quarantine. Better hope they don’t find any exotic bugs and decide to squash the threat." She ground the heel of her hand into the table top.

He swallowed. He obviously hadn’t even considered that option. "That isn’t funny."

"It wasn’t supposed to be."

Be sure to join us next week, when another author tells you all about their favourite character.

FIVE THINGS MY HEROINE WOULD NEVER DO

Um, no. REALLY hard to kick ass in that outfit.

Creating the “perfect” SFR heroine can be a challenge, but it’s not that much different than crafting the ideal historical or paranormal heroine.  All romance readers expect their heroines to be beautiful, spunky and intelligent, the equal in almost every way to the alpha heroes of the novels they read.

Unlike historical or contemporary heroines, however, SFR gals tend to be active players in what are currently male-dominated worlds—the worlds of space exploration, science, military conflict, long-distance trade, undercover espionage, even clandestine alien hunting. Note that I said currently.  In many SFR stories, the future looks quite different, allowing our heroines to move more easily in those worlds.

Operating in these environments requires a special kind of woman.  Typically, SFR writers respond with a kickass heroine to carry the story, a take-no-prisoners, command-grade female strong enough to stand up to any starship captain or space pirate.  Indeed she may be one herself, and she’s got the hard shell to go with the rank.

Only one of my heroines in the Interstellar Rescue series—Rescue agent Rayna Carver of Fools Rush In—really fits that mold.  Lana Matheson, the FBI agent of Trouble in Mind, certainly knows how to kick ass, but she is constrained both by discipline and certain vulnerabilities.  And Asia Burdette, the heroine of the first book in the series, Unchained Memory, has quieter, deeper strengths that only emerge in the crucible of crisis.

My heroines are very different from each other.  But there are some things I would hope none of them would EVER do:

1)  Giggle.  These are women, not girls.  They may laugh out loud, guffaw, chortle, chuckle, grin, snort or ROTFLTAO, but they will NOT giggle.  Ever.

See?  MUCH better!

2)  Wear inappropriate clothing/shoes.  At the risk of drawing the attention of certain trolls-who-will-not-be-named, let me just point out to all who suffer under this misconception that it is not possible to fight effectively in four-inch stilettos.  Well, you could take them off and stab someone with them, but otherwise, no.  It’s not possible to run in them, either.  It can’t be comfortable to sit at the controls of a starship for hours (or days) in a skin-tight leather jumpsuit.  Or do much of anything in a pencil skirt.  So, sorry, guys, my women won’t be dressed that way.  And while I’m at it, here’s a tip for film and TV costumers:  hard-soled shoes that echo in empty warehouses will get your cops and agents killed.  Put them in some sensible shoes, will ya?

3)  Wait passively for rescue.  I put my heroines in some tight spots—captured by black ops kidnappers, tortured by vengeful aliens, hunted by alien spies—and, yes, sometimes they need help from their heroes.  But usually by the time the knight in shining armor gets there, the damsel in distress has escaped the dungeon and nearly made it out of the castle.  My heroines take an active role in their own rescue, no matter how grim the situation or how minimal their “fighting” skills.  (Asia, for example, is not a trained martial artist, but she carries—and knows how to use—a gun.)

4)  Back down in the face of intimidation.  We expect our heroines to stand up to the villain—that’s the very definition of kickass.  But intimidation can take many forms.  If we’re talking about the interaction between hero and heroine and what constitutes sexual tension, that “intimidation” can even be completely unconscious, a matter of body language and chemistry.  My heroines have to stand their ground under the onslaught of the emotion churned up by the nearness of their heroes.  For women who may have dismissed such emotion before, or, worse, been hurt by it, this is an act of courage.

5)  Finally, my heroines will never, ever give up hope.  At first glance my heroines may not seem to be optimists.  They certainly don’t look at the world through any kind of rose-colored filter.  Tragedy early in life has taught all of them harsh lessons about reality.  Still, they all believe it is possible for good to triumph over evil, though they would likely snort in derision to hear it put that way.  When things look bleak, they push on. They may struggle, but they survive and overcome.  And in the end, they choose to continue to fight on the side of what is right, helping others to find a similar kind of peace.

There are probably a few other things my heroines wouldn’t do—listen to Barry Manilow, develop an addiction to escargot—but I wouldn’t swear by it.  Characters sometimes have a mind of their own. I will insist on the fundamentals, however. Some things are non-negotiable.

How about you?  Anything your heroines just wouldn’t do?

Cheers, Donna