Two Reviews and Info for you!

Woot! Woot! I received two more reviews over the weekend for Miner in Petticoats. A 5 spur review from Love Western Romances and a Memorable Read sticker from Writers and Readers of Distinctive Fiction.

I've been listening to cds of the 2008 RWA National convention workshops. One of them has resonated with me in finding out more about my characters. It was a workshop given by Laurie Schnebly Campbell and it is about creating your character's fatal flaw with enneagrams. These are 9 character types and their "fatal" flaw or the flaw in their character that can cause them trouble and you can use to show their growth throughout the story.

So the next nine weeks, on Monday's I'll give you one a week or you can go to Laurie Schnebly Campbell's website and read all about them.

Type One is the Perfectionist, the Improver. These are the people who have very high standards for themselves and for the world. They know how things ought to be, and they do their best to make sure they (and the rest of the world) live up to it. There's never any question about what's right and what's wrong—no gray areas—and there's never any question that they'll constantly try to do and live for what's right. Their motto is "I work toward perfection in an imperfect world," and their greatest desires are to avoid criticism and to be right.
Now, this can be a very heroic character...always willing to stand up for what he or she believes in, very aware of what's right and wrong. It's interesting that Ones are hardly ever overweight, which again is that sense of perfection. Their most outstanding character trait is moral courage...but of course they've also got a fatal flaw

ONE's fatal flaw is Anger. These are the perfectionists who get angry when they or anyone else doesn't strive for perfection. Picture a hero whose life has been about upholding what's right and good, maintaining the highest possible standards for himself and everyone around him, being kind of righteous about it and fuming when people don't live up to his standards of perfection—being especially upset when he doesn't live up to his OWN standards of perfection. He's going to be angry at himself when that happens, and of course it's going to happen. So you'll get this wonderful growth as the hero realizes (maybe with some help from the heroine, maybe on his own) that he has to let go of this anger and be more tolerant, more forgiving of the imperfection that's in himself and in everyone else.