First, I want to thank Sarah’s StoryLines for inviting me here today and for helping to introduce my new release. More about that later. Right now I want to talk about…

Things to Include on a Character List…

I have to admit I’d never used a character list until my amazing agent, Dawn Dowdle with Blue Ridge Literary Agency, required one for each manuscript. Now, I don’t know how I’d survive without one!

Character lists are designed to help you remember what you’ve said and done in the first half of your book, or the first three books in a series, so that your characters continue to have the same color eyes, hair, and not age ten years in six months. Here are a few things I like to keep track of on mine:

• The driver’s license info—name (include full name and nickname if applicable), age, height, weight (maybe not in so many words), hair color, eye color, wears glasses or contacts

• Character roles in the story—is she Uncle Alvin’s twin brother’s stepsister? Is he the CEO of Floyd’s Storage Inc.? Or was it CFO? How long have they been there? And if you mentioned what they were doing before they got their current job, trust me, you’ll want to note it on your character list.

• Transportation—what kind of car does your character drive? Note the year, the color, and any other information you learn about it and mention the first time it appears…like what size engine it has or how many people it seats. That could be helpful later on when you try to transport six people in a car that only holds two.

• Dress—does your character wear Armani suits and ties or jeans and sexy, tight T-shirts? Cowboy boots? If your hero wears a baseball cap, it probably has a sports team emblem. What’s his team? Does your heroine prefer two inch heels? Or four inch? What colors do they look best in? Everyone dresses a little different.

• Guns—my genre is romantic suspense, so my characters carry guns. Each character has a preference, and the gun I put in his hand in the first book of the series better carry through to the last. On a related issue, that gunshot wound my character suffered in the last book…it needs to be on the same arm, leg, or shoulder in the next book. That’s one I didn’t write down, and now I have to go back and search for the answer.

The character list has saved my bacon, and my time, over and over again. I’m always coming up with new things to add to the list. Many times I learn things the hard way!

What about you? What’s on your character list?

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Blurb 

Assassin Alex Morgan will do anything to save an innocent life – especially if it means rescuing a child from a hell like the one she endured.

But going undercover as husband and wife, with none other than the disarmingly sexy Detective Nate Sanders, may be a little more togetherness than she can handle. She’s used to working alone, and no man is going to change that – not even a man who makes her heart pound and her defenses crumble with just a touch

Nate has dodged more than a few bullets over the years, but fighting his attraction for Alex may be the bullet that does him in. Still, Nate’s determined to help her find the missing kid. There’s no doubt in his mind that they’re walking straight into danger, but Nate’s willing to face anything if it means protecting Alex. She might have been on her own once, but Nate has one more mission: to stay by her side – forever.

Link to Follow Tour:  http://www.tastybooktours.com/2014/07/whatever-it-takes-trust-no-one-4-by.html

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21150710-whatever-it-takes

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Author Info

DIXIE LEE BROWN lives and writes in Central Oregon, inspired by what she believes is the most gorgeous scenery anywhere. She resides with two dogs and a cat, who make sure she never takes herself too seriously. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, movies, and trips to the beach.

Author Links

Website:http://www.dixiebrown.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dixie-Lee-Brown/311618418919108

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DixieLeeBrown

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6583364.Dixie_Lee_Brown 

 

Rafflecopter Giveaway (Print copy of another installment in Dixie Lee Brown’s Trust No One series, IF YOU ONLY KNEW—where you get to meet Alex and Nate for the first time!)
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