Characterization by Sara York

We have a special guest today.  Please welcome Sara York.

I want to thank Mary for inviting me to be a guest blog.

Today I'm talking about creating characters.

I love creating characters. I get into making up their little quirks. I love laying in bed thinking about little things, like what type of pizza they eat, or how they brush their teeth. You'll never see that much detail in the book, but I really like to know my characters.

Like Lance, from Working It Out, is a recovering neat freak. He is a surgeon so that's probably a good thing. He hates to have anything out of place and he finds out that loving Jake makes everything get jostled. Then there is Ean from Princess Slave, his evil twin tossed him into prison but he escaped. Ean is actually a very kind and compassionate man, but life has forced him to act rashly. Ean makes a high princess his sex slave. He hates himself for making her do the things he does, but he can't stop himself from loving Ava once he tastes her.


My favorite character so far is Jake Grant from Working It Out. Jake's partner passed away six months ago and now he's trying to pick up the pieces and move on, but the pain is too much at times. When he meets Lance Abbott he doesn't want a relationship but his body won't listen. The attraction is immediate. Jake can't help but let Lance kiss him and touch him. They move way too fast, and Jake knows he should stop but his restraint is nil where Lance is concerned.

Another of my favorite characters is Nick from Surprise Sleepover. Nick keeps his love life and his work life so separate that he hasn't been with anyone in a long while. He's even resorted to taking vacations alone because he doesn't want the messiness of having to explain his orientation to his coworkers. Then James comes along. Oh yeah, he's been fantasizing about James for over a year.

I do fall in love with my characters as I create them. Jake was easy to fall for. He's nice, kind, good looking, sweet and sexy. Jake is also smart and just an all around good guy. I hope you can fall in love with him too as you read Working It Out.

I'm a little sad that I've moved on from Jake Grant, he was an exceptional character to write. I'm developing another book about a cop who used to work in the sex industry. He was a prostitute. Shhh, I know it's totally taboo. I'm at that point where I'm doing straight writing so I haven't had to start editing the story so I'm still totally in love with the MC. So far his name is Blaine, but that could change. Anyways, Blaine is in it for justice. He's bound and determined to get teen prostitutes off the street but because of his past he knows bullying them into giving up the life won't work. Oh yeah, Blaine's been known to frequent gay bars where naughty things happen in the back rooms, but now he's found a guy that he wants more than anything, even those backroom trysts.




I hope you enjoy the excerpt from Working It Out. I would love to have a chance to talk to you and get to know you better. You can find me at my website or blog.

Moving up Jake’s arm, he concentrated on the man’s neck, loving the feel of Jake’s body even if it meant nothing to Jake.


“This feels wonderful.” Jake’s voice was muffled by the sheets.


The compliment made Lance’s heart grow tight. If only he had the courage to lean forward and kiss Jake on the back of the neck. “I’m glad you like it.”


“Yeah, the massage feels good too.”


Lance stopped moving his hands, his breath stalled in his lungs. Had he heard Jake right? No way. He started massaging again. Jake groaned, and blew out a huge breath.


“You really need to take better care of yourself.”


“What do you mean?”