That’s not to say that characters never change during the course of a
story. Often the story is about the
change in a particular character from the beginning of the novel to the end.
But it’s important to make the need for this change evident to the reader. It’s
necessary to establish firmly who the character is at the beginning before
showing the gradual changes to that character.
Having said that, the hero in Sonata Michael Donovan, is not a
character who changes much in the course on the book. He starts out a decent,
intelligent, lovable guy, and he ends up a decent, intelligent, lovable guy.
But through those absolutely consistent character traits, he causes change to
those around him.
Here is the character study I wrote on my hero, Michael Donovan, in my
new novel, Sonata.
 |
| Clint Eastwood as Michael Donovan |
Michael’s hobby is cooking. He worked
his way through university in restaurant kitchens, and took courses at the
Vancouver Culinary Arts School. Michael’s cooking ability plays an important
part in his seduction of Sayuri McAlister’s (my Japanese-Canadian heroine, a
professional cellist).
He was Sayuri’s sweetheart in high
school, where she was two years below him. Their relationship ended badly when his
adolescent hormones too obviously reacted to the twelfth grade femme fatal.
They haven’t seen each other since-- (twelve years ago). They reconnect when he
is assigned to investigate a break-in at Sayuri’s father’s house just as Sayuri
returns home from Paris.
On
his off-work hours Michael works on a sailboat that he keeps moored at Secret
Cove. He whistles melodiously as he works. Picks up melodies he hears Sayuri
practicing. He has a huge dog named Buttercup, a Malamute, St. Bernard, wolf
cross, who is afraid of her own shadow. He rescued her, a shivering,
malnourished puppy, in the course of a drug bust.
Michael
has an efficiency apartment in Vancouver on Sixth and Granville, and a small
house in Secret Cove on the Sunshine Coast that he inherited from his
grandparents, while Sayuri, the woman he loves, comes from a different world.
Her father owns a major tech company (think Blackberry) and she lives in a
mansion in Point Grey. The difference in their financial and social status
looms large in Michael’s eyes. He sees it as an insurmountable problem.
Furthermore everyone in the McAllister household, including Sayuri’s father and
his new fiancé and the couple who have worked for them for years and raised
Sayuri after her mother’s death, must be considered a suspect in a multi-million
dollar jewelry robbery that appears to have been an inside job.
How can Michael hope to win Sayuri in
the face of these obstacles?
Below is a
short excerpt. Michael has just
persuaded Sayuri to have dinner with him.
 |
| Sayuri McAllister |
“Where are
we? I thought you were taking me to dinner.”
“I am. I’m
taking you to dinner at my place.”
“I see. I
suppose that’s all right, as long as you don’t think that I’m on the menu.”
Michael
burst out laughing. “I wouldn’t presume…”
Sayuri
laughed with him. “You can’t have changed that much Michael. Of course you’d
presume if you thought you could get away with it. And I hope you can cook, because
I certainly can’t.”
“Cooking is
among my many and varied talents. You’ll never have to cook if you just stick
with me.”
“That’s a
very good thing, because if our survival depended on my cooking we’d starve.
When other girls…”
“And boys,”
Michael interjected.
“When other
girls and boys were learning how to cook, I was practicing cello.”
Michael
pulled his car into a numbered parking space and came around to Sayuri’s side
of the car to open the door for her.
“Mmm. A man
who can cook and who helps his dinner companion out of the car. Are you sure
you’re for real, Michael Donavan?”
*************************************************
COMING NOVEMBER 2012 -- The latest romantic thriller from
Blair McDowell.
SONATA is the story of the beautiful and
talented Sayuri McAllister who returns to her home in Vancouver after a five
year absence to discover her father’s house has been broken into and much of
her deceased mother’s valuable jewelry is missing. Michael Donovan,
Sayuri’s old high school flame and now a detective with the Vancouver Police
Department, is the officer in charge of the case. To her surprise Sayuri feels
a great attraction for him even after all these years. Does Michael feel the
same way? Shortly after the robbery, Sayuri’s father marries Alyssa James, a
woman Sayuri had never met and to her surprise the mansion is soon also home to
Alyssa’s brother. Hugh James is a devastatingly handsome Irishman who
immediately begins a campaign to bed and wed the delicious and wealthy Sayuri.
Accidents begin to happen. Or are they accidents? Nothing is as it seems.
Michael distrusts Hugh James and fears that Sayuri’s life
may be in danger.
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Find Blair:
Website: http://www.blairmcdowell.com
Blog: http://blairmcdowellauthor.blogspot.ca/ Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5807790.Blair_McDowell
Email: info@blairmcdowell.com
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