Character? Who’s calling me a character? Characters are unfortunately an essential part of writing a novel. I say unfortunately, because they’re the most troublesome creatures alive. Did I say alive? Well, that’s the main issue right here. It would be much easier if they stayed flat on the page, but do they? No. No sooner have I started writing them than they leap onto their own two feet and start running. Which leads to all kinds of unexpected consequences. If only for self-protection, I’ve discovered five essential rules that I have to follow if I’m ever going to get my writing done. 1. The people that populate your novel know a lot more about themselves than you do. So give them the chance to reveal themselves, and you might get a few surprises. You’re right in the middle of the novel when a sudden bit of information about them comes up, something you didn’t know until they revealed it. Take Mr Darcy, for example. We know how he behaves with Elizabeth, we know how he is from a romantic perspective. But take him out of the context of Pride and Prejudice and put him with his cousin, or see him…

August 2008On Sale: July 22, 2008Featuring: Aaron Findley; Beth Diamond; Mindy Sherman319 pages ISBN: 0061253774EAN: 9780061253775Trade Size$13.95 Women’s Fiction Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com Dear Neighbor, Drop Deadby Saralee Rosenberg “A “for sale” sign on our lawn is fine unless you’re not the one who put it there.” Nora Ephron hates her neck, but Mindy Sherman hates her whole body. A forty-one year old mother of three, she is still trying to squeeze into jaws-of-life jeans, for in her Long Island neighborhood, size four is, well, fat. Not even her husband, Artie, is immune. “Someone called us Shrek and Fiona,” she cried. That someone is next door neighbor, Beth Diamond, a tall, toned *MILF who seeks perfection in everything from her kids to her carpools, referring to her BlackBerry for infractions when Mindy disregards either. Lucy and Ethel they are not, so can they play nice when they both enter Downtown Greetings’ talent search and realize they have to compete as a team? Exactly. In this story of fences and defenses, two women who have never shared a recipe suddenly must join forces in order to keep their messy plates spinning. It’s a delicate balancing act, what with out-of-their mind in-laws,…