What makes a book ‘The book of your heart’

If you’ve ever heard an editor speak at a conference the one thing they say – repeatedly – is write the ‘book of your heart’.

Okay, fine and dandy! But what does it take to write such a book? With the medieval coming in August, I now have the answer, because ‘Heartsong’ is truly the book of my heart!

First, the characters are all special. They developed over the many months, into people I liked. They seemed alive. Their problems became important to me, and I lived the story through them. I felt every bit of Rhianna’s pain, felt Garrett’s frustration and Colvin’s hate. It didn’t happen right away. In fact, it took months for them to grow on me to the point where I really cared what happened to them.

I also love the plot. It almost wrote itself. Things kept happening to the characters, one crazy thing after another, all developing from what happened before. The characters' reactions fit their personalities and because they had taken months to grow into the people I felt I knew, I could image how they would react. Consequently, the novel is one I love. In fact, I don’t want to bid goodbye to these characters, so, yes, I’m working on sequels.

To answer the question I posed at the beginning, this book is a book of my heart, a real favorite because I know the people in the story. I care about them and I like how they changed and grew, how to related to each other. I can hardly wait to see how the other tales turn out.

Of course, my friends think I’m a bit touched! They can’t understand how my characters become so real to me, I can figure out how they'll react in a given situation, but then they don’t write books. However, maybe they are correct. Perhaps I am ‘touched’! But, I don't think it's a bad thing.

Allison