My writing career began with a dream. Not the dream of becoming a writer. I didn’t seriously consider becoming an actual writer for some time after I began my first novel. No, it was a dream that started me writing. So vivid, so compelling, this dream was, that I got up from bed, dragged out an old portable typewriter (pre-computer days) and began to type.
Oh, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. That book took nine years to write because I was also learning how to write as I went along. How to get a character across a room and back without being repetitive seemed a big challenge in those days.
That first book, a time travel when no one was buying them, sat in a box on a shelf for over twenty years. But now—now that I know how to write, or think I do—the box is open and I’m re-editing the story. Time Weaver is the title and you will see it listed on Amazon.com one of these days.
My most successful book, Forever Mine, began when I visited the Cape Meares Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast and saw a bridal photo of a keeper and his wife who were married there. Neither looked happy, but she appeared absolutely forlorn. I thought about what that area of the country would have been like in the waning days of the nineteenth century, what a chore it would have been simply to get to the lighthouse from the nearest town, nine miles away, when there were no roads. What if the bride and groom had never even met before their wedding day? And so, Forever Mine was born.
Taming Jenna, my first book to be published, back in 1964, is another story. My critique group and I were having lunch after a meeting and I said to one of the members I knew had a quirky sense of humor, to tell me what my next book should be about. Without hesitating she said, write about a woman who has to find a man and the only way she can identify him is by a scar on his bottom. That was a delightful story to write.
Ideas for novels come from many sources and it doesn’t really matter what they are. What matters is that the writer is inspired by an idea that carries her through to the end of the tale and creates a vivid, compelling read. I like to believe this is what I’ve done in my books.
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They had lost everything that mattered . . .
The tragic loss of his Indian wife left Columbus Nigh a wanderer; necessity made him a wilderness guide. But now he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic woman who's hired him to lead her westward. Her gentle strength stirs his lonely heart . . . her tender beauty arouses his deepest passions.
Would they find love again on a western journey?
But the perils of the Oregon Trail pale beside the murderous wrath of the man who tracks them across the harsh frontier. Briana knows the only way to save herself and Columbus is to risk their tender love. Only then can she free herself from the horrors of the past -- and embrace a rapturous future . . .
• • •
Charlene began her writing life at an early age, often penning
stories where she cast herself as the heroine. It was after college
when she dug out her old college typewriter and started her first
novel, which came from a spirited dream she'd had the previous night.While that book never sold, her second novel did. Tender Touch became a Golden Heart finalist and earned her an agent who signed the book, and two others, in a three book contract with Kensington Publishing. Kensington went onto publish five of Charlene's western historical romances: Taming Jenna (1994); Tender Touch (1994 Golden Heart Finalist); Forever Mine (1996 Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Award Nominee and Affaire de Coeur Reader/Writer Poll finalist); To Have and To Hold (1997 Affaire de Coeur Reader/Writer Poll finalist); and as Rachel Summers, The Scent of Roses (1999).
Charlene took a break from publishing, but not from writing. A Kiss and A Dare is Charlene's first paranormal romance.
Divine Gamble is Charlene's most recently completed work and earned her first place at the 2010 Romance Through The Ages contest in their western historical romance category. Currently, she's reworking that first book she wrote that resulted from a spirited dream.
When Charlene isn't writing, she loves to travel, research genealogy, create digital scrapbooks and dye eggs in the Ukrainian style. She also enjoys camping and fishing with her husband in the Utah wilderness.
Find Charlene online at --
• • •
Charlene Raddon will be featured on Tuesday, 5 November at The Book Connoisseur.
She will be giving a $10 Amazon gift card to one lucky winner that day.
Each commenter's name will also be added into the grand prize drawing
at the end of the tour which has a total value of $150.00! See how it
works here.
3 comments:
Inspiration does come from strange sources sometimes.
debby236 at gmail dot com
What interesting inspiration and I love the description of Forever Mine. Does the couple come to fall in love? I hope so!
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Thanks for dropping by, Debby and Catherine Lee. We do take our inspiration where we can get it, don't we? And Catherine Lee, yes, they definitely fall in love.
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