Creating a Character
This very real woman helped inspire me to create the main character in my first novel. Starting in the 1750s, Marie Chouteau founded a dynasty based in St. Louis. To do this, she became an accomplished businesswoman and had to fend off her first husband, who had abandoned her and then tried, without success, to asset his marital rights after she had begun amassing a fortune for her new family. Quite a woman!
When I began to create Louise, for my novel A FALSE DAWN, she too was rich and ambitious. But unlike Marie Chouteau, Louise had done nothing to earn her good fortune. The more I listened to Louise, as she told me her story and related all her troubles, the more I realized that Louise lacked what Marie Choueau clearly possessed: character.
How could I write a novel centered on a character who had no character? While it’s great to be inspired by real people, sometimes they create real challenges, too, for a writer. I’ll tell you more about how I solved (I think) this challenge in future posts.
About The Author
Jeff Heller
I'm a historical novelist who focuses on Colonial America, particularly the French-Canadians who settled North America in the 1600s and 1700s. My first novel, A FALSE DAWN, features Louise, a young wife and mother who must search for her son and her husband when the English invade their home in French-held Montreal and torch the city.