Over at RWAOL, I'm taking a character building workshop with author Millie Criswell. As one of my CPs mentioned, this workshop is hard! We started with short blurbs about our characters, then by filling out worksheets, interviews and such, we get deeper and deeper into their psyches (is that the right word?).

My characters have been fighting me every step of the way. They don't want to answer the worksheet questions. Jackson told me, "I'll tell you what you need to know when you damn well need to know it."

But when I relayed this to our workshop instructor, her response was, "Hey! Who's in charge?" So, I ruined Jackson's day. Not only did I make him fill out the worksheet, but he had to write his in-depth character sketch himself. Tonight, he has to write a descriptive paragraph about Rebecca. He's grumbling about homework.

Anyway, I though I'd share my initial blurbs about the characters in SHIFTING RHYTHMS. I won't share any of the other in-depth things I wrote, mainly because they're just too long.

At any rate, enjoy!

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REBECCA DONNELLY is a lonely woman in her late 30's. Her husband and their two children were killed by a drunk driver, and she suffers from a severe case of survivor's guilt. Her only goal is to get through life as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. She feels like that, alone, is more than she deserves. The people around her, however, have a different view of what she deserves.

JACKSON MORETTO is a musician fed up with the rock 'n roll lifestyle. He's tired of calling women "love" just so he doesn't have to remember their names, and he hates having to spend so much time ducking overzealous female fans. And although he doesn't realize it at first, he's tired of people who find him attractive just for his surface characteristics and never bother to dig deeper to find the man inside. He's ready for a change, he just doesn't know what that change should be.