Successful Evening...

Just popping in to let you know I'll be blogging later tomorrow about my part in a talk about social marketing at Nottingham Writers Club this evening, and the information that has encouraged me to expand my social networking this year...

Infidelity and 'Forced Seduction' in Historical Romance Novels...

I decided to blog about character behaviour after reading a couple of items on the Heroes and Heartbreakers website- they came up on Twitter links; then today I was in my local Waterstones branch glancing through a couple of new romances, and one of them brought these articles to mind.

The issues of infidelity, and 'forced seduction' (so wrong, in so many ways) have more relevance to historical than contemporary romance fiction. And perhaps mostly related to books produced for the US romance market.

A romance novel doesn't have to have a sex scene- or more than one of them- to make a good story with believable characters. But some of those characters will do it- it's part of who they are and it would be daft to deny it.

Personally I consider it's up to the individual  author whether they show that aspects of their characters. In my stories, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. My characters are usually quite clear about that point in their developing relationship.

Women today have freedoms and advantages that their sisters in earlier centuries didn't; so I don't feel it's right to apply modern day thinking to stories set in the past.

So let's start with Infidelity.

Here's Limecello's piece on the H&H website: 'When Going Strange...Isn’t: Adultery in Romance'.

Read any social history of the aristocracy covering 200-300 years ago and you'll quickly discover that infidelity was accepted if it was carried out discreetly. A number of  younger aristocratic children were actually fathered by other men- not the man whose surname they carried through life.

The ideal is fidelity within marriage- I believe in that myself. 

But in the circumstances of the two novels mentioned in the article, I could understand and agree it's not infidelity- when both partners know and agree to the situation for their own reasons.

Yes it goes against my personal view, but I can't impose my morality on another writer's characters/story.
If a storyline offends me, or just doesn't appeal, then I won't buy the book.

'Forced Seduction' is another thing entirely... It truly belongs in the past of the so called Bodice Rippers- horrid description.

Here's a list on Amazon that gives you an idea of some of the titles from the last thirty years- and yes I can confirm that over the years I've read a few of them- especially those by Johanna Lindsey...

Sexual violence against any woman is wrong. Sexual coercion is wrong. Seduction is not coercion.

( I'm not including erotica, bondage and associated preferences in this category, as it's legal and it's between consenting adults.)

I have to say that the line between coercion and seduction can be very thin for some writers. As I saw today when I was looking through the improved romance section in my local Waterstones.

I picked up a book by a US author whose name I recognised (but her stories have not appealed to me previously) and after reading the blurb on the back of the book, I did my standard routine of opening the book a couple of times at random pages and reading on.

Unfortunately I found myself on part of the story where this very thin line between coercion and seduction was on show. Perhaps it was tied up with the author's word choices in that scene, but I decided not to buy it.

Fortunately there are still a lot of good books from both the UK and US on the romance shelves that don't see the need to walk that fine line...

Editing: I'm Starting to Understand It Better...

After a few weeks of not writing at all because my brain was in frozen mode (figuratively) while I got some new medication sorted, and the approaching deadline for the Good Housekeeping Novel Competition just over a month away, I was starting to think I may not complete my entry in time for my self-imposed posting deadline of mid-March.

I'm still determined to do it, but I won't send a half-baked entry...

So this week, with brain now defrosted, I'm rewriting Chapter 1-again. My previous attempt was okay, but I'd removed too many things that were (for me) essential in the story set-up. So I've been combining the elements from the two versions I currently have, into one.

Getting the content of my first chapter right is essential to the plot of my novel, without it the main characters would have no motive for their initial actions.

It could be done as a Prologue, but some publishers seem to have an issue with prologues, so for the moment it's chapter one.

As I began rereading, and started to do my standard tidy-up before I moved on to the writing stage I realised my editing process had stepped up another rung of the ladder-compared to a year ago.

I've begun to pick up the smaller niggles which previously I would have missed; so when I've considered, will it cause confusion or jar with the reader? 25% of the time the answer is yes, and I've then resolved it.

For example, using 'endless' to recall his journey wasn't right in the context, as shortly after he had reached the end. So some quick thoughts from my vocabulary, cross-referenced between my big dictionary and my copy of Roget's Thesaurus, I decided which of my possible substitute words worked better- issue resolved.

Perhaps I'm just in analytical mode at the moment, so the editing is easier.

I'm sure that I'll go back to it next week with my writer's head on and make a few other alterations, but that's part of the fun side of writing.

I'm sure every writer has their own editing list, so here's my immediate issues list.

• spelling and grammar- especially get rid of excessive commas, exclamation marks and my personal weakness-ellipsis.
• read it aloud to make sure I've not changed tenses or viewpoint mid-scene.
• clichés-watch out for any that may have slipped through.
• a turn of phrase that sounds too 'current' for my time setting- it may be correct time-wise but still sounds too modern for the 18th/19th C.
• dialogue- does it sound right for that character, for the circumstances they're in at that moment, and does it flow when it needs to flow...
• words repeated too closely together, unless for a specific reason.
• Any inconsistencies.

I'm sure there's more I haven't covered, but that's my current list, and I'm fairly certain (apologies, overused phrases do creep into my blog posts :-) ) that ten years ago I would have only been able to manage one or two of the most obvious ones.

It's important to keep improving. And when I can see I'm improving it also helps my confidence quota. :-)

Do you have any editing blind spots, or words you know you overuse?

It's Monday and Time to Catch Up...

You may have noticed that my usual weekend blog post was missing. Well I was quite ill Friday to Sunday and I spent part of Saturday afternoon waiting to see the emergency doctor, for some breathing problems.

The nasty winter bug that I had late last year has kept coming back and heavier medication has been needed. I'm recovering, slowly, but it hasn't been conductive to doing much of anything over the weekend...

So here's a brief round-up of book news that would have appeared Saturday...

Congratulations to Patsy Collins, who entered a novel writing competition which she'd mentioned on her (very useful) blog, and won. Her novel 'Escape to the Country' will be published in March.
Do play Patsy's short video on the post- it will make you smile...

As last year, a man has made it onto the contenders list for the Romantic Novel of the Year. You can read the list of contenders for each category in the article, or for more detail on the Romantic Novelists Association website.

This year's awards include a new category "The Young Adult Romantic Novel category features protagonists who are teenagers/young adults."

And we can all dream of one day having our novel picked up by Hollywood. As a number of literary adaptions feature in this year's Oscar nominations, you might like to read the thoughts on the subject by five writers who have experienced this. "Hollywood ate my novel: Novelists reveal what it’s like to have their book turned into a movie."

Would you want one of your novels turned into a Hollywood film?

A Chick-Lit Novel Competition...

Thanks to Bertieb a member of the Writers News Talkback forum for highlighting this great competition.

"Novelicious has teamed up with Avon (HarperCollins) and Books and the City (Simon & Schuster UK) to bring you the chick lit event of the year!"

Novelicious Undiscovered 2012 is running this competition for UK residents, and offering some great prizes-a manuscript critique and a Kindle among the goodies for one of the winners.

All you need is the first 3,000 words of your chick-lit novel and you can send it by e-mail, so there's no postage to pay, or entry fee.

If you're outside the UK, already under contract to a publisher, or signed to an agent at the time of entry, you aren't eligible- sorry...

Closing date of the first stage is 3rd of April 2012- so get your first 3,000 words shining and ready to go. You retain the rights to your work too, so this is a good one to go for.

There are various stages, but you can read the details on their main page to see how it will work.

Now as with any competition there are rules and it's always a good idea to read the terms and conditions and understand them completely, so you don't disqualify yourself by making a simple mistake.

Rule 7 is very important. Especially for bloggers/website owners.

The winners are due to be announced on the 26th June, so it's not too long. But like any competition if there's a lot of entries then planned dates can go a little astray.

And if you enter- good luck. :-)

I've Been Interviewed...

Following my donation to writer Steven Chapman in November, who was growing a moustache for the annual Movember fundraising event, Steven offered, as a thank you, the opportunity for his supporters to appear on his website in some form...

As I don't yet have a book to promote I opted for an interview about writing and me.

Actually Steven was trying out his interviewing skills, so I was happy to volunteer. He did brilliantly, so a big thank you, Steven. :-)

So if you want to discover my writing day or how I tried to sell romance to non-romance readers just click the above link and you can read my efforts...

And please leave a comment on Steven's blog if you enjoy the interview.

Promoting Your Characters...

Now we all know that promoting your latest book is very important for sales (and future books perhaps), but have you considered promoting your character as a way of getting interest in your book?

Writer Rosalie Warren has started promoting her new fictional character from a ghostly tale- MarieT's story is about her upbringing by sisters/nuns, who may be ghosts...

She has her own Twitter handle @MarieTGhost and a blog Brought Up By Ghosts

Now perhaps this is something that is much more effective for children's/YA fiction. But do you think it would work for other genres?

We all know that writers need to use social media to promote their work, and I think this is quite a fun and different way to do it, engaging potential readers.

So what do you think of this? Would you try it, or do you think it might not work as well as usual social media methods?

Personally, it's an interesting idea...

Self Publishing with Kindle...

I've lost count of how many e-mails I've had from Amazon promoting their latest Kindle e-reader in the past couple of months- you can't escape it. Admittedly their e-readers do seem to be popular Christmas gifts.

Whenever I check the stats for my blog there are regular hits for my Kindle posts, so I thought I'd add another one.

There is a great article (in the December 2011 edition of Writing Magazine) by Kindle author Lily Childs explaining how to format your book for uploading, what to do once it's ready and lots of other useful information.

Lily has just published her second Magenta Shaman book via Kindle and has started to build up a readership for her novels.

Now I'm not the most technically minded person, but I think even I could do it following Lily's instructions...

The December issue of Writing Magazine is worth getting hold of as it has a section solely related to self-publishing, including an article by Malcolm Welshman about generating publicity for your book- yes he did dress up as a rabbit, I saw the original video...

If your newsagent has run out of copies of the December issue, you can buy a copy at the Writers Online website, and a digital edition is available for a reasonable price here.

It will be some time before my work is ready for Kindle, so I better go and get on with writing it... :-)

If you've Kindled your book/s do let me know (in the comments box below) if you think it has been worthwhile...

It's Monday and...

Usually by Sunday night I know what I'm going to talk about on my Monday blog post, but nothing came to me yesterday...

Now I have to admit there's a good reason for that. My cold of the past few days became a nasty chest infection and yesterday morning I was so ill I ended up with the one man ambulance car coming out to me to check my chest pains weren't a serious problem.

Everything was fine and I just needed to see the emergency doctor for antibiotics.

I'm now on my second day of medicine and I'm feeling much more human. But it did cross my mind yesterday, that if I'd lived in earlier centuries, the outcome of my chest infection would have been very different- and eventually fatal...

Which brings me to mentioning Rosemary Gemmell's, Romancing History blog, where today's subject is Garrow's Law and The Old Bailey. If you haven't seen it before, it's worth watching.

BWA- Transparency vs Protection...

Anyone who is switched on to the blogsphere will have heard or read something over the past few days about the Brit Writers Award organisation (BWA).

Now let me make it clear from the start there is nothing to suggest that they have done anything illegal or immoral, just that they have been unwilling to answer reasonable questions about their 'Agents Division' service, and statements they've made about partner-agents etc...

You don't hire a builder to construct your home extension on the basis of statements made on a website, in an e-mail or flyer put through the door- at least not without checking they have the appropriate qualifications, experience in the type of building you want done, and knowing what you're getting for the money you're paying.
If you don't ask questions then you only have yourself to blame if it goes wrong and you realise you've wasted your money...

Services to writers are the same.

Writers know that editorial services can be worth the money spent, if it helps improve their book before it's finally submitted to agents or publishers. If the service claims to be connected to agents, then it's not unreasonable to ask who the agents are?

Sadly BWA had been unwilling to answer questions, (and that has made many writers suspicious, I'm sure). Even today (Friday)when they responded to questions put by Jonathan Telfer (Editor of Writers News and Writing Magazine) their answer, while extensive, did little but explain why they felt the need to use non-disclosure and employ a solicitor to make legal threats of defamation to certain bloggers...

Nowadays Consumer organisations advise potential buyers to ask questions before purchasing or engaging the services of any individual or organisation- be it a caterer, carpet fitter or a plumber!

If the organisation wants your business then they should be doing all they can to make it easy for you to decide in their favour; those that don't, lose business and word spreads.

Writers are consumers too, so don't be surprised when they ask questions...


(Update: request from Harry over at the Writers' Workshop blog )

The Trials of Being A Writer...

At the moment my brain is on go slow, so this blog will be brief.

The dreaded winter bugs have finally got me, so instead of belly dancing today, I'm at home in the warm taking it easy.

I'm going to catch up on my reading until my head is less clogged up. I wish I could be one of those writers who can soldier on when they're ill, but I can't.

I mentioned on Monday that I was reading 'The House of Silk'; well for UK listeners, Radio4 at 10.45pm The Book at Bedtime slot is featuring an abridged version of 'The House of Silk' read by the brilliant Derek Jacobi.

So I'm trying to read enough each day to keep ahead of the nightly slot...

Meanwhile, pop over to Quiller's Place to read about an important ongoing issue, and read as many of the links as you can.

Reading or Writing?

I was trying to decide which of two ideas to blog about today. First, I thought I'd share my latest writing dilemma, trying to write 250 words on a set theme, but then I saw an article online and thought I'd prefer to chat about the idea discussed.

So the 250 word issue will be Monday's post.

The article that caught my attention was 'I’m not ashamed of what’s loaded on my e-reader – are you?' by  Iain Hollingshead in The Telegraph online, book section.

Now this appears to have come about from a survey- though who compiled it isn't mentioned, so judge it how you will.

" Meanwhile, a quarter of us are too embarrassed to admit to owning the e-books we are actually reading – mainly thrillers, mysteries and fantasy."

I find that admission surprising as the people I know with e-readers wouldn't be embarrassed to admit owning such books in digital form. So perhaps the people who answered the survey were high-brow types whose usual (admitted) reading matter is literary fiction...

It's understandable that sales of erotica in e-book form would have increased. In the view of some of the population, anyone seen reading erotica (with their revealing covers) might be considered disgraceful- to put it politely. While many readers and writers know that it is a popular genre, and if you want to buy it and read it then, fine, no problem.

There are likely to be quite a few classics that have been downloaded for free, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and the Brontes among them. I know I have quite a few classics on my e-reader.

Here is a small  selection of e-books I have on my pocket reader currently- I have more in my reader library that I've read and taken off my reader, so I only have the ones on there that I'm reading, or have yet to read.

• Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne.
• The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexander Dumas (I read this as a teenager, along with The Three Musketeers).
• Delight and Desire- Joanne Maitland.
• Diamonds and Pearls- assorted writers (brilliant book).
• Four in Hand- Stephanie Laurens (a favourite, always makes me smile when I read it).
• Georgette Heyer's Regency World- Jennifer Kloester (I have a book copy too).
• Innocent Courtesan to Adventurer's Bride- Louise Allen.
• Loves Me, Loves Me Not-Romantic Novelists' Association (another must have).
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams (I've actually finished it now).
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell-Susanna Clarke.
• The Uncommon Reader- Alan Bennet.
• The Unlacing of Miss Leigh-Diane Gaston.

You get the idea. I won't bore you with all the current 71 books...:-)

So what books have you got on your e-reader? Are there any on your e-reader that you would not want to admit to owning? (If there are, you don't have to tell all.)

Now I'm off to browse some e-books by a couple of authors I haven't read before...
.

It's Good to Be Friendly...

As Ange at Fonts and Fiction has kindly given me the Friendly Blogger Award I have taken some time to consider who to pass this on to.

So in no particular order as they say...

Steven Chapman- he's fun and is a friend to charity- he's growing facial hair during November to raise money- but be warned he writes horror...

Sally Jenkins- who is another friendly person who shares info and competition news.

Jennifer Thomson- a caring and compassionate friendly person- don't worry about the zombie bits...

Shirley- a lovely friendly person who shares her writing highpoints and actually is a very good poet too.

Rosalind Smith-Nazilli- besides writing she shares her knitting ideas in a friendly way...

Other friendly bloggers have already been highlighted by other winners, and  I too would have added them to my list, among them,  Patsy, Teresa, Sally and Keith.

Friendship is wonderful, online and off. So thank you all.

A Friendly Blogger Shares A Thought...

First I have to say thank you to Rosemary Gemmell for nominating me for The Friendly Blogger Award.

Since I have been blogging I have made a lot of new friends, so thank you all.

As so many of the blogs I too would have mentioned have already
been suggested by other nominees I thought I would do something
slightly different- so I hope you don't mind...

When Steve Jobs of Apple and IPhone fame sadly died last week,
there was a clip on the BBC News of a speech he gave to graduating
students at Stanford University in 2005 accompanying the news report.

If you want to read the whole speech (and it is worth reading) the Guardian published it at the weekend, so look here.

Some of his words really stuck in my mind, and for a writer they are a good reminder. (Quoted from the Guardian item.)

" " And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." "

It's Friday And This Blog is One Year Old...

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY~~~~~~~
On the 16th September 2010 my blog, Carol's Corner, published it's first post saying Hello.

It's amazing how quickly the year has passed and how many posts I've made over that time- this post is the 153rd...

When I started I did wonder if I would have anything to say that readers would be interested in, or would the subjects that appealed to me, interest anyone else? Well I'm glad to say that quite a few readers have enjoyed my posts, comment and come back regularly- THANK YOU EVERYONE.

In turn I have made lots of new friends via blogs and learnt a lot too. I know I will go on learning and hopefully it won't be too long before I get some of my writing out into a paying market- I can but hope and work hard.

So now on with the virtual celebrations...

Champagne and most importantly Cake- there's chocolate in there somewhere...

 

Images by digitalart at www.freedigitalphotos.net

My Autumn Review...

As I always review my progress or lack of progress at the end of the year so that I can set targets, I thought this would be a good time to review my blog.

On Friday my blog will be one year old.

I've tried out different things and made lots of new friends in the writing blogsphere, and I've learnt so much about improving my work and the demands of the writing business; the advantages, the pitfalls and how publishing is changing.

I haven't done as much writing as I intended due to the accident and recovering from it. At times the only writing I was able to do was this blog, so I didn't stop completely.

Next month I'm attending Sally Quilford's Pocket Novel workshop and I'm really looking forward to it. I know I'm going to learn a lot which will improve my writing.

If you can't get to the face to face workshop then Sally is compiling a mailing list for a potential online version, here.

So now I'm looking at my blog (as it approaches its first birthday) and I need your help.

I'm going to be redesigning it, though I haven't yet decided which layout I prefer. But I would love to know what you like/dislike about my blog- you can remain anonymous if you prefer. :-)

Have there been particular items or subjects you really enjoy?

As so many blogs do cover specific subjects I like having some flexibility with my blog as long as it is in some way writing related.

So tell me what you think by using the comment form below.

Thank you.

One Woman's Too Hunky Hero is Another's Delight...

Don't worry the sun hasn't gone to my head- well not too much...

If you have popped into Sue Moorcroft's blog in the last few days you will have seen her latest post 'Call To the Nation's Women: Help Us Find The Perfect Man!'

There you will find the results of The Festival of Romance's poll on romantic heroes- from asking 58 UK Romantic Novelists their opinion.
Can't say I'd entirely agree with every the items in each category: essential, desirable but not essential and not important.
I'd possibly move one or two around...

[The poll even made the Book Blogs slot in the online version of the Guardian. Do read the comments below Alison's Flood's piece, especially Sue's response to one of the commenters about hygiene...:-) ]

So if you want to give your personal view, follow the link to take the survey-further down the page on Sue's post.
The survey closes 19th September and the winning entry drawn (of those who include their name and e-mail address at the end of the survey) will win tickets to the Festival of Romance being held 21/22 October in Hunton Park, Near Watford. (You can still do the survey without leaving your details.)

While I certainly agree with the 'essential' list, I would add 'height' to it from the 'desirable but not essential' listing, but I could be biased as I'm married to a wonderful man who's
 6ft 2.

So what do you think of the author results?

The Poorly Computer...

Yes, my computer is sick and early next week it will be getting an big upgrade and my long minutes of waiting for image heavy pages to load will be over, no more waiting and waiting for the little hour glass to do something...

I like to read as many blogs as possible over the weekend, but I'm a bit limited at the moment, as not only am I in the middle of reorganising at home, among other things, the postcards are now in a pretty, larger box with plenty of room for new additions- but the washing machine is on the blink threatening to stop working completely- it's had a hard life with my family.

Last Saturday I came back from food shopping to find my OH had dragged the washing machine out of it's slot and was checking the pipes at the back, with a pile of wet washing in a laundry basket.
I'm glad to say he got it working again, but it keeps having stroppy spells- now that has given me an idea...

But anyway next week I will be discovering Windows7- and I hope by next Friday I'll be back surfing the web without any problem and catching up on the blogs I've been missing.

Technology and labour saving devices are great until they breaks down or get old...

Finally here is the writing related bit, I'm going to leave you with a blog to look at- Louise Wise-who has started a blog directory (by category) that you might like to peruse in the meantime.

Supermarket Fiction...

No I don't mean unbelievable claims that Supermarket X has the best deals this week- they all say that. I'm talking about supermarkets selling fiction.

My nearest place, the green A, many years ago started out selling a few new release paperbacks by the checkout. They were usually crime fiction by authors that were guaranteed to sell. There was a selection of Mills and Boon too and a few seasonal books at relevant times of the year.

Then my local store got extended and along with the electronic goods, stationery and home wares, they started stacking the shelves with books- just like the book charts are displayed in WH Smith's; attractive,  enticing, and cheaper, so you will pick them up, browse and then decide to put them in your trolley.

Of course they were only following the moves made successfully by the big T.

Nor has it stopped there, Argos started selling children's books...

Now, publishers seem to be cosying up with the supermarkets- with the announcement that Avon ( a division of HarperCollins) has signed an exclusive three-book deal with Sainsbury's.

I find it a little disturbing to have an Avon associate publisher saying  “It's been wonderful to support the Sainsbury's team in further developing their own brand publishing initiative with a move into fiction.”
(Bookseller article)

Call me old-fashioned but I still associate supermarkets with food selling. Yes I admit I've bought electrical goods and stationery at the supermarket, but I just can't bring myself to go there to buy a book.
If I'm going to buy a book in a shop then it should be a bookshop, not a bright noisy Muzak playing supermarket.

I know writers should be glad of any deal that is going to bring thousands of sales of their latest book, but at what price?
Selling in a popular supermarket doesn't necessarily mean you'll get future readers and sales from it, but are you going to worry if those sales push your latest book up the sales chart, and guaranteeing the publisher wanting your next book?
If you're offered the opportunity, of course you will take it; in the current publishing climate a writer would be very foolish (and brave) to turn it down on principle.

When it was cheaper for the owner of a small bookshop to go to his local supermarket and buy copies of the latest Harry Potter at vastly reduced prices, because he wasn't going to be able to sell stock from his normal supply chain at such a reduced price, then you have to wonder if selling to supermarkets is good.

Read 'Publishing's supermarket sweep' in the Guardian's Book Blogs and see if you agree with its writer on the subject.

"these issues fade into insignificance against the single biggest (but rarely acknowledged) problem in publishing today: most of the biggest firms are dominated by cynics and fools."

He goes on to claim they are risk-averse to originality and new writers. (Now that sounds plausible.)

Sadly all such moves can do is speed up the loss of remaining local independent booksellers, leaving the book buyer to choose from online, or something in their nearest book chain.

Otherwise it's see what the local supermarket has negotiated deals on...

Character Analysis...

I've been making progress with my new approach to my characters- writing a character fact sheet for each one. I've always done a character sheet, but not in such an organised way.

Now I've yet to apply it to a short story-but I will.

So far I've been concentrating on my novella. I was a bit concerned that I had a more detailed analysis of my hero, than the heroine who is the main point of view.
So I'm going to have to sit her down and probe her secrets.

If you're having difficulties with a character it is useful to sit them down and interview them- imagine you are sat across the table from each other with a glass of wine, or whatever your character likes to drink, then just start a conversation.

A writer friend suggested this to me many years ago and if I ever have someone in my novel who is reluctant to reveal something, I've found it is a useful strategy.

Of course it might not work for everyone, so what other sources are there?

If you just want a quick reference have a look at '45 Master Characters' by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. It's the type of book you either like or hate; find useful for generating ideas about your characters or feel they can be stereotyped- it just depends upon your own level of ability.

Writers' blogs are also great sources of advice so look through the lists of blogs others follow. You will find some gems to refer back to.

But as we're talking about character here, have a look at Kate Kyle's Gone Writing blog, especially her post from February, 'How to build believable characters'.

By the way, if you intend to try the interview technique mentioned above, just don't do it (aloud) if anyone else is around- specifically a non-writer... :-)