How I Research My Novels

 Throughout the summer and into the fall, I was researching a lot for my novels. I was just planning on writing about things that I didn’t know about, and I wanted to write that as well as I could. I fell into a routine while researching, and that’s what I’m going to share with all of you. 

So, what exactly was I researching in the first place? Truthfully, the bulk of my research was focused on various LGBTQIA+ identities, since I wanted to include more queer characters in my writing. I wanted to make sure that I was telling those stories as well as I could, and a way for me to do that was by researching and hearing first hand stories from queer people. I did research a variety of mental health conditions and various disabilities as I think that those people also deserve to be represented. Again, most of the research was focused on queer identities. 

The first place I start is finding clinical documents about whatever I’m researching. For example, when I was researching autism in girls, I found articles written by medical clinics to educate myself in a professional setting like that. An issue with doing this sometimes is that you get way too much medical jargon, but I was able to find documents that I was able to understand. Specifically from my research with autism, it really opened my eyes to the medical side of something that I’ve never really thought about before. 

Once my brain is overflowing with academic information, I move over to YouTube, specifically to Anthony Padilla’s channel. He interviews such a large variety of people, as well as making videos where people in a specific subgroup will answer assumptions other people have of them. I find these videos really informative, because it’s real people talking about their experiences in a way that’s really easy to digest. Not only does this cover any queer identity I’m looking for, but he also interviews such a large variety of people that it’s no wonder I keep coming back to him. If I happen to stumble across a video by someone else talking about the thing I’m researching, I’ll look into it, but Anthony Padilla is my main go to. 

Now, my last research spot may seem a bit weird, but lastly, I turn to Reddit. I go to the subgroup of the thing that I’m researching, and I read posts by people in that community, talking about their experiences. Now, sometimes this is more beneficial than others, i.e. the autism and greysexual subreddits were great. I learned a lot. Other times, I spent an hour on them and gained nothing. However, I think hearing people’s first hand accounts in a casual setting really helps me get into the mind of a character. 

And honestly, that’s pretty much it. My research is not crazy, but it’s enough that I have a basic understanding of what I’m writing about. I do have a special research notebook where everything goes, and I’m very methodical on keeping track of my sources, but other than that, that’s the gist of my research. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C

My Favourite Male Characters

 A few weeks ago, I shared with you my favourite female characters that I’ve written, and I thought today I would share my favourite male characters. This has the same caveats: these characters are ranked in no specific order, and also, I’m going to be including some honourable mentions, since I have a lot of male characters to choose between. 

Now, I want to talk about the honourable mentions, since that’s how I started last week. First and foremost, it would feel wrong to do this list without mentioning Jack from The Cora Anthology. I do love Jack’s character, especially in the second book of the main trilogy, but just like Cora, if you’ve read anything else that I’ve written about my experience with that series, Jack is a very confusing character for me to be attached to, so he isn’t one of my favourites. Another one of the honourable mentions is Kyle. Now, this character does have a role in “If This Ends”, which is a project that I’m currently plotting, but I’ve been writing with variations of him for years. I’ll touch on that in a later post, but just know that I love him, especially because he’s the definition of a golden retriever guy. 

The first character I want to talk about is Tobias from “Love Through Agony”. As established, that novel is the definition of my heart and soul, and Tobias is basically my dream boyfriend. He’s just so supportive of Tessa, and is so eager to learn how to help her. He’s also flawed, which I think makes him even more lovable. To add to that, he calls Tessa every pet name I could think of, which I love, obviously. This isn’t a spoiler, but rather a teaser, but I’m also really excited to explore his character in the sequel to “Love Through Agony”, since I think the journey that he’s going to go on is really interesting. I love him, and I end up leaning on him as I’m in flare ups, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s easier for me to rationalize self soothing if I imagine one of my book boyfriends giving it to me. 

The second character I want to talk about is Olliver from the “Healing x3 Trilogy”. He’s also a golden retriever, and is always incredibly concerned about how Nora is feeling emotionally. He’s also big on pet names, which as we’ve established, I’m a fan of that. I’ve described him as a gentle giant, because that’s exactly what he is. He’s so sweet, but at the same time, he’s afraid to express his true dreams and his negative emotions. He wants to be the positive force in everyone’s life, but sacrifices his own emotions for the sake of it. If you’ve ever seen Sanders Sides on YouTube, he’s Patton. 

The third character I want to talk about is Flynn, also from the “Healing x3 Trilogy”. As expected, I love writing with Flynn’s character. He’s Nora’s physical protector, so he’s incredibly protective of her, but is also very in tune with her body and how that changes. I absolutely love how he learns her body’s cues and is able to figure out what she needs from how she’s behaving. Another thing I love about him is the fact that he isn’t afraid to fight for what he wants, even if that means getting physical about it. No matter what he does, though, Flynn always apologizes, since he knows that sometimes he gets carried away. 

The fourth character I want to talk about is Vance, who is yet again from the “Healing x3 Trilogy”. He’s Nora’s sexual protector, so he’s always trying to help her explore her sexuality and what that means for her. However, he’s incredibly accepting of where she’s at now, and who she is. He just wants to love her, no matter what she’s doing or ready for. I really enjoyed writing with Vance, since I got to explore a very different dynamic than I’m used to portraying. He isn’t afraid to say what he wants, especially when it comes to explaining to Nora all of the things he wants to do to her. He’s definitely not a character I thought I was ever going to write, but I’m really happy with how he turned out. 

The last character I want to talk about is Dallas from “The Publisher’s Cowboy”. I never thought I’d write a cowboy, but I think a modern one is my kind of twist on it. He was raised like a gentleman, and he definitely isn’t lacking in charm. I love how witty Dallas is, but he’s always quick to be a real sweetheart. I decided to give him a bit of a southern accent, which has been really fun trying to figure out the best way to portray that. I’m done writing with Dallas, but I already know that I really love my cowboy.

There you have it: my favourite male characters that I’ve written. I’m excited to see not only where these characters go, but also what new ones show up in the future.

NaNoWriMo 2024

 Following tradition, I thought I would write a post about my experiences going into National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) this year. If you’re unsure of what NaNoWriMo is, I do have a post detailing it from last year that you can go check out. 

This year of NaNo is unique for me. Not only because of what is going on in my personal life, but it’s also the first year I’m going into the month without having a finished outline. Believe me when I say that this project is going to be huge, so I’m not too worried about the outline not being done. I don’t love it, but there’s enough of it done that I can at least finish NaNo, and I’m hoping to continue working on the outline throughout the month. 

Now, I could sit here and come up with many excuses as to why this outline isn’t done, but the truth is is that I’ve been incredibly busy recently, and my writing has fallen to the back burner a bit. If you’ve ever been in university, you understand that October is the craziest month of the fall semester, but I have survived that once again. Add in a couple different colds for me and a death in the family, and you’ve signed yourself up for just doing the bare minimum to get through the day. Even as I’m writing this, I’m still getting over a cold, and have a mountain of reading ahead of me to do today. 

To add to my stress around NaNo, I’m also going away for about five days right at the beginning of the month. Which I’m really looking forward to, however, I like to reach the minimum on word count everyday, and I’m not really sure how I’m going to be able to achieve that. If you’re wanting to keep up with how I do in terms of hitting my word count, be sure to follow me on Instagram at: C Hilts (@c.hilts.books) • Instagram photos and videos

Now that I’m done complaining about something that I’m willingly signing myself up for, I am really looking forward to NaNo. As I’ve mentioned both in this post and on my Instagram stories recently, I’m not writing a lot right now, and I don’t even have an active novel that I’m writing. I think NaNo will help me get back into the swing of things, just like it has done in the past. Truthfully, it’s the reason I started doing NaNo in the first place, so I’m hoping that word count goal will help me. 

I’m also incredibly excited about the project I’m starting, which is actually being taken from an idea I had three years ago. I did start writing the project, but then I fell in love with a different enemies to lovers idea that I had, and here we are. However, I’m probably only going to get through the enemies part during NaNo, but I’m excited for the sarcasm and angst that comes with that. 

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about NaNo this year, since it kind of feels like it’s snuck up on me, and I’m just ready to get into it. Thankfully, I can get into it, and hopefully I’m successful in my fifth attempt this year.

That's all for now, folks!

-C