Using Your Ethnic Heritage in Your Writing

            This past St. Patrick’s Day got me thinking about my own ethnic heritage. They say everyone is Irish on St. Paddy’s Day. When we were young, my husband and I did our share of partying on that day, although neither of us has a drop of Irish blood.

Last year, my husband and I had our DNA tested. There were no surprises. Our DNA results were close, both of us overwhelmingly Mediterranean with some West Asia (Turkey, etc) thrown in. My husband also has some Eastern European DNA, not surprising since his father’s family is from the Ukraine.

Some years ago I wrote an article about using your ethnic heritage in your writing. I decided to dig it out and update it.

You’ve all heard the old adage, “Write what you know.” We writers do research to learn about places we’ve never visited, or we make up our own worlds, which is sometimes easier. Regardless of what worlds we write about, we put a little bit of ourselves into all of our stories.

            I hadn’t thought of using my ethnic heritage in my books until my third one. In the first two books I wrote (one published, one not), my heroes and heroines had Irish/English names, as do most characters in American books. Face it, we Americans have an easier time pronouncing English, Irish, Scottish and German names than we do Italian, Polish, French, etc.

            When I decided to write my third book, I had an epiphany. Why not make at least one of my protagonists of Italian descent, as I am? Thus, Doriana Callahan, the heroine of my romantic suspense, Logan’s Redemption (Redemption Book 1). Doriana, named after a woman I know who is an immigrant from Rome, Italy, is half Italian, half Irish. Doriana has the quintessential Italian mother, loving, but intrusive, named after one of my favorite aunts. Doriana’s Nana lives in South Philadelphia and is a sweet, tiny elderly Italian woman who is a terrific cook, modeled after my husband’s grandmother and mine. I had such fun writing these people because they are so familiar and dear to me. I put in a scene where Doriana, her mother, her cousin, and Nana are making Italian wedding soup. Some of my cousins make wedding soup together every year.

            I used my ethnic heritage again in my romantic suspense novel, Murder, Mi Amore, which is set almost entirely in Rome, Italy, with an Italian hero and an Italian-American heroine. I even included a whole chapter set in the small town in Abruzzo where my grandparents were raised. Writing Murder, Mi Amore brought back memories of my trip to Italy in 2006. Every bit of setting — the hotel where my heroine Lexie stays, the streets she travels, even the food she eats — are authentic, based on my own experiences. However, unlike my heroine and hero, I wasn’t chased through Rome by very bad people trying to kill me. 

In Franco’s Fortune (Redemption Book 2), the hero is Doriana’s brother, and of course Italian/Irish. The heroine is a redhead with a French last name. In Luke’s Temptation (Redemption Book 3), the heroine is Doriana’s cousin, and is all Italian. The hero is Hispanic. Although I’m not Hispanic, I’ve written several heroes who are of Hispanic or mixed Hispanic/Native American heritage. As you can see I’ve gotten away from my ethnic roots at times, yet the characters I write about have ethnic backgrounds that I enjoyed researching.

In my novella, Capri Nights, included in the Entice Me: Luscious Love Stories Boxed Set, my hero, Alex, is from the Isle of Capri, Italy. I’m currently writing a story that will be included in a box set of international stories. My hero is, you’ve got it, Italian, from the town of Ravello on the Amalfi Coast. I’ve visited Capri twice, and I’ve visited Ravello also.

            I’ve sold a dozen short romance stories to national women’s magazines, and I’ve used Italian and Polish names for many of my short story characters. However, a few of the magazine editors have changed my characters’ names to something more “vanilla.”

You have to be careful when using ethnic last names. The names must be easy to pronounce - like Russo, DiMarco, Novak, Morelli, Brioni, Cortese. You don’t want readers tripping over the names.

Writing my Italian characters is like writing about my family, people I’ve known all my life. I’ll use an ethnic name whenever it fits, but I know, regardless of ethnicity, the characters’ names must tell the readers a little bit about them. Try it when you write your stories. Spice up your characters a little flavor of yourself and your heritage. 

           Visit my website at www.caramarsi.com for excerpts and information about all my books.

Logan's Redemption:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0040JI3PG/?tag=carmaraut-20

Franco's Fortune:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNA3JQI/?tag=carmaraut-20

Luke's Temptation:

http://www.amazon.com/Lukes-Temptation-Redemption-Book-3-ebook/dp/B00MYC97LU/?tag=carmaraut-20

The Redemption Series Box Set:

http://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Boxed-Set-Cara-Marsi-ebook/dp/B00RJDKJ1Q/?tag=carmaraut-20

Murder, Mi Amore:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mi-Amore/dp/B009UEVVP0/?tag=carmaraut-20

Entice Me: Luscious Love Stories

http://www.amazon.com/Entice-Me-Luscious-Love-Stories-ebook/dp/B015YEHP9U/?tag=carmaraut-20

 

           

HEROES OR HEROINES?

Inquiring minds want to know: for you authors—do you have an easier time writing your heroes or your heroines? For you readers—do you relate better to the heroes or the heroines in the romance books you read?

It’s been said that readers should want to be friends with the heroine and fall in love with the hero. I’ve got the falling in love with the hero part nailed down.

Writing the hero is much easier for me than writing the heroine. I fall in love with each of my heroes as I’m writing his story. I love getting into my guys’ heads. My men are always tortured in some way, yet they are vulnerable, and despite everything they’ve been through, they are willing to open their hearts to take a chance on love. And they aren’t afraid to fight for the women they love. Readers fall in love with my heroes too.

My heroines not so much.

I struggle to write heroines. I like them to be vulnerable also, and independent and strong. Women who can stand on their own and take care of themselves. But, according to a few reviewers/readers, my early heroines were a little too stubborn. One reader who reviewed my first published book disliked my heroine through most of the story because this reader felt the heroine took too long to appreciate the great guy who was head over heels for her. I’ve had some readers defend my heroes against perceived slights from the heroines.

My heroines have been hurt in the past and steel themselves against getting hurt again. Because of that they are a little wary of losing their hearts. And, yes, maybe a little stand-offish, at least at first, for some of them. On the other hand, I’ve written heroines who have been too mushy and googly-eyed toward the hero, according to my critique group. They have me make her resist the hero more. See what I mean about struggling to write the women?

I suspect my problem writing heroines is that each one has a little bit of me in her. I’m stubborn (to a fault my husband would say), and I don’t like anyone telling me what to do. Although these can be good traits for my heroines, I’ve had to learn to dig deeper into their minds to show their inner struggles so readers can understand them better, and to make them the kinds of women readers would have for friends.

Readers tend to like the heroines in my later books. But not as much as they love my heroes.

As a reader, I asked myself the same question as above. Who do I relate to better? Hero or heroine? Many times it depends on the book and the roles the characters play. But looking back, I like most heroes a tad better than the heroines in the books I read. Why? Is it just a woman thing, and we all fall in love with the heroes?

Here are a few of my heroes and why I love them.

Logan Tanner from Logan’s Redemption (Redemption Book 1). Logan was raised on the mean streets of Philadelphia. As a teen, he was forced to flee. Now he’s back, but his past still haunts him. He puts his life on the line to protect the woman he loves, the woman he’s always loved.

Franco Callahan from Franco’s Fortune (Redemption Book 2). Franco went from a spoiled child of privilege to a wealthy playboy. But Franco’s player façade hides deep wounds. It takes a spitfire of a woman, ex-military, to break down the wall around Franco’s heart.

Luke Corrado from Luke’s Temptation (Redemption Book 3). A hotshot FBI Agent who doesn’t always follow the rules, Luke carries his guilt like a loaded Glock. Because of him, a woman he’d loved was murdered. Now, on special assignment, he has a chance to redeem himself by saving the life of another woman, a woman who tempts him to love again.

Nick Radford, from Cursed Mates, former Duke of Radford, now a powerful werewolf. Nick is a tortured soul who’s lived for over 500 years. To save the world and the woman he loves, he’ll sacrifice his own life.

 Logan's Redemption (Redemption Book 1) is free for a limited time at Amazon, iBooks, BN, Kobo, and Smashwords.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0040JI3PG/?tag=carmaraut-20

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/Logan's-Redemption/id841170077?mt=11

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/logans-redemption-cara-marsi/1100715248?ean=2940011320637

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/logan-s-redemption-redemption-book-1

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62693

All three books in The Redemption Series are in a boxed set for your reading convenience.

http://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Boxed-Set-Cara-Marsi-ebook/dp/B00RJDKJ1Q/?tag=carmaraut-20

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-redemption-series/id954507494

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-redemption-series-boxed-set-cara-marsi/1120974523?ean=2940150000445

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-redemption-series-boxed-set

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/505343

 

What about the Cat?

WHAT ABOUT THE CAT?

Do you need closure in the books you read and the movies you watch? Does it bug you when you’ve invested a few hours in a movie but you don’t get a sense of closure and leave the theater or turn off your TV feeling unsatisfied? Many TV series will end the season with a cliffhanger that has you hungering for the new season to start. I understand that. It’s much like ending a chapter of a book with a hook. But what I’m talking about is a movie with a beginning, middle and end, only there’s not so much of an ending.

How do you feel when you read a book or story and there’s no real closure? I thought about this recently when a friend told me about a serial story she read. There was no ending, and you had to buy the next installment to see what happens. My friend was upset and said she wouldn’t buy the next one because she wanted an ending to the one she read. I agreed.

I want a satisfying ending to the movies I watch and the stories I read. And I want the authors to tie up all loose ends. A few years ago, I read a book by one of the top selling mystery authors in the country. I’d never read any of his books, but since a friend gave it to me, I felt obligated to read it. This one was written in collaboration with someone else. It was okay, not great. There were three different mysteries intertwined. In two of the mysteries, the crime was solved and we found out who the villain was. The third story was left hanging, as if the authors forgot about that thread. It was just dropped. We never learned “whodunit.” I wanted to throw the book across the room. I’d read through the whole thing and I didn’t get closure.

A while back I read a book by one of my favorite authors (I don’t want to name names here). He writes suspense. This book was great with an intriguing premise: that Hitler won WW2. However, much as I love this author and as much as I enjoyed that book, the ending left me hanging. Did the protagonist die to sacrifice himself for the greater good? The author never said. I suspect he left it open on purpose so the readers could come to their own conclusion. That bothered me. I wanted to know in no uncertain terms what happened to the hero.

On a related topic, a playwright whose name escapes me, famously said something like this: If you have a gun in the first scene, you’d better use it by the last scene. If you put a character, an animal, an item of importance in the story, you’d better let us know what happens to that character, animal, item. Don’t insert someone or something, give it importance, then forget all about it.

Case in point: years ago I read a romantic suspense by one of my favorite romance authors. This book was very good. The heroine had a cat who figured prominently throughout the story. At the end, the villain set fire to the heroine’s house. The heroine escaped, and the ending showed her getting medical attention, the hero by her side, and the bad guy in custody. But no mention was made of her cat who was in the house with her. I kept wondering, “What about the cat?” Did it die in the fire? Did it escape? I read and reread the last chapter trying to find the cat, but nothing. It would have taken just one line to let us know. Something like, “Fluffy had escaped too, and was her usual playful self.” This was in the days before the Internet. If I read it now, I’d find a way to contact that author and ask her about the cat. Some may think I’m a crazy cat lady, and maybe I am, but the heroine’s cat was woven all through the story and given importance. And then it was dropped.

A top-selling crime author who lives in my area writes a weekly column for a local paper. Recently, she gave a very moving tribute to her elderly neighbor who’d died. She’d talked about him and his cat in other columns. In her tribute, she never mentioned the cat. I contacted her through her website and asked what happened to the neighbor’s cat. She wrote a very nice reply saying she’d taken the cat and it was living with her and her menagerie of pets. Then, a few weeks later, she wrote in her column that she’d had so many people write her to ask about the cat and she wanted to assure all of us the cat was fine and living with her. So, I’m not the only one who asks, “What about the cat?” We readers want closure.

I just finished a terrific book by another favorite author. The book was great, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that captured my interest the way this one did. In the book, the heroine has a cat whom she loves very much. When the heroine is in jeopardy, the hero wants to take her to his hotel to protect her. But she doesn’t want to leave her cat. He tells her a cat can stay alone overnight. True. Then, the story goes on and the heroine is living at the hotel for at least two days and nothing is said about the cat. Again, I’m thinking, “What about the cat? Doesn’t she have to feed it and clean the litter box?” Finally, the hero says he’s taking her back to her place to feed the cat. And the heroine goes something like this, “OMG. I forgot about my cat.” I love this author, but I think she messed up a little here. If that heroine loved her cat as much as the author made us think, she wouldn’t have forgotten about it. I wonder if her editor realized nothing was said about the cat and inserted that. At the end, when the hero and heroine are in Hawaii together, the heroine thinks about the friend who’s watching her cat. At least in this book, I got closure. The cat was okay.

Despite my emphasis on cats, I do have a bigger point. Give the readers closure, a satisfying ending, and if you put in a pet or a friend or an item and give it importance, don’t drop it from the story. Readers like me take notice. You don’t want your readers asking, “What about the cat? Or the dog? Or the necklace? Or the friend?”

What do you think? How do you feel about books and movies without proper endings? Have you ever wondered after watching a movie or reading a book, “What about the (insert name here)?” Can you tell us about them?

Now, for a bit of promo, and I promise closure. 

Luke's Temptation, Redemption, Book 3, is available for pre-order at Amazon for the special pre-order price of 99 cents through the pre-order period that ends Sept. 30, 2014. Books 1 and 2, Logan's Redemption and Franco's Fortune, are also on sale for 99 cents through the pre-order period.

Danger and desire brew a volatile mix as two wounded souls fight to stay alive and find love.

Anita Santisi is an independent, successful businesswoman with a wounded heart. And some very bad people after her. Break-ins, home invasions, and attempted abductions have turned her comfortable life dangerous. Can she trust her mysterious, sexy new neighbor, Luke Corrado, or is he behind the criminal acts?

Special Agent Luke Corrado carries his guilt like a loaded Glock. A woman he loved was murdered because of him. Now, on a new undercover assignment to protect Anita Santisi, he’s determined to redeem himself. What he doesn’t expect is that Anita will tempt him to let down the barriers around his heart.

As Anita and Luke find themselves in ever-increasing danger, they must fight to stay alive. Will they open their hearts to each other before it’s too late?

http://www.amazon.com/Lukes-Temptation-Redemption-Book-3-ebook/dp/B00MYC97LU/?tag=carmaraut-20