Take Two Characters. Heidi Swain Chooses Two of Her Favourite Fictional People.

This week I am delighted to welcome Heidi Swain back to my blog. The first time Heidi appeared here, it was before her debut novel, The Cherry Tree Cafe, was published; and now she is a Sunday Times bestselling author with a string of wonderful, heartwarming novels on the bookshelves.

Today Heidi is here to launch my new series,

Take Two Characters.

Firstly she is going to tell us a bit more about a favourite character from her own writing; then she'll share her love of a character created by another writer.

Take Two Characters

When Susanna kindly invited me to take part in this fabulous feature I knew instantly which of my own characters I wanted to talk about. There is one person who plays a part in every single one of my titles and yet she has never had a book of her own.

Lovely Jemma who owns The Cherry Tree Café and runs it with her best friend, the queen of crafts, Lizzie Dixon, has been with me right from the very beginning of my Wynbridge writing journey.

She’s an astute business woman, a wife, mother, daughter, sister-in-law and firm friend to many Wynbridge residents and she gets stronger with every title.

She might not have her own book, but she’s a force to be reckoned with nonetheless, always in the thick of things and poised in my next book, Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls, to announce another exciting string to her business bow. This latest development was completely her own idea. When I was writing one particular scene, the words flowed from my fingers as easily as if she was standing next to me and dictating what to write. Which actually, I’m certain was what happened.

Originally Jemma’s role was to support Lizzie but she has stretched far beyond the pages of that first title and I often find myself thinking ‘what would Jemma do?’ when faced with either a fictional or real-life problem.

And my readers love her too. She’s an integral part of the Wynbridge package, even making her presence felt in Nightingale Square, but I don’t think she needs a book of her own. Jemma’s voice sings loud and proud throughout the telling of everyone’s else’s tales and I think she rather likes it that way.

* * * *

Picking a second character for this feature was not so easy and I went back and forth for a few days before finally settling on… inimitable Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter and the mighty pen of JK Rowling.

There are many things I love about Molly Weasley – her fabulous home for a start. I would love to live in The Burrow, even if I didn’t have dishes which washed themselves – and perhaps it would be best not to get me started on her unique sense of style and dress – but of course there is a whole lot more to her character than that.

What really stands out in my mind when I think about Mrs W are the two very different sides of her personality. On the one hand she’s a home loving wife and mum, a domestic goddess with a knack for knitting (or bewitching her needles). She welcomes Harry into her family, treating him as one of her own without question, but on the other hand she’s an incredibly strong woman who is fiercely protective of her friends and family. When her daughter is threatened we hear the lioness roar and her power can’t be matched. She knows the value of her tribe and stands up for what is right, whatever the cost.

So many of the female characters in the Harry Potter series show strength and ambition, (not always positively), as well as tenderness and love but for me, Molly Weasley is the perfect amalgamation of all those traits which are best in both men and women. Or should that be wizards and witches?

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