Allie Pleiter on those uppity secondary characters

One of the most amusing moments for a writer is when a secondary character refuses to stay “secondary.”  When, even after you have typed “The End,” a particular character starts shouting in your head, demanding their own happy ending now that they’ve been party to someone else’s.

My Gordon Falls series has been filled with these uppity characters who just don’t know their place.  Max Jones, who we met in THE FIREFIGHTER’S MATCH was one, stubbornly insisting he get his story told in A HEART TO HEAL.  I relented, and the results were not only personally gratifying, but an RT Top Pick! to boot.  So maybe Max was right.

Now, in SAVED BY THE FIREMAN, I get to give two familiar Gordon Falls characters the chance to fall in love with each other.  We know Charlotte Taylor as Melba’s best friend from THE FIREMAN’S HOMECOMING, and outrageous Jesse Sykes has been around for several Gordon Falls books.  When I got the idea to let these two fall for each other, the sparks were flying from the first page—some days it felt like I was just along for the ride taking notes. As an author, that’s about as much fun as you can have at the keyboard.

I like to think the fun I had writing this book shows up for you, the reader.  The fact that SAVED BY THE FIREMAN earned another RT Top Pick! rating tells me maybe you will.  After all, my favorite moments as a reader are when I figure out two characters are perfect for each other long before they realize it themselves.  I feel like all of Gordon Falls has been waiting for Jesse and Charlotte to get together—and hope you do, too!

What secondary characters have you longed to get a story of their own?