Guest Post (and a Giveaway!): Jenny Knipfer & Harvest Moon

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Harvest Moon by Jenny Knipfer, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! I’m pleased to have Jenny on the blog today to share about how she crafts her characters!

Title: Harvest Moon
Series: By the Light of the Moon #4
Author: Jenny Knipfer
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: November 23, 2020
Genre: Christian Historical Romance

A tale of finding grace and blessing amongst life’s hardships

In the wilds of 19th century Ontario, Maang-ikwe, a young Ojibwe woman, falls into a forbidden love, breaks her father’s honor, and surrenders her trust to someone who betrays it. The abuse she suffers divides her from her tribe and causes her to give up what she holds most dear.

Niin-mawin must come to grips with his culture being ripped away from him. Brought up in a “white man’s” school, he suffers through an enforced “civilized” education and separation from his family. When a man he respects reveals a secret about Niin-mawin’s past, he embarks on a search for the person he hopes can mend the part of his heart that’s always been missing.

Both Maang-ikwe and Niin-mawin wonder how a harvest of pain and sorrow will impact their lives. Will they find the blessings amongst the hardships, or will they allow the results of division and abuse to taint their hearts forever?

Fans of historical fiction, Native American fiction, Christian historical fiction, clean romance, and literary fiction will be moved by this deep, heartfelt novel.

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How I Craft My Characters

by Jenny Knipfer, author of Harvest Moon

It all starts with a voice I hear in my head. That’s the most important factor for me with a character. I have to hear them. I don’t imagine anything else about them until I hear them speak to me.

From there I paint a mental picture of them. I like to draw from people I know or know of. I don’t rely on random images of people to define my characters’ outward traits. I draw from real life. In this way they feel more real to me. I have not found visual Pinterest boards a help to me in this respect, as many other authors seem to.

I do keep detailed digital notes on all my characters’ physical and inner descriptions. I make reference to this often, so I don’t make mistakes, describing a character as having blue eyes when really they have hazel. I often draw from real life with these traits as well. My characters are never any one person whom I know. They are a mixed up mash of many different people I’ve met throughout the years.

As I write, the characters eventually take shape. Although I do make an outline of the plot and where the story might go, I usually let the characters reveal themselves and don’t outline them ahead of time. I outline as they disclose themselves to me. In this way, I’m not simply making someone up but am getting to know someone.

My characters often surprise me by what they do or say. Like us all, they are imperfect and flawed. At the beginning of the book, some have an established faith. Others open themselves to redemption through the course of the book. I have a really difficult time writing characters that are totally closed off to faith and Christianity, but some—usually the “bad guy or girl”—linger in the shadows. I leave it up to the readers whether or not they fully seek redemption.

The best characters grow, learn, adapt, and change over the course of the story, as we all should. They struggle with real life issues, as we do. This makes relatable characters, and that’s so important to a reader. If I can’t relate to a main character, when reading a book, and what they go through, I have a hard time finishing the book.

It’s my hope that through my characters readers will find some similarities to their own stories and encouragement to keep living, believing, and trusting on their walk with God, or if they don’t have a relationship with Him, that they will move toward Him.