Darlene Franklin – Character Interview – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Historical romance author, Darlene Franklin shares insight into her characters’ romance from her latest release, Calico Brides, a four in one novella collection. Comment on this post to get your name in the drawing for a copy. Deadline: June 22nd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Darlene:

• Are you open to your own romance?

No. With my past at the Betwixt ‘n’ Between Saloon, no decent man will accept me.

•  What’s the number one quality you’d require in a mate?

Not only that he go to church, but that he acts the same Monday through Saturday as he does on Sunday.

•  What’s the number two quality you’d require in a mate?

If God were to ever give me a mate, he would have to be compassionate and forgiving.

•  Where is the best place you can think of to find a mate?

If I meet a unmarried man who goes to church and doesn’t go to the saloon, he’s worth my attention. But of course a man like that won’t be attracted to me.

•  Where is the worst place you can think of to find a mate?

The place where I spent the few years – the saloon

•  What type of features are you attracted to? 

I’d like a man somewhere in his 30s. Too old to still be sowing wild oats and too young to be looking for companionship away from home. If he owns a business, I want to know how he treats his employees. It’s not so much what a man looks like on the outside but who he is inside. 

• What’s the one habit or lifestyle that would make you run the other way? 

Drunks and gamblers 

• Where do you dream of getting married? 

Oh, I wish I felt holy enough to be married in a church!

•  If you could order a carbon copy of an actor or actress with the perfect character traits and beliefs for your mate, who would it be?

 Christina Hendricks –at least in terms of her appearance. I suppose in terms of a role she played, I’m like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I got into the life because I had no other choice, and God plucked me out of there like a fairy godmother.

•  What would be the best gift a potential mate could buy for you?

Just what my Ned keeps trying to give me: fabric, thread, and other fashion trims, so I can support myself as a seamstress.

About Darlene: Award-winning author and speaker Darlene Franklin lives in Oklahoma near her son’s family.
Darlene loves music, needlework, reading, and reality TV. She has published several titles with Barbour Publishing, including her two latest releases, A Bride’s Rogue in Roma, Texas, and Merry Christmas, With Love, in Postmark: Christmas. She has also written two books in the Texas Trails series with RiverNorth Fiction, Lone Star Trail and A Ranger’s Trail. She’s a member of Oklahoma   City Christian Fiction Writers.
You can find Darlene online at http://darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com/, http://mydailynibble.blogspot.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/darlene.franklin.3 You may also be interested in my Facebook page, Darlene’s 5 Questions a Day (https://www.facebook.com/groups/542991419047696/?bookmark_t=group) where I will answer the first five questions related to the writing life posed on any given day. Group members are also welcome to contribute.  
About the collection – Calico Brides: While sowing good deeds, four Kansas women reap romance. Gladys Polson helps a crotchety widower. Annie Bliss knits for soldiers. Birdie Landry sews dresses for saloon girls looking for a career change. Schoolteacher Ruth Fairfield takes on three orphan children and their new guardian. How will God stitch love into their lives?
Come back June 12th for Stephanie Craig!