Shanna Hatfield

It’s always fun for me to share some of the visuals I use when I write a story, especially the characters.

Today, I thought you might enjoy meeting some of the characters from Corsets and Cuffs (Baker City Brides – Book 3).

Sheriff Tully Barrett was first introduced in Crumpets and Cowpies as Thane Jordan’s best friend.  He played an important role in Thimbles and Thistles as well. I knew from the start Tully needed his own story. He had too much charisma to remain only a side character.

From that first book in the series, we knew Tully was fun-loving and kind, a dependable friend, and a guy who loved to tease and joke.

What I didn’t know was what he looked like. It wasn’t until I started working on ideas for the story line that I found the perfect face to represent our handsome sheriff.

Chris Young seemed like a perfect Sheriff Tully Barrett to me.

Can’t you just picture him charming the ladies of Baker City with that smile?

And brooding over all the reasons why Brianna drives him crazy.

Some of you know I listen to a song on a loop when I write. For whatever reason, it helps keep my head in the writing zone and focused on my characters. I choose a specific song to be “the song” for each book I write. I just happened to choose Chris Young’s beautiful love song “She’s Got This Thing About Her” to be Tully and Brianna’s song.

If you’ve never listened to it, you should. And check out the lyrics. They will melt your heart. At least they do that to me every time I listen to the song (which might explain the sappy state of my existence the entire time I wrote the book)!

Speaking of Brianna Dumont, I knew she would look delicate and refined. She had to be lovely.

I thought Michaela McManus fit Brianna to a “T”.

She is exactly how I envisioned the somewhat snooty (although we later discover her to be big-hearted and loving) woman from back East.

One of the side characters that was fun to create was Clive Fisher, the crusty old miner.

Who better than Dustin Hoffman to provide inspiration for that part?

I couldn’t leave out Brianna’s fiance, B. Davis Gordon. Robert Pattinson seemed like a good choice to inspire his character.

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And if you haven’t yet read the book, don’t go any farther down this page because it will spoil the ending for you!

That’s right… SPOILER ALERT!

Sammy is such a sweet little one. As I was writing the character, there were many times I wanted to reach through the words and give that special child a hug.

The moment I saw this photo, I knew I’d found the perfect Sammy.

Meet Kylie Rogers.

How adorable is this kid?

I hope you enjoyed meeting the characters from the story!