The Character Connection: paranormal

My thanks to Morrigan Michele for stopping by The Character Connection and sharing a guest post during the blog tour for her book, Betrayed.

Guest Post

Hi Connie, Thanks for hosting me today.

My name is Morrigan Michele, and I am one of the authors of Betrayed. Before we begin, I would like to let everyone know that Betrayed got a new book cover! I am really excited about it. My husband Robert is the owner/operator of Eye Candy Studios and made the cover for me! So when you go on the links and look at Betrayed, don't be alarmed at the two different covers, they're in the process of swapping over.

Connie has asked me to talk a bit about my development of the characters in Betrayed. Character development, I think, is different for each author. In my particular case, the characters pretty much took on a life of their own; and in essence, they wrote the story themself. I know it sounds crazy, right? But, it's true. Each character has their own way of speaking, of doing things, and their own personality. So, when writing a story I cannot have someone do something that's out of character. Misty and I were talking about this just a few days ago. Some of our readers have asked us to have certain characters do something and we simply can't do it. When asked why we tell them that it's simply "out of character" for that particular character. I mean sure, as a writer we *could* have the Baptist preacher attend a Wiccan Sabbat; but it would not be in his character to do so. This particular preacher would rather chew off his left arm than attend such an event. Why? Because that's his character, it's just who he is.

When we thought up the characters, we created names, jobs, ages and their families/friends; it was like building a little community. We did think up certain personality traits for most of them, but some of the characters were "surprise" additions and came along towards the end of the story. These additional characters came because the original ones added them. It might not make sense to some of you, but that's just how it happens for me. I like to ensure that each character in my stories has the ability to be a "stand alone" character. In book 2 you will get an inside look at some of the other characters, and in the prequel to Betrayed titled Hunted which will be released in the Spring of 2012 you will get a closer look at Alexander and Tansey (Alexis' parents) as well as Giovanni and several others that you will hear about and see in Betrayed and Immortal Lineage.

When writing a certain character, I really have to get into their 'mind.' Sometimes, just like in acting, I have to spend the day in character so that when I sit down to write I am in character. Other times I simply just try and 'be' the character i.e. drinking what they drink, eat what they eat while I am writing. Once I get to know each character, it becomes easy to think, speak, and react as they do. So all in all, writing is a lot like acting-just on paper.

About the Book
Betrayed

Book Details:
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Published: October 2011
Genre: YA Urban Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 178
Format: paperback, ebook
Price: $8.99 paperback, $3.99 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle

Blurb:
Love. Lies. Magick. Betrayal.

Alexis Allcroft is used to being different, but nothing could have prepared her for the buried secrets about to be revealed.

With her seventeenth birthday approaching the only thing on Alexis Allcroft's mind other than her birthday party is Sebastian Valto, the hot new guy in school.

Things suddenly take a strange twist, and in an effort to take the spotlight off herself, a spell backfires and her secrets are revealed as well; secrets she didn't know existed.

With her world quickly spinning out of control, Alexis realizes no one is what they appear to be, not even herself! Alexis will soon learn that family secrets run deep, blood deep....

About the Author
Morrigan Michele

Morrigan Michele lives in a small town in Texas with her husband, Robert, and their daughter Brianna.

Not only is she an author of YA Paranormal books, she also works as a marketing rep. and is one of the owners of For You P.R.

Morrigan enjoys writing, reading and spending time with family and friends.

Connect With Morrigan:
Web Site
Facebook (book)
Facebook (author)
Twitter

About the Tour

The Experience Tours

My thanks to Jacqueline Paige for stopping by The Character Connection with a guest post during the blog tour for her books, Curses and Dreams.

Guest Post

I was asked to explain how I develop characters in my writing. There isn’t just one answer to this; it varies from story to story.

Sometimes (rarely), if I’m lucky, my characters just come to me—everything from their name and profession, their problems or ‘issues’ right down to their bad habits and eye color. These are the stories that just fly onto the page. Of course not all stories can be this easy.

Other times I’ll have a partial idea for a character, one that I think fits the part, so the first thing I’ll do is picture what they’d look like and from there I’ll discover their name. I never know everything about one of my characters until I put them in a scene with others. This is where they usually surprise me with personality traits I didn’t know they had and sometimes these traits require a little more editing and rewrites.

Quite often I will write scenes that have nothing to do with the story I’m working on, just to see how the characters fit. It’s a good way to dig a little deeper into who they are and why they are the way that they come out on the page.

Occasionally I have come across a difficult character, Dominic from the first story in Dreams would be one of those hard to write ones. In the beginning he was fairly easy to write, and didn’t present any sort of challenge but then he closed up and I had a hard time dragging anything from him. It was a good thing that Jennah was a strong character with some spine or the story may have just stopped. She was able to drag more out of him than I was.

Only once or twice have I had to put a story on the back burner and move ahead with something completely different because my characters would not help me out and share.

Over all I’ve been lucky to be able to write a wide variety of characters with all different types of personalities. Anything from quirky, timid or loud to misunderstood, injured and maternal. It has been brought to my attention recently that I write sarcastic characters very well and it seems the readers like those with a little sass behind them.

About the Book
Curses

Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: October 2011
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal/Romance
Format: ebook

Price: $5.99

Buy Links: Amazon

Blurb from Behind the Mask:
In a fit of temper, Gracelyn’s only sister curses her so she’s forgotten the moment anyone turns away from her. Only one thing, at an exact moment, can break the curse. After years of failed attempts, she is forced to accept living her life completely alone. Her world becomes calm and predictable —until one Halloween night … one costume party … and one masquerading man change everything.

Blurb from This Ring:
Devastated Emma flees to a cabin on an isolated lake to attempt putting her life back together. How she’s going to accomplish this she has no idea— the only thing she knows is she can’t go back and will never be able to trust again.

Bryce spent forty years trying to figure out how he ended up in the strange situation of not being alive or visible—it’s when he stops trying to find the answer he discovers the reason. Feeling that deep in your soul connection with another was what he was lacking all along. Now if he can convince the woman he feels it for, he may have a chance at living once more.

About the Book
Dreams

Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: September 2011
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal/Romance
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 326

Price: $14.99 paperback; $6.99 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle

Blurb from In Our Dream:
Jennah Best left the adrenaline packed life of being a cop on the edge for a more peaceful place. She escaped a marriage that almost destroyed her and now lives her life working for a small police station in the town of Ridge. At her age, she’s accepted that it’s too late and too much work to start all over again, until she meets a man in a dream...

While young, Dominic Palmer has always proven he can get the job done. Or at least, that was the case before he accepted a job and agreed to go undercover as an inmate. When months go by and there’s no word from his outside contact he wonders if he’s been left on the inside for good. He’s fighting to stay alive and keep his sanity, but finds himself completely distracted by a mysterious woman he met in a dream...

Blurb from From A Dream:
Jennah has found happiness. She wasn’t looking for it but isn’t about to give it up now that she has it. Everything she craved for years was now right in front of her--a man that makes her feel cherished, a peaceful life, and a job she enjoys. It all changes when she wakes up in a dark hole, alone, unarmed and unable to connect with the one man she’s grown to need.

Dominic realizes he is one of those men that wants the whole package of marriage and a family, and he’s found the woman to have that with. He’s going stir crazy having to stay hidden until the leader of a criminal organization is caught, but he’s more than willing to stay right here with her.

All of his plans evaporate when a vindictive criminal takes her from him as a hostage. He won’t rest until she’s in his arms again.

Blurb from After the Dream:
Feeling less then worthy as a normal man surrounded by a team with special skills, Brody has to wonder why he’s a part of it. If it weren’t for one team mate being there, he’d transfer back to normalcy.

Tess has always felt like a freak, even surrounded by others that are different she still feels like an outsider. Only one of her team mates make her feel like an everyday person.

About the Author
Jacqueline Paige

Jacqueline Paige is a world class multi-tasker being a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children, a cafe manager and having a colossal imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance —with just a touch of suspense.

Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.

Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.

Connect With Jacqueline:
Web Site
Twitter
Facebook

About the Tour

Bewitching Blog Tours