Fun Fact Friday – Meet Jami Deise (an Editor)

Meet my first editor to appear on Fun Fact Friday! I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jami on a previous short story. She got to tear apart my work and I figure it’s only right that I get to pick her brain.

Does everyone know that most editors write also? I guess you can say they moonlight as writers and authors too. Of course I had to ask about her writing!

Michelle: When does an editor stop editing their own work?

Jami: When someone else starts editing it.

M: Do you have a quirky story that inspired a scene in your WIP?

J: My WIP was inspired by my son’s first summer playing travel ball. So quirky story, no; life, yes.

 

M: Inspired by the thought that our heroines are usually a reflection of who we are or who we want to be I had to ask. What color is your heroines hair and why?

J: I gave her brown hair. She’s a divorced working mom and doesn’t have time to color it.

 

Okay enough on her writing – now to get to know the lady behind the red pen!

M: Who is your favorite hero and why?

J: Jaime Sommers. The Bionic Woman was solely responsible for my name going from a boy name to a girl name. Thank you, Jaime. Also, the bionics stuff was cool.

 

M: Do you have a pet and where do they sit when you are working?

J: I have a dog, and she is always under my feet, which makes it very easy to stay in the chair!

 

M: Do you collect anything and why? (shoes count)

J: Old General Hospital videotapes. If anyone has stuff from 1978-80, please let me know!

M: Did she just say videotapes? Don’t worry she can do editing on a computer J

M: What is your favorite season and why?

J: I currently live in Florida, where there are no seasons. So it’s a good thing I love summer.

M: I think I need to send poor Jami a cooler of snow next Colorado winter, that could be next week or a few months from now. One never knows. I think she needs to cool off during those humid Florida summers. I watch house hunters and see those people sweating.

 

Finally I am sure all minds want to know why someone goes into editing – or at least those that hate to edit. <Raises hand> That would be me.

 

M: Why did you start to edit?

J: Because my high school English teacher’s voice (and red pen) got into my head and won’t leave. Don’t ever try to start a sentence with “this” without a noun immediately following it. The red pen of death will get you!

J: Thanks, Michelle, this was fun!

M: Thanks Jami for letting the world meet you.

For anyone needed editing services Jami is available @ JamiDeise@aol.com

Fun Fact Friday – So What if You’re a Best Seller

I’d tell you why I’m late on posting, but that isn’t’ a fun fact.  I will tell you though that I have been allowing some self doubt to creep into my mind lately and found today’s fact a little helpful.  

Who doesn’t know of Janet Evanovich?  If you don’t, then most likely you live in a cave.  Well, that or you just don’t read the genre’s she writes.  Either way.  She is a very successful author and a best seller.  Her first Stephanie Plum novel was made into a movie last year even.  What is my point?  Well, even she has two books that have never been published!  That’s right.  An author who has proven herself time and time again still has unpublished works that probably won’t see the light of day.

The fun fact of it all is that everyone has learning to do or editing.  No one’s stories are perfect out of the gate and just because a few stories get rejected doesn’t mean that ten won’t be accepted.  Keep writing if you are a writer.  Keep reading and telling the authors you love that you love them if you are a reader. 

Related article:

http://writerswrite1.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/literary-birthday-22-april-janet-evanovich/

 

Fun Fact Friday – How Do You Like Your Hero

I’ve been on a old movie kick.  When I say old, I am talking 50’s,60’s, 70’s.  I guess old means pre-now to clear up offending anyone.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gidget, Bikini Beach, etc. Along side my hunger for these old romances, a new hero is emerging in BDSM erotic romances that brings me to wonder.  How do we like our heroes?

I like my heroes to be strong, but have a soft side.  I like them to be just a little possessive and territorial, but not violent or a male chauvinistic.  He has to have morals, he has to be devoted  and he also has to have a sense of humor. You can get through a lot with laughs.  He’ll always be damaged by something, but it’s always something my heroines can fix or help him over come.  It’s the gooey center of my otherwise rock-solid man.  He’s usually the sound mind and down to earth person; bringing sanity into my heroines lives.

I asked a fellow author, Joanne Stewart, this same question and here is her response.

I like my heroes to be…soft, yet strong. I like them to be a mix between Alpha and Beta. He knows what he wants and what he likes. He’s strong in his principles, and he’s not afraid to stand up for them. He’s the type of guy who won’t hesitate to step to the heroine’s defense, whether she likes it or not. 😉 But he’s also soft around the edges. He’s got a heart of gold, makes a good friend and sibling. The kind of guy who’s good with kids and dogs. He’s flawed, got some quirk that absolutely drives the heroine crazy, but all in all, he’s a nice guy.

A related post from Joanne on hero’s can be found here.

Follow JM Stewart author

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So how about you?  Do you like the men in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?  They start out as womanizing pigs and end up loving their wives very much.  Do you like your men like Frankie in Bikini Beach – DENSE and running from commitment just to turn back to the woman you love in the end because something else didn’t work out?  Or how about the men in the new erotic romances? Damaged and on a quest for ultimate control.  It sort of seems like men have been portrayed as messed up for years.  I wonder why? 

Other related posts:

Vintage Vonnie

Fun Fact Friday – Reviews Count

My fun fact is that I’m barely surviving having two kids and we are out of chocolate. Actually the author that was going to appear today had a family emergency this week and I didn’t have the time to get someone on short notice.

That being said, I thought that I would write and remind readers that a review can go a long way.  The fun fact of reviews is that you as a reader can actually help out your favorite author or stop someone from wasting their time on a poorly written book.

Why review a book you loved? Well its a great thank you to the author and it also will help get the book recommended to others when they do searches.  Maybe your review is just a number for some large bestsellers, but to the independents and the small-publisher contracted authors these reviews are precious!  In a world where digital is becoming the new fad this could actually be the best way to help new and favorite authors grow. 

If you want to review a book be constructive and maybe think about this method.  Mention what the author did right, then mention what didn’t work for you (unless you just loved the book), and close with a positive statement.  Authors will love you, readers will take you sincerely, and lastly you won’t sound like you are another angry person on a rampage.  Yes, authors do pay attention to their reviews.

Happy Friday and happy reading.

 

Fun Fact Friday – Sue Fineman and Why She Started to Write

One baby boy asleep, one toddler resting, a pain killer, and a husband who is giving me a moment to breath equals I finally am getting to my post.  The great news is I made it before Saturday if you use Mountain Standard Time.   I think I deserve an A for posting this week after a very rough birth and lot of adjusting.  Okay – sure I would love a pat on the back.  

Now onto the Fun Fact.  Along my journey to become an Author I have found some inspiring people.  Whether they are or are not on the New York Times Best Sellers list or just doing great at a small publisher, the world is full of wonderful writers sharing their imaginations.  Have you ever wondered when or why some authors ever started to write?  Well I did and so I asked.

Meet Author Sue Fineman.  She has inspired me to write more.  She has put out 25 books in a very small amount of time.  You shouldn’t have a hard time finding something of hers to read!

Why did she start to write?  Well real life of course.

 I started writing in my mid-fifties

I didn’t start out to write anything. My hobby had always been sketching
house plans. We’d moved so many times over the years I had a pretty good
idea what I’d want in a house. So one day after I’d quit my day job
selling real estate, I sketched this plan, then wondered who’d live
there and what their story might be. And I started writing.

I’d intended to write a short story about this woman’s journey, but it
turned into a full size romance novel with a little mystery. Since I’d
never written a story, let alone a whole book, I knew it wasn’t very
good. Over the years I revised it several times, wrote a couple sequels,
and put them all back on the shelf. Many years later, when I was running
out of room on the shelf, I submitted my first book.

The Mitchell Money in 2011. Now I have 25 novels and a couple
short stories published and another five-book series in the works.

On her current writing:

In the past month I’ve published the four books in the Winfield Killer
series – The Bartender’s Killer, Her Sister’s Killer, The Con Man Killer,
and The Lady Killer. This is my fourth series, and I’m in the process of
writing another series about the MacKendrick Brothers of Seattle. All my books are available on Barnes & Noble (for the Nook) and Amazon (for the Kindle).

If Sue’s go getter attitude doesn’t get you motivated to read or pursue your dream – well then,  I am guessing you are exhausted reading about her crazy energy and writing.  Go Sue!

Follow Sue on her the web.

Fun Fact Friday – Name That Baby

I am still waiting for my second child to decide to make his way into the world.  It’s a little depressing and somewhat daunting to be in the holding pattern.  I called it though.  He was going to be late.  What can you do?  Make the best of it I guess.  So, instead of posting one author I had for today I wanted to squeak this in and touch on the imaginations of a bunch of romance authors.

My husband and I are struggling with names.  We have a couple of ideas, but nothing concrete.  A online authors network I belong to picked up on this tiny issue and ta-da my week instantly improved – if not from the fun ideas of names, but from the comic relief as well.  Tell a group of romance writers you need boy names and you are in for a world of fun.

You should go check out their books. Think about it, if their hero’s names are any indication of how unique their stories are you can’t lose!  Some of the men are hot and steamy as the name implies.  I don’t know about you, but when I say a name I try to get a sense of what my son might end up like some day.  If I had my way he would turn into the next James Bond; be a hero, get a great woman beside him, and save the world.   I know.  I really don’t expect much from my kids, right?  Maybe this is why I write – to get the crazy ideas in check.

So let’s reveal some of the colorful name choices –

Beau, Jake, Finn, Trevor, Colin, Cooper, Rhyder, Devin, and Creed – Mac Crowne

Blaine, Kevin, Davis, Bennett, Ryker – Patricia Gauthier 

Kieran, Daniel, Jamie, Andrew, Aaron, Mark, Jimmy, Joseph, Jay and Will –  Rachel Brimble 

Drew Jacob or Drew Niko – Vonnie Davis

Gary, Joe, Johnny, Reed, Greg, Bo, Dave, Chance, Nick, Tony, Blade, Alessandro (Al for short), Luke, Donovan, Billy, Charlie, Andy, Steffen, Logan, Chandler, Bob, Mac, Finn, Paden, Calum, Jamie – Sue Fineman

Matthias (Matty), Renee (he’s french), Grayson, Caedmon, Augustus (Gus), David (Dibs for short) – Aj Nuest

Cole, Chase, Ethan, Logan, Shane, Tyler, Flynn, Adam, Dillon, Kane, Travis, Daniel, Nicholas – Jannie Gallant

Dillon, Alex, Michael, Kyle, Jackson, Colt, Luc (short for Luciano) – Joanne Stewart 

Roman –  Rolynn Anderson 

What are your favorite male hero names – even if you wouldn’t name a real little boy after it.

Entertaining links –

Werewolf Baby Names

Cool Guy Names

Fun Fact Friday – Katherine Scott Crawford and Her Path to Publication

Oh the labor of love.  That is how I feel right now – like I should be in labor and in love with the baby.  Alas he still isn’t here.

Katherine Scott Crawford knows how I feel, but rather with her debut novel.  She actually has a 3 year old little girl to help remind her of her long path from agent to release.  No her daughter isn’t the subject of the book or the reason the book was written. She was conceived and born all in the time it took for her book to hit the market!

Katherine has been kind enough to share her fun fact on her path to publication.  Stick with it to the end and find out how to support and where you can buy her novel Keowee Valley!  This weekend there is a special promotion on Amazon.  Her book is on sale for $1.99!!

The floor, or blog, is all yours! ***********

My road to the publication of Keowee Valley was at times smooth and sweet, and at others rocky and rough. Above all, it was long.

 It took me about two years to both research and write Keowee Valley. I spent about 6 to 8 months on research alone, because I’m a history dork and I wanted to the get the period (the 1760s) and the people (colonial South Carolinians, frontier settlers, the Cherokee Indians) right. After querying literary agents, I got a few offers of representation pretty quickly. I thought, “Alright! This will be a piece of cake!”

 Not exactly: it took my agent three years to find a publisher. Then, there were another 16 months of editing, copyediting, and the whole publication process. During that time I had some great things happen, like winning writing fellowships and giving birth to my daughter, now 3 years old. But there were also dark moments when I wondered if anyone was actually going to read the novel I’d put so much of my heart, soul, and time into. The whole process, from the time I started writing the novel to the time it was published in September 2012, took about 7 years! But in the end, in spite of all those years of wishing and wondering—and with a few more eye wrinkles—it was most definitely worth the wait.

 

Katherine Scott Crawford was born and raised in the blue hills of the South Carolina Upcountry, the history and setting of which inspired Keowee Valley. Winner of a North Carolina Arts Award, she is a former newspaper reporter and outdoor educator, a college English teacher, and an avid hiker. She lives with her family in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she tries to resist the siren call of her passport as she works on her next novel. Visit her website at www.katherinescottcrawford.com for more information, or to connect with her via Facebook and at her blog, The Writing Scott.

Prologue

My story begins before the fall, in that Indian summer time when the hills are tipped with oncoming gold, and the light hangs just above the trees, dotting the Blue Ridge with gilded freckles. The mornings and the evenings are cool, but it is the mornings I remember most: waking before the men, wrapping a shawl around my shoulders and slipping out through the fields, the dry grass crunching beneath my boots. Drifting down from Tomassee Knob the mist would spread over the Keowee Valley in a great, rivering pool of gray, the sun rising in the east flecking the horses’ breath—suspended in the air before their nostrils—with slivers of shine. It was then the whole world was quiet, no crows eating my corn, the peacefulness not even broken by the bay of some wolf on the ridge, calling to the still-lit moon in the western sky. The whole world was silent then, and the Blue Ridge breathed beneath the deep purple earth. I thought I could feel it, a great heart beating in the wilderness.

He came to me in the morning. I had crossed the north fields and made my way to the creek at the edge of the forest to check on the last of the Solomon’s Seals I’d watched cling to the embankment in the final days of summer. Ferns reaching the height of my elbows billowed out from the ground, spreading for what looked like miles. The smell of sap emanated from fallen pines where woodpeckers searched for tiny bugs and snakes lay still in the cool undergrowth. Every once in a while a squirrel or rabbit leapt from its camouflaged hiding place, skirting the path I walked.

Coals from a recent fire smoldered black in a pile a few yards from a bend in the creek, and I looked up and farther into the woods, wondering if a Cherokee scout or perhaps a trapper had decided to take his rest on our land. But the woods were eerily still, and not a bird sang nor cricket chirped. There was no movement except for the creek itself, bubbling up against a tiny dam made by runaway branches, cane and weeds. My eyes came to rest

across the creek on shadows at the bottom of an enormous oak. Suddenly, the shadows shifted, and the shape of a man stepped forward, seeming to emerge seamlessly from the trunk, his feet making no sound in the leaves.

The breath caught in a knot in my throat, and I placed a hand there, the other fumbling in my skirts for the lady’s flintlock I’d been given. He walked closer, still without sound, and stood watching me from the edge of the creek bed. I pulled the pistol from its hold, pointing it unsteadily at the stranger.

“Come no closer,” I ordered, the words tumbling awkwardly off my tongue and echoing softly in the small dip of valley.

He raised his head, eyes emerging from beneath the brim of a battered fa

rmer’s hat. Across that creek they looked as green to me as moss growing on boulders in the water. His hair was long, the fawn color of a well-worn leather saddle, and the ends were tipped with the same pale blond that streaked through the rest, like he’d dipped his head in white paint. He looked like a white man turned savage, with his moccasin-laced boots and dirty, fringed deerskin shirt, a beaded strap crossing his chest, holding a hatchet and musket on his back. He did not speak, just looked at me from under that hat, shadows cast high on his cheekbones and the solid line of his jaw. The creek gurgling and my breathing were the only sounds. Soon, I knew, the settlement would awake, and the animals would need to be fed, the horses let to pasture.

Surely someone would notice I was missing.

It was the first time he had come to me, but it would not be the last. And though my story ends with him, he did not cause it to begin. I did that, on a midsummer day in the year of our Lord 1768, in the twenty-fifth year of my youth.

Chapter 1

I was an unlikely adventurer, at least by all appearances. I knew what the people of Charlestown saw when they looked at me: a wealthy woman clad in the new fashions, small of stature but possessed of an unruly mane of yellow hair that made me seem taller—a bluestocking with a well-worn volume forever in hand, one who looked out at the world from a pair of disconcertingly direct blue eyes. The ladies, especially, would whisper “orphan,” and allow that the early demise of my parents could be reason enough for a man such as my grandfather to keep me a spinster at age twenty-five. The gentlemen viewed my person with vague calculation, surely wondering just how much—as the sole granddaughter of Campbell MacFadden, Esquire, heir by marriage to a profitable rice plantation—I was worth. And so when the trapper arrived in the hour before dawn, smelling of wood smoke and the sweat of a hard ride, I was ready: ready to abandon Charlestown and my life there, to shutter permanently those judging, prying eyes.

It was the banging on the door that woke me, more than the shouting. On the peninsula, banging on doors in the wee hours nearly always meant one of two things: a slave uprising, or a fire. On Tradd Street alone there had been three devastating fires the past year, conflagrations that destroyed entire blocks, and I threw off the covers and rounded my bed in moments, pulling a stout case from beneath my desk and dumping the contents of my drawers—papers, pamphlets, quills, stoppered inkpot—as quickly as I could. I heard Grandfather’s footfall on the stairs outside my bedroom door, his step bounding and spry.

Where to Buy-

 I’m excited to announce that Keowee Valley will be on sale for only $1.99 at the Amazon Kindle Store, this Friday, March 22 through 7 p.m. Monday, March 25th! If you’ve got reader-friends or family looking for a new read, I hope you’ll share the news.

Other avenues for purchase are below.

 “Buy the Book” Keowee Valley is available both in paperback and as an eBook.

 

Folks can follow me via the following social media outlets:

Author Website: www.katherinescottcrawford.com

Blog: www.thewritingscott.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KatherineScottCrawford

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/KatherineScott

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/thewritingscott/

Fun Fact Friday – Denise’s New Release

For those following my blog you have met Denise several times.  Now it’s time to greet her new release!! An Imposter in Town.

Continue to the end to see where to buy her latest book.  Also, I had a thought.  On days were this post is more promo then ‘fun fact’ I think you have the right to ask the author questions in the comments section.  Dig into their heads a little – then again sometimes you might not always want to know what actually is in their minds 🙂

Denise wrote her first story when she was in high school—seventeen hand-written pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read. She earned a degree in accounting, giving her some nice skills to earn a little money, but her passion has always been writing. She has written numerous short stories and more than a few full-length novels. Her favorite pastimes when she’s not writing are spending time with her family, traveling, reading, and scrapbooking. She lives in Louisiana with her husband, two children, and one very chubby dog.

An Imposter in Town

Peyton Chandler hides some dark secrets behind her false identity. She’s been using her dead sister’s identity for years, hiding from multiple threats from her past. When Sheriff Brian Parker receives a note claiming there’s an impostor in town, he doesn’t know where to start his investigation. What will he do when he discovers the woman he longs for isn’t who she claims to be?

Peyton Chandler entered her house through the carport door and dropped her purse on the kitchen counter. A pile of unwashed dishes awaited her in the sink. Tackling the housework would have to wait another day. Every muscle in her tired body groaned.

She glanced at the envelope in her hand postmarked New Orleans. Johanna’s letters arrived twice a year without fail. The return addresses were always a post office box—the zip codes from all over the country. She ripped the envelope open with a shaky hand. A picture of Jake nestled between the folds of a short note. I need four thousand dollars. J. She would have cut the woman off years ago if it weren’t for the boy.

Her eyes riveted on Jake’s likeness. He had slate gray eyes, sandy brown hair, and attractive Powell features like his biological father. Trim and tall. Handsome already. Nothing about Jake resembled her husband, but then Jake wasn’t her husband’s child. She was already pregnant when Mason Osborne married her.

Thoughts of Mason sent shivers down her spine. She wondered if he was still looking for them. His anger with her when he discovered her pregnancy by another man was only the beginning of his animosity toward her. Mason’s abuse only grew harder when he discovered Jake’s biological father was his nephew.

She left Mason before Jake was born, but he’d found her and dragged her back to the ranch with him. He had promised her he’d kill her if she left him again. Worse yet, he’d take her child away from her. She couldn’t let that happen, so she took the chance, got some help from Johanna, and ran anyway.

She counted the years. Jake would be eleven years old now. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him. He was so young when we left Albuquerque. She trudged down the hallway to her bedroom and laid the picture on her nightstand. The photo would go in the album with the others—an album she didn’t dare show anyone.

Guilt pressed down on her psyche. She needed a shower. Running the water as hot as she could stand, she scoured her skin until it was raw and allowed the cleansing liquid to sluice over her body and wash her remorse down the drain. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, there was still plenty of regret to stain her conscience.

She stumbled out of the stall and tripped on the surround. The heat dizzied her. She wrapped her robe around her and leaned against the bathroom counter, unwilling to face her reflection in the mirror.

The phone rang in the other room. She raced to catch it before the last ring, but picked up a second too late. Out of breath, she dropped onto the edge of the bed and clutched the comforter. Her skin throbbed from the abuse in the shower. She grabbed a bottle from the nightstand and smoothed on lotion to soothe the abuse. With a weary sigh, she gazed out the window. The nearby mountains rose in the distance, but the scene’s usual therapy provided no comfort. Jake’s picture beckoned her to take another look.

Thoughts of her baby snatched at her heart. She wiped a stray tear from the surface of the photo. Everything she did, she did for him—to hide him and protect him from the evil men that would destroy her by destroying him.

www.denisemoncrief.com

www.denisemoncrief.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/DeniseMoncriefAuthor

https://twitter.com/dmoncrief0131

http://www.amazon.com/Denise-Moncrief/e/B007Y6Z1CU

Where to Buy:

Still Moments Publishing eBook Store
Smashwords
CreateSpace for POD Print
Amazon kindle

Fun Fact Friday – The Authors First Edit

The book you see is probably not the one that was originally written.  Close your mouth.  I get it.  The shock, the horror of it all. Try telling the author.  So the author sent out her/his book and it was accepted for publication.  One thing no one expects are the line-by-line edits that will be coming.

Like me for instance.  At first I stared at the computer screen for what seemed like forever in complete horror.  My mouth was gaping open – until a fly attempted to land there anyway.  After quickly and frantically scrolling through the edits I uttered the phrase “she killed my baby.”   So it was a little over dramatic.  It was none the less my initial reaction to my first manuscripts first line-by-line editing experience.

I have to say a huge thanks to the authors for sharing their stories as well.  Click on each name for contact information and past Fun Fact Friday Blog Posts.  If this doesn’t tell you how much every experience is different, I don’t know what will.  Feel free to secretly hate the authors that say their edits weren’t ‘that bad.” 🙂

*****

Kelly Hashway: “My first ever editorial letter sent me into a full on panic. My lovely editor told me to stock up on chocolate before I started on my edits. Of course I thought that meant I was in for major rewrites and lots of hair pulling. But when I opened the document, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Yes, there were comments galore, and most elicited thoughts of, “how am I supposed to do that?!” Okay, maybe I pulled out some hair after all. But in the end, it was worth it. My editor’s comments were spot on.”

****

Denise Moncrief:  “My first real line edit was done by the wonderfully talented AJ Nuest. I expectedd a thorough edit, but I didn’t expect how it would make me feel. Like my writerly feelings had been thoroughly pummeled! For two days, I rambled around the house muttering things like… “Who does she thinks she is?” and “Why did she change that?” and “What does she mean by blah, blah, blah?” It’s never easy to take criticism, no matter how constructive it is. I sucked up my pride and worked through those edits. That first line edit was an intense experience but well worth it, because my story is stronger for the attention to detail she invested in it.“

****

Jennifer Eaton: “My first reaction?  “What the heck is this chic smoking?”  (After  cutting the middle of a scene completely out.)”

*****

Linda Carroll-Bradd:  “My reaction may be different

than some because I’d spent years in critique groups and was used to seeing comments made on my writing projects.

But I do remember being surprised when point of view mistakes were pointed out because I’d thought I had that craft issue nailed (this was 7 years ago). I thought the editor had to be wrong. Of course, as I read the comments, I saw the words or phrase where I’d inadvertently shifted POV and vowed not to make that mistake again.”

****

Jamie Ayers: “Don’t kill me . . . but my edits weren’t that bad. I was just really, really confused about how to do the track changes, lol. So I panicked about that!

However, the first time I had someone seriously critique my work, I thought about punching them in the face the next time I saw them. Then, I thought, nope, I’ll get sued and I’m a teacher so that’s no good. I settled for taping their image to my dart board instead ;-)”

Fun Fact Friday – KR Yaddof and Strong Female Characters

Not every female character needs to be rescued. I know, I know, what am I thinking. Nowadays most writers are trying to write that strong female character that still has vulnerable spots, but is strong none the less. Here is KR Yaddof’s experience and why she chose to write her main character the way they did.

Also another fun fact about this author is that she chose to self publish.  Since this is becoming the new thing I felt that I needed to give a few self published authors a chance to tell their stories about how and why they went down this nontraditional – although becoming vastly popular, road.

Stick around until the end for a chance to win a copy of the Urban Fantasy BLOOD MAGE.

Take it away!

________________________________________________________

Characters’ strength has to come from somewhere. I love strong female characters like Scarlett O’Hara, Princess Leia, and real-life Eleanor of Aquitaine. I wanted to create a character who would take charge of her own destiny and not apologize for it. I knew that I was creating a series, so why not get to watch our character become this strong woman? That meant that she was going to start out as a teenager. She wouldn’t have complete control over her life and would have to rely on others for help. Finding the balance between the headstrong teenage girl she was and the confident women she would become was foremost in my mind when I created Alexis Richmond.

I was tired of insecure teenage female characters, who couldn’t imagine why the cutest boy in school would fall in love with them. I wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with them let alone read about them. Why couldn’t a girl have high self-esteem and still be relatable to readers? Being a teenager, she would naturally have some self-doubts, but in the end, I wanted her to have enough faith in herself to make her own decisions and stand up for herself. 

Seventeen year old Alexis thought she pretty well had life figured out until terrorist attacks blew away the world she knew. So now, not only is she trying to discover who she is, but where she fits in this new society. Throw in magical powers that are surfacing for the first time and you have a lot of turmoil for one teenage girl to handle. Readers will really get to know who Alexis is and how she becomes the woman she will be at the end of the series.

After widely querying, I ended up with some doubts about readers being able to relate to Alexis because of agent feedback. They liked my style, but weren’t sure about Alexis. She isn’t the type of character to ask you to feel sorry for her but could readers still root for her? I got my answer after I self-published the first two books in the series. The second book’s main character is Zachary Godard, Alexis’s love interest. When readers first started the book, they kept saying, “We love Zach but where’s Alexis? We miss her!” That is when I knew that I was right about her all along. Maybe it was the fact that it was written in third person which is rare for Young Adult fiction with a female protagonist. Or maybe it was because the series doesn’t really fit into Young Adult and may be more New Adult. I’m not sure why the agents didn’t see what the readers saw in her. All I know is that Alexis Richmond wouldn’t waste any time worrying about it. She has better things to do like saving the world from the Blood Mage Order.
Book Blurb:

All Alexis Richmond wants is for life to be somewhat normal again. What she gets is trapped in the girls’ restroom by a knife-wielding classmate, who blames her for being forced to go to school in a lovely prison-like setting for national security reasons. But Alexis can’t help that her father was catapulted into the presidency when the U.S. Capitol was annihilated during the State of the Union Address. Or that he still hasn’t found the terrorists responsible for blowing every major city on the planet into a post-apocalyptic state. All Alexis can do is to try to defend herself from this crazy girl. Then her late mother’s locket starts glowing and sending waves of energy coursing down her arms, and she nearly launches her attacker through the puke pink wall of the school bathroom.

Fantasy becomes alarmingly real in Alexis’s already shattered world when she learns from her aunt that she is descended from a family of powerful mages and warned to trust no one. Thrust into Alexis’s life through school and for those annoying security reasons, the vice president’s playboy son, Zachary Godard, claims to have the answers about the magical legacies their families don’t want them to know. Alexis tries to fight her dangerous attraction to Zachary but knows that he understands her as only another mage can. Leaping down the rabbit hole hand in hand, together they overhear a secret society of sorcerers, the Blood Mage Order, plotting to take over the globe. As the two young mages struggle to stop the Order and save their country, they discover just how deep the world domination conspiracy goes. And Alexis will realize that nothing is black and white. Especially not magic.

 

from BLOOD MAGE:

“Why do you need a ride, again? Where is your car?” Alexis crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

“I called my driver and told him that I wouldn’t need a ride when I saw you show up.” Zachary relaxed into the black leather. His tie was loosened, and his brilliant hair was the usual mess. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. “No need to waste more of the taxpayers’ money than necessary.”

“So you knew that I was there?” And he had acted so surprised to see her in the hallway.

“I got there right before you did.” He opened his compelling blue eyes and surveyed her anger.

“So all that carrying on with Meagan was for my benefit?”Alexis asked.

“Oh, don’t worry. I benefited from it, too, sweetheart.”He winked.

“Ah! You make me sick.” She punched him on the arm.“You’re such an asshole!”

“Come on.” He held up his forearms trying to deflect her blows. “Let’s not fight, Lexi.”

“You were the one being a jerk today,” she said kicking him in the shin.

“Ow!” He pretended to rub his shin but then wrapped his arms around her pinning hers down. Against her ear, he whispered, “You’re the one who was lying to me.”

“I’m not lying to you!” She struggled against his much stronger grip.

“Oh, yes, you are.” He chuckled at her wriggling but didn’t release her. “I know you better than anyone has or ever will, sweetheart.”

“You just met me!” She could smell his cologne mixed with sweat from the hot day.

“But I’ve been looking for you all my life, Lexi.” He kissed her neck where her pulse was throbbing.

“Zach!” Her mind was clouding, and her body had begun to melt. From the back of her brain, a voice shouted, “Stop!”

“Fine.” He freed her, and she almost slid onto the floor. He offered her his hand, but she pulled away moving back onto her side of the seat tucking her long black hair behind her ears. He leaned back and closed his eyes again. “Have it your way, Alexis.”

They didn’t speak the rest of the way downtown with only sounds of the radio filling the car. She was glad that he couldn’t hear her heart pounding. She tried to think of something to say to smooth things over between them but knew that she couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear. It would all only lead to another fight. Her body felt hot all over, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of turning on the air-conditioning. When they got off the freeway, she rolled down the window. The air from outside was a little cooler, but the humidity it carried with it licked at her face.

“It’s going to storm,” Zachary said not opening his eyes.

“How can you tell?” she asked, studying the clouds brewing on the horizon that she knew he couldn’t see. The car slowed as they pulled up to his condo.

“I can smell it.” He opened his eyes and held her gaze.“Are you ready?”

Before she could answer, an agent opened the car door.

“Goodnight, Alexis.” He slid out of the limousine and was gone.

I was lucky enough to take a few writing classes at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop when I was there as an undergrad getting my degree in cinema. BLOOD MAGE is the first in an urban fantasy eBook series, MAGES, in which each book is told from a different character’s perspective. The final chapter of every novel is devoted to the next book’s main character. In the second novel of the series, DYNASTY MAGE, Zachary Godard strives to find out who is trying to kill him while running his family’s corporation to finance the rebellion against the Blood Mage Order.

I will be giving away a copy of BLOOD MAGE to someone chosen from those who leave a comment on this post or ‘like’ The Mages Series Facebook page.

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