GUEST BLOGGING over at GLIAS!

Get thee over to Get Lost in a Book!

Angi asks the hard questions of my Light Blade warriors - Kalan, Varian & Arek. You find out more about these awesome men.

Oh, and did I mention there's an international giveaway going begging?

There is a question posed at the end of the blog that you MUST answer though!!!!


This is the very last stop on my blog tour - see you there!

WORLD-BUILDING: The Characters of the Light Blade world

A cast of thousands - well, yes, that happens when you write a series. LOL

Characters keep popping up and demand an appearance in a story, sometimes they come out of nowhere. There's been at least one in every book in the Light Blade series.

Today, I'd like to go back and revisit the main characters and influential secondary characters who've impacted the series so far. And, you're lucky, I'm going to introduce you to a couple of new ones who appear in ALLEGIANCE SWORN (#3)!

Let's start with...

Annika (from Vengeance Born)

• Annika Gannec - the much maligned, half-blood Na'Chi who has the Gift of healing. Her demon father raped her mother to hatch his plan of vengeance against Davyn, a Light Blade warrior who killed his son nearly 30 years ago. She's Davyn's granddaughter and Arek's half-sister.

Kalan (from Vengeance Born)

• Kalan Tayn - the Light Blade warrior & leader of the human Blade Council. He was rescued by Annika from her father's dungeon. This action set in motion a series of startling events and revelations that shook the demon and human worlds. Kalan and Arek have been best friends since childhood and they went through Light Blade training together. Kalan overcame his prejudice and joined with Annika, who is now his wife.

Varian (from Alliance Forged)

•  Varian - is the leader of a small group of half-blood Na'Chi who were raised by a human slave called Hesia in Gannec Fortress, the same place Annika grew up in, although their presence was kept a secret from her all her life. Varian led his people into human territory, following Annika and Kalan after they escaped from her father's fortress. He asked Kymora for sanctuary at Sacred Lake then, with her help, established an alliance with the Blade Council. He and Arek became friends and helped the Light Blade warrior start his journey to accepting the Na'Chi and their shared demon-human history.

Kymora (from Alliance Forged)

• Kymora Tayn - Kalan's sister who served as the Temple Elect, the leader of the humans religious order. Blinded by an illness at a young age, she learned to compensate using her Gift of reading the auras of those around her. Devoted to serving their deity she was the catalyst for integrating the half-blood Na'Chi into the human world and instrumental in helping them form an alliance with the Blade Council. She gave up her position as Temple Elect to continue helping the Na'Chi. She and Varian found love by the end of Book #2.

• Arek Barial - Kalan's Second and chilhood best friend to both Kalan and Kymora. Arek never knew his parents and was raised by Davyn, his embittered grandfather. When he was three years old, his mother was kidnapped and raped by the demon king Savyr (although he never found this out until much later in life) and this led to his father taking his own life. Hating all thing demon, and encouraged by Davyn, Arek excelled in his career as a Light Blade warrior. During a patrol, he ended up wounded and captured by Na'Reish slavers. His journey to meet Imhara Kaal begins in Allegiance Sworn (Bk#3).

Arek & Imhara (from Allegiance Sworn)

• Imhara Kaal - full-blooded demon and leader of the Kaal Clan. She assumed leadership of her Clan shortly after her family were murdered, spoiling Savyr's plans to claim her territory and people. Tired of living a doule-life of a demon leader and an advocate of the Old Ways - accepting half-bloods and not enslaving humans - she hatches a plan to approach the human Blade Council and petition a truce in return for helping them defend their border against Savyr and the other Clans. She rescues Arek from the slavers who captured him and begins the task of convincing him her cause needs his help.

• Na'Rei Savyr Gannec - the demon king and Annika's father. He believes compassion is for fools and that to get anywhere in life you have take what you want. He's determined to see all humans either dead or enslaved to the Na'Reish. In the first two books of the series he is preparing to go to war with the humans.

• Davyn Barial - once a Light Blade warrior and Blade Councillor. He is Arek and Annika's grandfather, although he won't acknowledge his relationship with Annika as he lost his only daughter to Na'Rei Savyr. He's a man of many secrets, some which were revealed in Vengeance Born. He almost succeeded in killing Annika and his fanatical followers kidnapped Kymora in an attempt to destroy the human and Na'Chi alliance. Had he succeeded in his plans, the unrest and division he caused would have thrown the human race into civil war and the alliance would never have eventuated.

• Rassan Kaal - is a three-quarter blood Na'Chi and Imhara Kaal's Second-in-Command. Unswervingly loyal, Rassan is Imhara's closest friend and moral compass. Instead of playing a less prominent role to avoid detection (remember full-blooded demons despised half-bloods and would kill them to keep the bloodline pure), he ignored the risk to his life to accompany Imhara to the annual Enclave in Gannec territory and participated in the Clan Games, and earned himself the title of Clan Champion.

Rissa appeared in VB & AF.

• Rissa - the young human child Annika befriended in Vengeance Born. She is Gifted with the remarkable skill of being able to sense and heal pain on an emotional as well as physical level.

Master Healer Candra

• Candra - Master Healer and councilor on the Blade Council. She overseas the Healers Guild and is a prominent supporter of Kalan. She calls a spade a spade, tending to be quite outspoken in Council meetings and isn't afraid to share her opinion publicly.

Zaune appears in all 3 books

• Zaune - one of the half-blood Na'Chi who fled demon territory to seek sanctuary at Sacred Lake. An exceptional scout, he uses his Gift as a blood-tracker to help Varian and Kalan find Kymora after she's kidnapped by Light Blade rebels. Like Varian though, he is struggling to control the darker impulses of his Na'Reish side.

 I hope you've enjoyed this recap and sneak peak at some new secondary characters.

TOPIC: Character Motivation

Today, I have a guest blogger - Cassandra Shaw. She's talking about digging deep to find the layers to your character's motivations.

Dig Deep - finding your character's layers for their motivation.

When writing a story, long, short or epic our characters have to have motivation for the way the act, react and why we as writers portray them that way.

We might never share all the motivations with our readers but we the writer should know our characters intimately.

In our characters story arc we might want them to go from cold and remote to someone who is protective and loving –maybe to only our heroine, to his kid he discovered he had, to the his old army mate who he thought was dead.  The arc could be something simple like he’s a cop and he doesn’t trust another agency to share information yet by the end of the book he is working for that agency.

• But then why was he cold and remote?
• Why didn’t he trust that agency?

If we as writers don’t really understand the driving force of our characters personality than we can’t portray them accurately or with depth to our readers.

We probably don’t need to know he prefers white soap to blue. Or that he busted Toby Jacobs nose in fourth grade – unless Toby is in the story.  What we need, desperately need to know is what events, catastrophe, or life situation caused/created our character to be the way we need to portray at the beginning of our story arc.

He doesn’t trust woman / she doesn’t trust men.  This is not enough, you must dig deeper.

So let’s get the shovel out, scrape back the turf and start to find what created this trust issue. But remember in soil there are layers. Turf, top soil, sub-soil etc. We should examine each layer of what create our character. 

image thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil

At the very top we have the layer we all see

 – turf & plants or the bare surface.  – the O Horizon.

Dig deeper and we have Horizon A – Top Soil

Deeper Horizon  – B Sub soil

Horizon C – Regolith

Horizon R - Bedrock

Each soil layer listed above represents what made our character act and react the way they do today—in our story.  We cannot make them distrust men or women if they’ve had a great childhood, wonderful past partners and life has been like a Brady Bunch set. 

To be:

·                 Distrustful

·                 Cynical

·                 Prejudiced

·                 Angry

·                 Condescending

·                 Cruel

 Our characters have to have reason.

So let’s find the reasons behind the racist, cynical, angry man I’m going to describe below. 

Layer 1: The plants – is what we see on the surface

·       A man who holds himself aloof.

·       The woman who has no trust in men but has many female friends.  T

·       The hero who feels he must protect but can’t bond with anyone etc.

So let’s pick a scenario  - a character type that is popular in romance -  the hard bitten hero who doesn’t easily trust. He’s a good detective and feels the needs to protect innocents. We’ll call our hero Mike.

We’ll make him distrust wealth, lawyers and he is slightly racist about Asian’s.

Why is this:

Layer 2:  Stick the shovel in – find Horizion 0 – The humus. 

This is not very deep but we might see Mike has one good buddy who he watches sports, kills a beer, shoots pool with, but doesn’t share his personal life or inner thoughts.  So we know Mike can connect on some level, just not in an open manner.  He dates women but mostly for sex as he isn’t interested in them as partners nor does he like them much. His main frustration / hate in life are lawyers. Lawyers find ways of releasing the people he arrested on a technicality even though the person committed the crime.  He hates wealthy people who use their money to get free almost as much.

Layer 3: Put your boot harder onto the steel blade of the shovel and press and we expose Horizon A – the Top Soil.

This could be where we find Mike’s past relationships with women.  Top soil is usually the main plant growth matter but if here we discover Mike’s first two (and only) girlfriends left him. Girlfriend A, ran off with a football player in college because he was signed onto a team and she smelt money.  Girlfriend B, because Mike stopped studying law  (he distrusts lawyers and although his father wants him to be one he doesn’t want to live that lie) dropped out of college and joined the police force.  A & B, confirm women only want successful men with the potential to earn big $$$.

Layer 4: By this time you’ve got to Horizon B – the Subsoil.

Here we could find how he was treated in high school.  Perhaps Mike was tall and gangly, bright and geeky and really uncool ---- or he could even have him as the high school football captain but because of the next layers below - he is an angry kid who no one really likes.

I’m making Mike that kid. The angry kid. He’s good looking and the girls like him but because he is angry (see reasons in lower layers) he treats them like dirt for liking him, they dump him for the other boys.  Only the girls have chosen boys who are getting better grades and have richer families etc. He also notes that the boys with money are more popular than the poor ones.  So he sees money / prestige diggers.

Layer 5: Horizon C – Regolith.  

We’re getting into his family life here and we discover he has no women in his life and his dad’s a heartbroken man who never got over Mike’s mother.  Mikes dad dates rarely, hires the odd hooker for sex and never brings women home. Although he is a cop, Mike’s father has a drinking problem which leaves them poor and his dad with bad hangovers that leave him cranky. He doesn’t beat Mike but is verbally abusive.  Mike has grown up without female companionship so he sees / thinks they are for nothing more than sex, will break your heart and destroy you emotionally.

Layer 6:  Horizon R – Bedrock.  The deepest roots only go here.

And it’s here for Mike where it all started.  Mike’s mother packed her bags and left when he was six years old.  She never said goodbye to either male in her life.  Her note was brief. I need more, don’t look for me. After Mike’s father (who is a cop and who loves his wife desperately) does some investigating he discovers his wife ran off with one of the town’s Lawyers. A wealthy Asian Lawyer.  So for Mike, not only did she remove her love and the security a mother provides, she left his dad for someone with more money and prestige.

No all our hero’s will need for us to dig until we get to bedrock but some will.  Mikes reasoning could be the college girlfriends.  Have him love them and propose, they dump him for money etc.

My scenario gives me a chance to show a hero who has trust issues that run all the way to bedrock in his personality. He feels he can’t love a woman, thinks woman are only for sex, can’t connect with anyone around him, dislikes Asians and lawyers and he has wealth issues. 

I only need to make my heroine part Asian, a lawyer from old money and there is my conflict and my hero’s motivation not to trust her and fall in love.

But the truth is in this scenario the core motivation is trust – Mike doesn’t trust women on any level. And that will be the guiding motivation throughout the character Arc for Mike. Everything my heroine does, how she reacts to things, or says, Mike will consider with distrust.  

Give your characters deep reason for their actions – for Mike I wanted to show you how he had deep seated trust issues.

So get to know your characters and share it in small droplets as backstory in your manuscript.

What are the key motivators for your characters in your latest WIP??


Cassandra Shaw
Born a dreamer I've spend half my life staring out windows living an alternate fanciful life that exists in the realms of my sub-conscious. My 'Other World'. It’s just so darn good there.

Previously in life I've gained a Degree in Environmental Management, worked in offices in a multitude of positions, studied fashion design, run my own business and spent nearly nineteen years caring for orphaned and injured wildlife.

These days, I work from home honing my writing skills. I share my life with my husband, our two children and a menagerie of animals on our hobby farm in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in beautiful Queensland Australia.  When not writing, I can be found drawing, sculpting, gardening and taking my children to their multitude of dance, guitar & tennis lessons.

What do I read?  Well that a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Depends on the mood, the week, what I have available.  I've read and read many genre's.  Romance, mysteries, biographies, sci-fi, fantasy,space opera, time travel, suspense, epics, paranormals and I even squeeze in a little historical and regency when the fancy takes hold.

Favourite Novel of all time?  "Gone with the Wind."  Why?   Have you read it?

Currently I would say my favourite authors are J.R. Ward, Nalini Singh, Brenda Novak and Sherrilyn Kenyon.

My goals are to get that first manuscript published, then my second, third, fourth...................ninety-ninth. You get the picture.   

Favourite thing I like to do?  Laugh so hard tears run down my face.

GUEST AUTHOR: Ally Blake

ALLY BLAKE was born in Millmerran a small town in outback Queensland, Australia after which she enjoyed an idyllic childhood in sunny Brisbane.

Ally has a Bachelor of Arts with a double English major from the University of Queensland.

She danced in front of up to 50,000 people per game as a cheerleader for the Brisbane Broncos football team.  In her third year she became cheer captain.  She cheered for the Gold Coast Rollers basketball team and on The Footy Show, a weekly television program all about rugby league.  During this time she travelled to Santa Barbara, California to take part in a cheerleading camp and her squad won the much coveted Spirit Award at the culmination of the camp.

After marrying her television producer husband Mark in Las Vegas, Ally moved to Melbourne with their miniature fox terrier, Squiffy, their two black-headed pythons, Mary and Frederick.  Melbourne fast became Ally's muse as she set most of her novels there.  They have also since added lizards, turtles, fish, chooks and two beautiful, adventuresome daughters and one heavenly son to their brood.  The lot of them made a recent move back to family, and perennial sunshine, and they now reside in Brisbane, Australia.

When not writing, Ally enjoys eating M&Ms, watching The West Wing reruns, and barracking at Collingwood football games. 

About the book...
This year I'm doing a retrospective on backlist titles that are now available as eBooks.  May's look back book is HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE.  This was one of those books that seemed to write itself.  The heroine just burst onto the page with so much bravado and light.

The girl turns up to a job interview in knee high red boots, skinny jeans and black t-shirt with the classic Rolling Stones mouth and tongue pic splashed across the front.  From that moment on the hero doesn't stand a chance ;).

Loved this book so much after writing it I even named my second daughter after the heroine!!

Just to add to the specialness, it was nominated for Romantic Times' BEST HARLEQUIN ROMANCE of 2008 and they had this to say:  "Ally Blake's Hired: The Boss's Bride is as breezy, sexy and warm hearted as its remarkable heroine, and its hero is pretty special too."  Aren't they sweet?!

You can find the eBook here. 

Mitch Hanover

Title - HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE 
Setting - Melbourne, and specifically High Street Armadale.
Hero - Mitch Hanover - entrepreneur.
Heroine - Veronica Bing - auctioneer.

Scene you would never cut -  The bit with the ring.   In fact, the working title was Ring-A-Ding-Ding.  Read it to find out why ;). 

Something your hero or heroine would never do or say -  Heroine's not the type of girl who'd wear pink or frills or flowers in her hair.  Hero either for that matter ;).

Veronica Bing

What's one quirky thing about your hero/heroine? She wanted to be Barbie when she grew up.  The only Barbie thing about her is the hot pink Corvette.

What do you think the readers will like about this book? Hopefully the warmth and honesty beneath the bright and breezy surface will give them a warm and fuzzy read. 



HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE 
Auctioneer Veronica Bing has left the glitz and glamour and year long sunshine of the Gold Coast to come home to Melbourne, a city that harbours sad memories she'd rather have left behind.  But that's what a girl has to do when she has a touchy feely boss, car payments up the wazoo and a job opportunity of a lifetime...
Mitch Hanover is willing to give Hanover House - the venerable art and antique auction house his parents started years before - one last chance to tow the line or the Hanover Enterprises business he has since built into an empire or he's going to have to let it go.  Finding a new auctioneer to run what may well be the last show the crumbling old building ever sees is his last throw of the dice.
When a hot pink corvette rumbles up to the kerb outside and out steps a brunette bombshell in knee-high boots and a Rolling Stones t-shirt, he wonders what he's let himself in for... 

What's next for you?  THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, a Sexy Romance, is out in the UK in July, with Australia in August!  More about the book here. 

Heroine's corvette

About you...
Favorite movie of all time - Currently it's Tangled.  I watch it weekly with my girls and it only gets better with each viewing.  I had to explain to my four year old what "happy tears" were as I blub every time I watch it!
Favorite fairytale - The Little Mermaid.  Heartbreaker! 
Favorite story to disappear into - Anything by Dick Francis.  I've read his books so many times I can tell which book each is by the first line alone!  His heroes, are to my mind, perfection.
Favorite TV program -  TV shows I can watch a million times over are The West Wing, Arrested Development, Gilmore girls and Sex and the City.
First book you remember reading -  Folk of the Faraway Tree.  My dad had a copy from when he was a kid.  The book's falling apart and the dust jacket  is now nothing but dust.  But it's a beautiful thing, that book.  Beloved. 
Dog or cat person (or other) - Dog.

Hero's gallery

Author (living or dead) you'd most like to meet - I met Dick Francis once, so would have to say John Christopher.  He wrote my favourite books from when I was a kid. I wrote him a thank-you letter years later and he - gorgeous man that he is, wrote back.  We corresponded for a good while about the time I sold my first book.  He'd be 93 now!
A romantic retreat for you would be...Anywhere without the kids in tow!
What do you do to unwind or relax?  Read and eat chocolate.  Preferably both at the same time. 
What era would you like to time travel and visit? And why?  The height of the Kennedy 60s.  I'm a total Kennedy-phile to the point that I lugged my then brand new husband with me all over the States on our honeymoon to JFK-was-here sites.  To be a part of something magical and positive and innocent.
What does love mean to you?  A million tiny little things.   From the warm clench I  get in my tummy every time my husband walks in the door all the way to the small everyday stuff.  My husband cooks, vacuums and washes the dishes every night.  If that ain't love I don't know what is!

More about the book...
MORE ABOUT HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE here.

Buy link for e-book HERE

You can find Ally here:  Facebook, blog, twitter or www.allyblake.com

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Secondary characters

While the Light Blade series has an ever growing cast, here are just a few of the main players in VENGEANCE BORN.

Light Blade warriors - male and females who have the skill to channel kinetic energy through weapons. They defend human territory against the Na'Reish, patrolling the border between human and demon territory to stop Na'Hord raiding parties from taking humans as blood-slaves.

Na'Reish - a race of demons. They possess superior physical strength, night-sight and hearing. They rely on and consume human blood to survive. The Na'Rei is their king, his rule is a dictatorship. The culture implements a caste system and within Na'Reish society power and might earns respect. Most Na'Reish believe in purity of their bloodlines and revile any mixed blood unions (ie. between humans and demons).

Na'Chi - a half human, half demon race who possess similar physical characteristics to the Na'Reish. They have a less heavy build & height, no pointed teeth, violet eyes with flecks that reflect their mood and emotions, and paler spotted marking on their skin. They rely on drinking blood to survive, just like the Na'Reish. Discrimination and misconceptions abound because of their half-breed heritage. Demons kill them on sight, humans believe them to by a myth.

The Lady - revered goddess of the humans. Also a religious figurehead for some of the Na'Chi.

The Lady's Light Blade amulet with sun symbol

Arek Barial - a Light Blade warrior, Kalan's best friend and his Second-in-Command. He lost both his parents (who were also Light Blade warriors) at a very young age. He was raised by his maternal grandfather, Davyn.

Kymora - as I imagine her

Kymora - the Temple Elect, religious leader, of the humans. As a child she caught a highly contagious fever and lost her sight, one of the less severe side effects. She's Kalan's sister. Kymora is the heroine in ALLIANCE FORGED, Book #2 in the Light Blade series.

Varian - leader of the Na'Chi

Varian - leader of the Na'Chi who follow Annika from her father's fortress in Na'Reish territory. Both respected and feared by those in his group. Varian is the hero in ALLIANCE FORGED.

Lisella - one of the Na'Chi who follow Annika from her father's fortress in Na'Reish territory. Outspoken and a devout follower of the Lady.

Davyn - Arek's grandfather, member of the Blade Council (the ruling body for humans). After losing his daughter and son-in-law to the Na'Reish he passed on his need for vengeance against the demons to Arek.

Candra - Master Healer and councilor on the Blade Council. Supporter of Kalan.

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Rissa

To continue the introduction of the characters from VENGEANCE BORN, today you find out more about Rissa, one of the secondary characters.

Name: Rissa 

Race: Human 

Age: 10

A younger version of Rissa.

Background & Skills: An orphan, Rissa grew up on the streets in Sacred Lake in an area called Coppertown - the place where the poor, destitute and law breakers reside.

As a trainee healer - her Gift is being able to sense when someone is in hurting on an emotional level and help them recover.

Her instructor is Healer Danna is her instructor although she is tutored by Master Healer Candra who has a soft spot for the talented, young girl. 

Interesting Facts:

• Rissa was found on a search for Gifted potentials by Light Blades when she was 7 years old.
• She's one of the first people at Sacred Lake to befriend Annika and not judge her for being Na'Chi.
• Her mentor, Healer Danna, labels her a chatterbox.
• Having been teased when she first started to learn to read, she hates people who bully others.
• She takes on the role of tutor, helping Annika to learn to read and write.
• Her nickname is Bit.
• Master Healer Candra describes her as precocious, bold, vivacious & talented but easily distracted and mischievous. 
  
  

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Kalan - the warrior hero of Vengeance Born

To continue the introduction of the characters from VENGEANCE BORN, today you find out more about Kalan, the hero.

Name: Kalan Tayn

Race: Human

Age: 30

Background: Kalan Tayn is the son of traders. His calling to be a Light Blade warrior came in his early teens. His best friend, Arek, joined the same time as him.

His sister, Kymora, was also called to serve the Lady, but as a Handmaiden in the Temple. They all helped one another in their respective roles.

While Kalan doesn't appear on the front cover, this is what I imagined he'd look like.

Kalan rose quickly among the Light Blade ranks to the position of Commander. Arek is his Second, a partnership which endures to this day.

Kalan's strong faith in the Lady guides his every action and helps him through difficult situations - the most pressing being to convince a rigid and inflexible Blade Council that they must adapt to survive the escalating conflict with the Na'Reish demons.

If he can't, the Na'Reish will succeed in killing or enslaving them all.

Skills: Like all Light Blade warriors he can use his kinetic power to kill by channeling it through touch or via any blade or weapon. This skill is used to kill the Na'Reish.

In human society, Light Blades are highly respected for their skills and dedication to upholding the Lady's tenets. They are the protectors of all.

Interesting facts:

• His mother died of Claret-rash when he was young.
• As young Light Blade trainees, he and Arek used to sneak into the Night Markets outside curfew to visit the taverns.
• He insists on being called Commander outside the Blade Council chamber rather than Chosen. He believes strongly in forging personal connections with those he meets instead of relying on his rank to earn respect.
• Like Annika, Kalan's greatest vice is a hot bath.

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Annika - the half-blood heroine of Vengeance Born

I thought I'd share some facts and information about Annika, the heroine, from VENGEANCE BORN. 


Name: Annika

Race: Na'Chi (half human, half demon) 

Age: 25 

Background: Annika's mother was a human Light Blade warrior. Her father is Na'Rei Savyr, the demon king. Her father kidnapped her mother and raped her to breed a half-blood child to get even with an old enemy.

In demon society, Annika belongs at the very bottom of the social order, her Na'Chi status even placing her below the human slaves who serve the Na'Reish.

She grows up teased, tormented and abused by demons and humans but finds a mentor in Hesia, an elderly woman who teaches her healing skills. The healer teaches her about the Lady, the deity humans revere and the Na'Reish ridicule.

Annika dreams of finding out more about her human heritage, and plans to escape her tormented life. She also hopes to find someone who will love her for who she is.

Skills: She's able to heal or kill with a touch. Thanks to Hesia's influence she's chosen to help others instead of use the power to elevate her status among the Na'Reish (where power earns respect).

Interesting Facts:

• Being half-Na'Reish Annika's inherited their enhanced strength, eyesight and hearing. She also has spotted markings on the sides of her face, either side of her back, & thighs, all the way to her ankles, although they are paler than those on a full blooded Na'Reish.

• Her eyes are violet with flecks that change color depending on her emotions and moods.
• Hesia kept her mother's Light Blade amulet after her death & gave it to Annika.

 

• As per Savyr's orders, all Na'Chi babies are killed at birth, so she believes she's the only living Na'Chi within her father's fortress.
• She ALWAYS looks for and plans several escape routes whenever she enters unfamiliar territory - a legacy left over from childhood when she learned to run and hide from other Na'Reish children to avoid being beaten.
• The forest outside her father's fortress is her retreat from the grind of daily life.
• She loves hot baths.

Artist: Gene Mollica

CRAFT: Weaving character descriptions into narrative

As a beginning writer one of the things I had trouble with was describing my characters, so the reader could form an impression of them, but without resorting to using cliched or boring descriptions or clunky narrative.

Cliched descriptions might include:

• her lips were as red as rubies
• he was tall, dark and handsome
• she had long, red hair that fell to her waist
• the color of his eyes reminded her of the sky

(and I'm sure you can think of others).

Clunky narrative reads like a checklist of attributes or something you read in an encyclopedia, eg. starting at the head and descending to the toes.

The downfall of doing it like this will do a couple of things to your writing. A heap of narrative inserted into the body of story runs the risk of slowing down the pace. And if it reads like an encyclopedia list of attributes it might also pull the reader out of your story.

But how can you insert character descriptions and avoid this? The best way - check out your fav.author's books to see how they weave it into their books.

Here's a few examples descriptive narrative from some of my favourite author's work.

EXAMPLE 1 - the first comes from Denise Rossetti's THE LONE WARRIOR (Ch.1)

Death padded in pursuit, slipping through the double shadows without a sound. Like the worst nightmare Mehcredi could imagine, except this was all too horribly real. How much longer she could elude him, the man with the hunter's face?

Panting, she glanced over her shoulder at the dark figure pacing behind. As he drifted from one patch of shadow to the next, something pale gleamed where the light of the Sibling Moons tangled in his black hair. Feathers worked into a long braid, and . . . bones?

Were they finger bones?

We're in Mehcredi's POV and she's fleeing from another person - see how we already have an impression of this person from this description yet it's part of the action, not a "laundry list" of features?

Denise has woven the description into the narrative and used a question to make it stand out.

The shock thrilled down her nerves, making her head swim and her vision blur, but her long legs carried her away at a swift, stumbling run, lurching down a narrow alley, deeper into the reeking slum the people of Caracole called the Melting Pot.

 Again - action coupled with a description, this time of Mehcredi - the inference is that she's tall.

Turning to fight never entered her head. Gods, she'd barely scraped through the First Circle tests as it was, and her first real commission for the Guild of Assassins had been an unqualified disaster. No, she wouldn't have a chance.

Mehcredi uses a curse-phrase "Gods", and from the way she thinks of herself we know she's not a very good assassin.

She couldn't hear his footfall, couldn't detect any movement, but his presence behind her was a tangible force. Every cell in her body sensed him with the animal instinct of the hunted—his predatory focus, the grim relish with which he anticipated her death.

See how her impressions of him tell the reader something more about him?

From her left came the frantic click of claws on the cobbles, a soft whining noise. That damn dog! She might as well wave a flaming torch above her head and be done with it.

"Get lost," she hissed, glancing around for something to throw. "Scat!" But the little animal only skittered aside, continuing to flank her.

Mehcredi twisted and doubled back. One hand pressed to the stitch in her side, she reeled around a corner and inevitably, there he stood, waiting pitiless. He wasn't a great deal taller than she was, but much broader. Lithe and strong and graceful, where she was long-boned and clumsy and doomed.

Narrative again, but this time Denise has drawn a comparison between her two characters so we get more of a description of both.

She opened her mouth to shriek, to plead, but long-fingered hands fastened around her throat.

One simple description in an action sentence.

As he slowly increased the pressure, digging painfully into the soft flesh under her jaw, the man smiled, lips pulling back from white teeth.

Same again.

The expression gave him an eerie, chilling beauty. He could have been an avenging angel or a handsome demon. Either way, those elegant brutal hands were the sure instruments of her death.

More narrative and from this we know this guy is good looking.

EXAMPLE 2 - from THE LONE WARRIOR by Denise Rossetti (Ch.1)

"Your skin is fine enough, I suppose. And your coloring is certainly unusual. Silver eyes are rare in the Isles and unknown in Trinitaria." He made his face bland. "You'd bring good creds in a southern slave market."

Denise uses dialogue this time to convey and build a physical description of Mehcredi.

EXAMPLE 3 - from RAPTURE by Jacqueline Frank (Ch.4)

Dae (the heroine) is confronting Magnus (the hero) over how he's to treat her.

"Because of that bitch that bit you?"
That made him smile for some reason. He supposed it was the way she stripped the bullshit away from everything and laid it all out the way it was. He could get used to that. Although he wasn't sure about the rest of Sanctuary.
"Yes," he agreed.
"Well, just keep in mind, I'm a whole new kind of bitch, okay? And I won't bite unless one of two things happens."
"I'm listening."
"First, you don't ever try to cut my balls off just so you can be top dog over me. I won't do it to you if you don't do it to me..."

Listen to the tone of Dae's dialogue - what's the impression you get here of her? Strong, a bit rough round the edges, a woman not afraid to stand up to someone?

The author has done this through the use of dialogue AND she's made it a part of plot in the story rather than as something entirely separate.

So, go dig out one of your favourite reads, analyze how the author inserted a description of their character, then try it out yourself.

Have fun!

CRAFT: Need help with your crafting skills?

Over the years I've collected a heap of website links that I've used at various stages in my writing journey. Some I still use because they really gel with my style as a writer, others are more research or information based sites.

Maybe some of these might work for you.

How to Write Query Letters/Synopses/Proposals (a screed of helpful articles compiled by Gabrielle Luthy)
Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations (a site that lists and gives great detail on the situations you find in most stories)
Great Source - grammar (a wonderful basic guide to grammar)
How to write a novel using the Snowflake Method (starting small & building on your ideas)
Kathy Carmichael's Pitch Generator (how to create the basics for a pitch)
Dictionary of Sexual Terms
Australian Military Organisation & Structure (ranks in the army, navy & airforce)
The Passionate Pen (a list of romance publishers)
Wordle (a great way to check for repetitious words in your work)
Karen Fox's Romance Deals (a year by year list of deals, a bit like Publishers Marketplace)
Author Tech Tips (some hints about what titles to avoid using in your blog)

I hope you find some of these as helpful as I did!

TOPIC: Do you have any ideas for your book cover?

To be asked for your thoughts and impressions on what should appear on the cover of your book is the most wonderful, exciting feeling - especially if it's your debut book!

Hair length/color (hero material!)

I experienced this process for the first time a few weeks ago. When I received the email from my editor (who mentioned she was off to a cover conference in a couple of days), my full-throated shout of delight scared my three cats silly.

What sorts of things do you submit to your editor? Well, some suggestions I made included:

• physical descriptions of my characters (which I took straight from scenes in my book & I also included photos of models to depict their hair length/style/eye colour)
• clothing (photos of styles of dress as well as armor, weapons, jewelry with examples of designs)

Eye color

• tattoos/body markings/features (keep in mind I write paranormal so had to draw features of my non-human characters)
• background settings (again I used descriptions taken from my scenes as well as photographs to depict the topography of major scenes in the book & flora)

Design on jewelry

• diagrams (hand drawn sketch of a significant landscape within the book)
• comments on tone of the book/colours (that need to be conveyed on the cover)
• a 2-4 paragraph synopsis (a bit like a back cover blurb)

I put all this into a "mini-portfolio" (about 9 pages worth once I was done) in Word document then saved it as a PDF. A lot of fun and I'm happy to have had an input into this process.

Armor design

The good news is my editor had been thinking along the same lines, turns out we had similar ideas for the concept of the cover. Phew!

So, with the conference over and our ideas safely in the cover department's hands, now begins the wait to see what they come up with.

Tones/background

Did I mention how excited I am about this?

Rough sketch

I can't wait to see the finished product!

TOPIC: Reading for Keeps

Every so often I sit on the floor to scan the books on my keepers bookshelf. You know the ones I'm talking about, these are books that have incredibly compelling or engaging characters who have evoked strong emotions within you as you read their story. The ones you'll never given away and will be buried-with-me-when-I-die books.

More often than not I'm looking for an example of a piece of writing that will help me demonstrate something I'm blogging about. And more often than not I end up with my head buried in one particular book as I find myself engrossed in the characters and their story all over again.

I end up finishing the book in one sitting, my previous task well and truly forgotten. And these are books I've probably read a dozen times or more.

Ever had that happen to you?

There's one series I've read so many times, I can no longer remember what reading I'm up to - Elizabeth Vaughan's Chronicles of the Warlands series. There are three books in it (to date) - WARPRIZE, WARSWORN & WARLORD - with a related series following them that I'm reading now - DAGGER-STAR, WHITE STAR & DESTINY'S STAR.

What makes them keepers for me? The characters and the incredible world-building. The heroes & heroines are flawed, gutsy, honorable, engaging...the sort you end up cheering or crying or sitting on the edge of your seat for with every page you turn. The secondary characters are just as fleshed out and memorable.

And the world-building lingers in your head weeks after you've closed the back cover and you find yourself talking with friends who've also read the book, wondering how the author came up with the idea for this or that. Then months later you pull the first book in the series off the shelf and read it again.

So, what keepers do you have on our shelf and why are they there?

What are you reading and enjoying?

Sometimes we forget in the busyness of life to take time for ourselves and do something we enjoy. I love getting out and spending time in my garden, creating patchwork (not that I've done a lot of that lately) and curling up with a good book.

There are times I get so busy I don't read for weeks. It's only when the stress levels get to unmanageable that I realise I've ignored my need for down-time. I've become to tangled up in "everything else". That's when I make an effort to pick up a book from my To Be Read pile and spend a few hours escaping.

So, have you been taking time out to read for pleasure? And if not, why not?

And continuing in the spirit of my October Blog Anniversary month, a free give-away* will go to one commenter (local or international) who can tell me about a book you've recently read and why you enjoyed it.

Just a couple of sentences, it doesn't have to be an essay. Was it the character/s you identified with, the excitement of the plot, the interesting setting, a favourite theme running through the book? Leave a comment along these lines by midnight (Aussie EST) 16th October, and you'll go into the draw!

*Give-away prize is an autographed copy of COLTER'S WOMAN by Maya Banks.

!!! Don't forget to leave a contact email address or check back in on the day I announce the winner! If you haven't claimed the prize in 48hrs I'll draw another name from my coffee cup.