Character Madness and Musings

I'm crazy about  a good story, but without great characters it's impossible to hold my attention. When I started writing my first novel, Pretentious, I knew the plot and that my main character was a good boy who made a promise to his dying father that he would take care of his family. The promise made at twelve would have been difficult for any sixteen-year-old teenager to keep when hormones began awakening and other boys were playing sports, going to games, and taking girls to dances at school. I also knew that he would be very mature where running the family business was concerned, but very young emotionally. So my character gets confused and frustrated, and he has a temper. Another thing I knew about him was that even though he is a born leader, his goodness would constantly wound him. Once all that came together - in like three minutes, Danny Rosani was born. His co-star was a little harder. It took me a while to understand Aryn, but her biggest flaw was more subtle. ...

Hi Everyone, Jena Baxter here. I've decided to revamp my blogs a little bit. Meet the Author will remain and showcase new Authors and others in the writing world, but it will no longer post every Wednesday. This blog will still have character interviews on occasion, but it's going to be my personal blog from this point on. I still intend to focus on my characters pretty often, but there will be some serious posts now too. I will still be sending posts out on Monday, with the occasional special post during the week. My Writer's Prompt blog on Tumblr will be moving again by the end of the week. I'll be posting the new blog for this week later today. Thank you for being patient with the changes. Jena

Character Madness Monday. An Interview with Alia Stark  from   The Gathering: Book One of the Lia Fail Chronicles Please introduce yourself. Hello. My name is Alia Stark. I was born in Los Angeles, CA, when there was a Los Angeles… or even a California.  I have…or had… 2 sisters and a brother. I graduated from USC, Marshall School of Business.  I’m a widow. I lost my husband, Paul, a few years ago. And I’m a mom. Oh, and I’m the ruler of Lia Fail. The queen of Lia Fail.  What’s Lia Fail? How do you pronounce that? (Laughing) It’s a colony. We sit on the mountains that used to be the Santa Monica Mountains, above what was Lake Hollywood, not far from the old zoo. And it’s pronounced Lee-ah Fall. It means Stone of Destiny (http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/) We’re known as the Pagan Village, but pretty much anyone is welcome in our colony.  My late husband Paul and I started building the Fail after everyt...

Jena Baxter Books - The Carousel - Character Madness Monday: CHARACTER MADNESS MONDAY AN INTERVIEW WITH CERYS : Character Madness Monday An Interview with ‘Cerys’ for The Forgotten Princess of Mona Book One of The Dragon’s Treasure. ...

Character Madness Monday An Interview with ‘Cerys’ for The Forgotten Princess of Mona Book One of The Dragon’s Treasure. Q. What’s your name? A. Cerys. Q. Cerys? Is that spelled K-E-R-R-I-S?   A. I don’t know how to spell but you said it right. Q. How old are you?   A. (Holds out six fingers) I’m eleven! Q. Tell us about your story.   A. It’s mostly about me I guess but it’s also about a lot of other people. Some of them are good and some of them are bad. When I was born, my mother died and I was sick. After my father disappeared, my stepmother took over our kingdom. She doesn’t like it though. I think she’d rather be back where she came from. Q. So your stepmother is the queen?   A. Uh-huh. I’m the Princess of Môna. Q. Is Môna the name of your kingdom?   A. Uh-huh. It’s an island! Domie tells me it’s part of a bigger place called Brit--…Brit-something. I can’t remember. I don’t always think very well....

Character Madness Monday This week Fiona Stevens from Stains on the Soul By Jamie White Tell us about your story  I don’t even know where to start! Let’s just say, I have some pretty freaky dreams… and most of them are real. What part do you play in it?  I’m the protagonist, or should I say ‘protagonists’? I’ve been around a few times, and these lives haven’t all been fun. Actually, most of them kind of suck. Is it scary or a love story? It’s a little of both.  Have you heard any good gossip lately? No, I haven’t really been paying attention. Lack of sleep is making me into a zombie.  If you could be anything you want to be, what would you be? Anyone but me.  Why? It’s getting a little complicated at the moment.  Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? Yes, but I’m planning on breaking up. I’m not good with the whole relationship thing. Plus, there’s this guy who just showed up in town. He kind of ...

CHARACTER MADNESS MONDAY INTERVIEW WITH JACKLYN MADISON   CMM INTERVIEW with Jacklyn Madison Tell us about your story: Well, I’m not technically supposed to talk about it. But you aren’t supposed to know I even have a story, so I’m going to assume you’re initiated and I wasn’t informed. Anyway, my name is Jacklyn Madison, and I just found out that I am the long lost member of The Order of the Key. The Order is a group of people with special abilities who fight creatures that come through interdimensional rifts. It sounds great, but the Order…it has some corruption issues. I’m not so sure I’ve gotten myself into the best situation here. Half the time, I’m really excited about helping people and learning how to fight monsters. I’m much less excited about dealing with Lavinia, the group’s leader. She gives me a very bad feeling, and I can’t help but think that she can’t be trusted. Thank God for Kyp, Lavinia’s son. He has promised to guide me through the polit...