Guest Post and Free Novel! Author Connie Smith Discusses Character Building!
Characters can make a story, in my opinion. This isn’t limited to any particular genre. Whether the plot takes them to a fantasy land, a dance floor, a fancy European resort, a haunted house, or a library, if I can’t relate to and appreciate the characters, I can’t care about the story as much as the author probably wants, no matter how epic their journey. If I do like the characters, the simplest tasks can drag me into their world and make me love what I’m reading, even if their actions are menial. If you think about your favorite scenes in literature, you might find that some of them revolve around those simpler moments with characters you could connect with. Yes? No?
In any event, characters are extremely important to me, so I try to take character-building very seriously.
With The Division Chronicles, I not only had to concentrate on who would be in the books, but also what. You see, many of the human teenagers in this trilogy have essences of mythical creatures in them. Those essences have been brought to life, and some of the creatures’ powers are alive and well in each of the different packs of Essenced. If you do just a little bit of research, you’ll find that there are more than enough listed mythical species to fill the pages of this story, but I only needed a handful.
I wanted a good selection, some species readers probably already recognize, and others that some people might never have even heard of. And I wanted the characters to be entertaining. With that in mind, I decided (eventually) on two particular pieces of criteria: Each creature picked would have to allow the teenager carrying the essence to have at least one impressive power, and at least one quirky side effect. Sound fun?
To be honest, this might be my favorite aspect of writing these books, because there’s so much room to navigate and cross. If you ask me about many of the characters, there’s a good chance I’ll say something along the lines of “Yeah, he was fun to write!” because most of them have been just that. Exploring this element within the story opened up so many doors for depth and amusement, and I hope it’s something that many readers will enjoy as much as I have.
I won’t post every single quirk and power these packs have on this blog, but I will give you the list of species whose essences were collected and placed into the human DNA. Think them over. See which ones you recognize. Maybe you can decipher the powers and quirks all on your own! Here they are:
Werewolf
Vampire
Incubus
Wood Nymph
Kapre
Necromancer
Fairy
Dragon
Akki
Mermaid
Dwarf
Achiyalobopa
Abatwa
Antaeus
Syragh
Genie
Thunderbird
You’ve probably heard of some of these, but all of them? Likely not. You could easily Google each one and get the facts about them, but that still leaves the questions of powers and side effects. I’ll give you a few hints: poetry, thievery, skirt-chasing, and nicotine. Interested? Here’s hoping. If so, give the books a try
Thanks for reading, and check out my Twitter account this week for giveaway opportunities! I’m planning on offering one for each of the five days of this blog tour (Feb. 24th-28th), so multiple chances! Also, Essenced (book one) should be free through the whole tour, so snatch a copy! Emblazed (book two) should be available as of February 24th for only $2.99!
Here is the link to get Essenced (FREE!):
http://www.amazon.com/
Here’s the blurb and link for Emblazed:
After all the preparations, Nicholai’s warriors stand on the threshold of warfare, the demons entering the realm in battalions and the world unknowingly depending on the army’s success to continue intact. But the battle is only the beginning of deadly struggles, and the soldiers will soon realize how little they know, how many things are at stake, and how much they have to lose.
Love, hate, hope, despair, anguish, joy… The journey is a gauntlet of emotion and combat, threatening their resolve as much as their lives.
Will their training and ties be enough, or will the complications and the forthcoming evil forever cripple the world’s last hope of survival?
http://www.amazon.com/
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Blog/Main Site: http://clsmithbooks.blogspot.
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The Vampire Academy - Movie Review
Synopsis: Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. This is her story.
Review: So I got to attend a screening of the film last Thursday. Based on the trailer I was honestly expecting it to be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. I participated in a group podcast review with my friends over at The Grand Shuckett and Single Mommy Warrior. You can listen in here:
If you don’t want to listen to it the basic gist is that…well, it’s just not good. Though when I watched the film I genuinely expected to dislike it more than I actually did. And to its credit, it clearly entertained a number of people in my theatre (though not everyone). There were a lot of laughs for them even though I probably laughed at 1 out of 10 of the jokes myself. I would say my screening was about 60% full which is a red flag right there considering that screenings usually fill up. I could only get through the first two Twilight films before I stopped, making my peace with the fact that that franchise wasn’t for me and wouldn’t ever be for me. And yes, I read all the books too. But I do think I liked this movie better than the first Twilight movie. It’s just all about timing. Twilight, Mean Girls and Harry Potter came first so the comparisons would be inevitable. The low rent cast didn’t help to draw more interest either. If you’re going to piggyback off a trend and can’t bring something super fresh and original to the table, then it will go by the wayside.
First impressions are everything and I think the trailer truly killed any potential it could have had. Casting didn’t help. I didn’t really warm up to any of the choices and I can’t picture them as those characters when I think back on the series. However, with movies like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire I can TOTALLY envision Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair now, so it IS possible to cast the right people! Heck, I’d be okay if Finnick was cast as Trent Kalamack and you guys KNOW that’s a big deal for me, haha!
If you still want to give the film a chance, I suggest you see it quickly because it only grossed $4.1 million in its first weekend and I can’t imagine them keeping it in the theatres for much longer. I will say I do feel sorry for fans who were waiting years for this film to happen. Franchise potential is all but kaput. This makes me wonder about the possible success or failure of Divergent. I think it will definitely do better than $4.1 million since the trailer looks much better and it has Kate Winslet to bring in a little more star power. Will it be the next Hunger Games? I strongly doubt it, but it should perform significantly better than the other string of failed YA adaptations (*cough cough* The Host, Beautiful Creatures, The Mortal Instruments, etc. *cough cough*). Everybody is looking for its next Hunger Games, Twilight, or Harry Potter through YA. Maybe they should see what the adult paranormal fantasy category has to offer for the big screen? They seems to be getting TV shows at best.
But let’s look on the bright side. This movie actually was NOT the worst I’ve seen all year! That honor belongs to The Legend of Hercules and I think it will hold that honor for the rest of the year. And even better, it means that they can’t ruin the one and the only Adrian Ivashkov <3!
Loading ...Multi-blog Giveaway! 45 Books!
Hey guys! To celebrate my friends over at The Demon Librarian crossing 2000 Facebook likes, I teamed up with them and several other blogs to bring you guys a massive giveaway with tons of books! There are 3 prize packs with books, signed/unsigned, paperbacks and ebooks! If you want to enter for a chance to win, check out the rafflecopter giveaway below! The giveaway runs from February 1 - February 14, 2014 and features three (3) different prize packs to be awarded to 3 different - and very lucky! - winners. (**Please note: Prize Pack #1 and 2 are US only, and Prize Pack #3 is open internationally. One winner per prize pack.)
Prize Pack #1:
Signed Books:
Shark Bait by Jenn Cooksey
The Other Fish In The Sea by Jenn Cooksey
Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec
The Body Finder series (books 1-4) by Kimberly Derting (hardcover!)
Black & Blue by Gena Showalter
Bonded by Blood by Laurie London
In The Company of Witches by Joey W. Hill
Big Bad Bite by Jessie Lane + custom keychain + bookmark
Prize Pack #2
Prize Pack #3
Participating Blogs
The Demon Librarian
Little Read Riding Hood
Ginger-read Reviews
Your Urban Fantasy
No BS Book Reviews
My Book Muse
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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