Blogtour: Getting to Know My Characters by Traci L. Slatton

            I usually start a novel with an oceanic burst of inspiration. I have an idea—maybe a visual image, maybe a conversation, maybe a scene—and I plunge headlong into the story. That’s fun! It’s like the beginning of a romantic relationship: all heady enthusiasm, dewy dreams, and passionate attraction.

            But shortly thereafter, by chapter 2, the hard work starts. A huge part of the structuring of a novel comes out of character development. In fact, plot and character are inextricable. So after leaping into a novel, I sit down and think through each character in minute detail.

            Among the many ways I have earned money, and there have been a lot of them (ask me about picking lobster bodies for a month after my freshman year of college), is astrology. I studied with an astrologer who was famous for her work on dreamy Neptune. I took courses and read books, and after being tested and certified by the NCGR, the National Council for Geocosmic Research, I took clients and read horoscopes.

            It was not a lengthy career. There were other, more compelling professions for me. However, I retained a way to view and build character. So after the first chapter or two of a new novel, I cast charts for each of my main characters. These are not real charts in the sense that they arise out of a specific day and time. They are invented charts. And they are more like shorthand than like actual horoscopes.

            For example, Luca Bastardo in IMMORTAL has a hell of a Venus-Pluto square. It gives him extreme beauty, and it causes him pain, loss, and a profound appreciation of love. This may not be the most precise definition of the aspect according to real, practicing astrologers, but it means something precise—and useful—to me.

            Arthur in FALLEN has Sagittarius rising with Jupiter in Aries, while Emma is Aries rising, with a loaded sixth house. So Emma’s crowded sixth house makes her a healer, and gives her a  practical frame of mind. I’ve played with her Mars, as Mars is her ruling planet. Currently I think it’s in Sag, which gives her that strong attraction to Arthur.

            Brian Tennyson in THE LOVE OF MY (OTHER) LIFE is a Gemini-Cancer blend. He has the persistence to stick with a mate that Cancer can display and also the inventiveness of a Gemini. Tessa Barnum, his long-lost love, has a strong Neptune, which gives her artistic talent.

            It’s easy to see how my familiarity with astrology lends me an extra tool for creating characters….

 Traci L. Slatton

 

 Traci L. Slatton is a graduate of Yale and Columbia. She lives in Manhattan, and her love for Renaissance Italy inspired her historical novel Immortal [Bantam Dell], which is currently in film pre-production and reached bestseller status in Italy, Russia, and Brazil. Also the author of novels The Botticelli Affair, Fallen, and Cold Light, Slatton has published The Art of Life, a photo essay about figurative sculpture; Dancing in the Tabernacle, a book of poetry; and Piercing Time & Space, a non-fiction title on science and spirituality. Her romantic comedy novella The Love of My (Other) Life addresses the question: What worlds would you move to be with your soulmate? Her forthcoming novel, The Mission, is a meaty historical saga set during World War II. 

Blogtour: He Belongs to Me by Theresa Rizzo

He Belongs to Me is a love story . . . a tale of betrayal and deception and of a young mother's determination to recover what belongs to her.

Forced to leave her baby and tricked into relinquishing her parental rights, four years later Catherine Boyd is back and she'll do anything to regain custody of her son--even reconcile with the husband falsely accused of killing their son's twin.

All in the name of love for a little boy, generations of pain and tragedy are exposed in a courtroom drama.

Every week? He’d written her every week? Her anger evaporated. He hadn’t forgotten them. All those nights she’d lain awake in their king-size bed fretting that he was partying with pretty sorority girls, he’d actually been working two jobs and writing her.

She’d saved every letter from Thomas, sometimes crying out of loneliness, wishing desperately that things were different. She’d read his letters over and over again until the paper grew soft from her handling. Even after all the terrible things she’d said to him, Thomas hadn’t given up on them—at least not right away.

“I didn’t return anything,” she said. Not that it really mattered anymore. Their love was a thing of the past and her parents had their son. But still, Thomas hadn’t forgotten her. They stood quietly, each swamped in memories, trying to assimilate this new information and see what it meant to them now.

“Why California?” His eyes narrowed. “The Catherine I knew would never have given up her son for an Ivy League education. What did they do to you?”

“Stanford’s not Ivy League,” she muttered to buy time. “They didn’t do anything. I was alone and confused. And my father insisted I needed the prestige of a Stanford degree.”

“Drew was only a baby. He needed his mother,” Thomas declared flatly.

“And his father.”

Thomas’s eyes narrowed. “Not according to you.”

Catherine sighed, annoyed that her quick temper had gotten ahead of her brain. “Well, maybe I was wrong, but I made the best decision I could at the time and I’d do it again.” She paused to regroup. “Look, I’m sorry. You have every right to be upset, but that doesn’t change anything. I signed a contract giving my parents custodial rights, but you didn’t. To get Drew back, we need to live together and approach my parents as a happily reconciled couple. And if they won’t sign him back over to us, then we’ll have to sue them for custody.”

Body taut, Thomas scowled. “You seem to have it all worked out.”

“I know this would be a disruption in your life, but my attorney assured me it’s the best way.”

“A disruption?” He snorted. “That’s the understatement of the century. What if I don’t want a family and wife?”

Although they had been apart for many years, the question still hurt. “You already have us. We just haven’t been here.”

“Exactly. Which is the way you wanted it.”

Theresa Rizzo is an award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she now lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty years. Learn more about Theresa at www.theresarizzo.com. Follow Theresa on Twitter (@Theresa_rizzo) or Facebook.

Blogtour: Code Red by Amy Noelle

After getting hurt in college by a gorgeous man, Nicole Magette vowed never to risk losing her heart again. Now she lives a structured and satisfying life. Her work is easy, her friends are her family, and the only consistent men in her life are her two cats, Winchester and Huntington Peabody the Third. She doesn't date, and she hooks up only with losers—men she has absolutely no risk of falling for. But if she finds herself in danger, she has her old fail-safe in place—the Code Red.

In college, she and her four best friends came up with the system as a way to keep away the good-looking bastards that might worm their way past their carefully constructed walls. Seven years later, three of her friends have succumbed to their last Code Reds and are happily married. Now it’s just Nicole and her closest friend, Jen, who are still on their own, and Nic is just fine with that.

That is, until Joshua Daniels is transferred to Nicole’s office from New York and assigned to work with her on a special project. He's everything she's avoided and everything she claims she doesn't want, so why can’t she get him out of her mind? He's persistent, dangerously handsome, and sexy as sin. In other words, he’s her worst nightmare. She turns to her friends to help her resist Josh’s considerable charms and the inescapable draw she feels every time she gets near him. Can the Code Red save her this time, or will Josh send her perfectly balanced life into chaos?

 Excerpt:

 “What are you looking at?” I asked Hunt, who’d hopped onto the vanity and was studying me with his greenish-gold eyes.
“It’s the skirt, isn’t it?” I tugged at the black skirt and frowned when it kept riding up past my knee. This was why I didn’t wear skirts and dresses. You didn’t have to worry you might have a Sharon Stone moment and unintentionally flash the new Suit from New York. And since I didn’t live my life like the movies, which was a damn shame, it was probably for the best that I kept the goods covered.
“I’m trying too hard, aren’t I? He’s just some guy. He isn’t the boss.”
Hunt stuck a leg straight out and began cleaning himself. “Nice. I’m going to take that as approval of my outfit. There’s nothing wrong with dressing to impress.” I finished putting on my makeup and smoothed out my olive blouse that matched my eyes. Now, hair up? No. That was too much effort. I needed to offset the skirt and shoes. Not that I was wearing heels. I wasn’t a lunatic. But dress flats were still better than my usual sandals or black sneakers. I ran my fingers through my long, brownish-blond hair and exited the bathroom where I was immediately accosted by Winchester, who wound through my legs, purring like there was no tomorrow. When I bent to scratch his head, he amped it up a notch. “I know, breakfast time. How could I forget?”
I went into the kitchen and refilled his dish. He’d have no qualms about taking me down if I ever thought about leaving without feeding him.
“You’re such a pig,” I said as he knocked me out of the way. Hunt appeared from out of nowhere, his black tail swishing. He shot me a look before knocking one treat out of the bowl and eating it.
“I guess I’ll be going now.” They studiously ignored me as I got my bag and slipped on my black flats at the door. Typical men. They had what they wanted, and I was no longer of interest to them.


About the Author:
Amy Noelle is a thirty-something single woman with two cats, Lily and Logan. Though she contends that she is not a crazy cat lady, she freely admits to being a crazy football fan. You can find her glued to the couch every fall weekend, cheering on her Seminoles and Buccaneers.

After attending Florida State University for two years, she transferred to Northern Illinois University and graduated in 1997 with degrees in Journalism and Political Science.

She was born in the Azores Islands, Portugal, and lived as a military brat from the west coast to the east coast of the United States, though she's found her permanent home in Tampa, Florida, for the last decade. Besides football and writing, her other loves are television, movies, the beach, thunderstorms, and her family and friends.

 

Blogtour: The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci L. Slatton

What worlds would you move to be with your soulmate?

Painter Tessa Barnum is struggling. Her husband left, she's broke, about to be evicted and has made some serious missteps in her career.
When scruffy Brian Tennyson explodes into her life, claiming to be from an alternate universe, Tessa thinks he's a crazy vagabond - albeit one with mysterious and undeniable appeal.

Then he informs her that in his world, they're married.

Tessa's universe is turned upside down as the truth of love and loss, victory and humiliation, and second chances comes back to her. She has to choose love over logic to reach that state of anticipation where miracles unfold. The secret to her own life was always in her heart.

About the author:

  

 Traci L. Slatton

Traci L. Slatton is a graduate of Yale and Columbia, where she taught freshman composition. She lives in Manhattan, though her love for Renaissance Italy inspired her historical novel Immortal [Bantam Dell], which is currently in film pre-production and reached bestseller status in Italy, Russia and Brazil. Also the author of The Botticelli Affair and the After trilogy (Fallen, Cold Light and Far Shore [forthcoming late spring 2013]), Slatton has published The Art of Life, a photo essay about figurative sculpture; a book of poetry; as well as a non-fiction title on science and spirituality, Piercing Time & Space. Her forthcoming novel, The Mission, is a meaty historical saga set during World War II.

To learn more please visit, http://tracilslatton.com/ / http://parvatipress.com/ 

Find Traci on Twitter & Facebook