Taken

 

Hello everyone. It gives me great pleasure to host author Amy McKinley and her Paranormal Romance novel, Taken. Amy will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. For her other stops and more chances to win, please click on the banner above 🙂 Amy also has a guest post for us on Character Creation. Take it away, Amy! 🙂

Character Creation

There are many ways to create characters and it’s about finding the method, or combination, that works best for you. A well-developed character has all the facets of a real person, complete with fears, flaws, desires, and goals.

How do you get a character that lives and breathes? Flesh them out and give them a personality, emotions, and motivation. Learn how they make decisions and what the world they would live in looks like so when they surprise you, and they probably will, the world you’ve created remains mostly intact.

Use all the tools at your disposal. Dream your characters at night, or during the day, profile them in a character sketch, or any other method that results in a memorable character.

A character sketch is a great tool to list facts and details to get to know their likes, dislikes, secrets, skills, and physical traits. It’s there to keep track of specific dialog, things they do throughout the book, or anything needed to go back and reference.

Sometimes I use the profiles to write a scene if I’m not connecting with a character. I’ll lose myself in a scene where they take the lead, revealing their innermost secrets. Those scenes are ones my readers may or may not see.

In Taken, Layla was first created through a spark of an idea, daydreaming, and a character sketch. I thought I knew everything I needed to about her, until she surprised me around more than one corner.

 

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Book Blurb:

Forged through a childhood trauma and cursed by the Fates, Layla vows never to be at another’s mercy. With determination and training she evolves into a deadly weapon and quiets her inner demons—until the prophecy activates, shattering her peace. The gods who want her dead converge and the hunt to end her life truly begins. The skills that Layla honed for protection become an unconscious tool for death and destruction, threatening not only the gods but her family.

Entrenched in clan turmoil, Thaull’s life hangs at a precipice. He’s faced with a condition known only to his kind, the soul-divide. If not dealt with, his soul will rip in half and he will turn into an unstoppable, ice-cold killing machine. As he hunts the traitor within his Phantom Warrior clan he worsens. A fragile thread of hope remains. The love of a female, freely given, can save him. Through a premonition of an alluring demigoddess, he gambles his very existence in the chance she will be his salvation.

She will go dark from her curse. He will go numb from his. To survive, Layla must risk trusting another or become another.

Excerpt:

Sunlight sliced into Layla’s eyes the moment she cracked them open. An impending threat itched along her skin. Outside, mostly naked and vulnerable, she jackknifed to a sitting position. Darkness roared to life. No! She’d dropped her guard. Out of the corner of her eye, she just managed to register Thaull lunge for her before her vision faded.

 

It was different this time…the reemerging. She took stock of her shaking limbs, the hand clamped onto her wrist, and the deep rumble of displeasure rattling in a male’s chest as reality seeped into her consciousness.

 

Her free hand grasped for her knife, her senses expanding, filling. Thaull. She knew his smell, and from last night, his name. Oh gods… What had she done?

 

Terrified to see the condemnation in his eyes, or worse, the pall of death filling them by her hand, she slowly turned. Transfixed by the splattered blood covering his bare chest, she followed the trail up his neck until her gaze landed on his face. His raw carnality hit her like a blast of heat. Was he always this way? His calculating eyes narrowed, observing her every move.

 

Unsure what to say to him, she cleared her throat. “Get out” hardly seemed appropriate.

 

Before she could speak, he was on her. His mouth forced hers open, his tongue filling her, fighting for space. He kissed the breath from her, and she was glad for it.

 

With his hand fisted in her hair, he tugged her head back, staring with an unfathomable look that pierced the depths of her soul. She stood, plastered against him, because he willed it. What just happened?

 

About the Author:

Amy McKinley is a freelance writer and author of the Five Fates Series. She lives in Illinois with her husband, their four talented teenagers, and three mischievous cats. You can find her at www.amymckinley.com

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available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Champagne Books, Kobo, All Romance eBooks, iBooks

Buy sites:

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https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/taken-147

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iBooks for Hidden: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hidden/id1050481745?mt=11