Writing Characters in Love :: Giveaway Draw

[suzanne_mcleod]

Yay! Thank you to everyone who entered last weeks Giveaway for The Cold Kiss of Death and for helping to get the news out. At the end of this post are the details of this week’s giveaway : -)

But first …

We’ve had more celebrations in our house this week as it was our wedding anniversary! Hubby and I have been married for sixteen wonderful years : -) We spent a lovely day together taking it easy, reading, walking our dogs, going out for a romantic meal and reminiscing about our lives together and ultimately about how we met.


Like a lot of other folk, we met through work. We both worked for the same retail company, both of us had been there for about a year, and we were both store management. Similar jobs, similar interests and similar working hours; so far, so normal . . . except we didn’t work together, we actually worked [and lived] 400 miles apart! Luck, or fate, or serendipity sat us next to each other on an Interpersonal Skills Course LOL! And we put those skills we learnt to good use over the next year as we got to know each other, [it was a heck of a commute] fell in love and reorganised our lives so we could be together. *Big Happy Sigh*

Which brings me to: Writing Characters in Love …

I love reading romances [paranormal or otherwise : -)] and one of the things writers have to do is find a way for their romantic partners/lovebirds to get together and stay together until they reach their Happy Ever After [i.e. The End of the book : -)] Making our Lovebirds work/attend college/live next door is an easy and natural choice, as is having friends or family introduce them, or even letting them see each other across a crowded room and exchange phone numbers, after all that’s how a lot of real-life couples meet. Then there’s getting our lovebirds together through some something that gives them a mutual goal: like a hobby or evening class, or saving the local school from closure, or even a holiday [or if you're like me - a murder always works well *g*].

Harder to pull off is the ‘chance meeting’, partly because fiction needs to make sense, and while coincidences happen in real life, they are often seen as less than stellar plotting. So in fiction ‘chance meetings’ are hardly ever what they seem. [frex: when Joanne Baldwin meets a stranger on the road in Rachel Caine’s [ rachelcaine  ]Weather Warden series] But even in real life it’s rare for a chance meeting to result in two people spending enough time together to fall in love without some outside force ‘forcing’ them to pair up [The film Forces of Nature with Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock is a good example of a chance meeting] unless both partners making a deliberate effort to see each other again.


But if our lovebirds meet, fall instantly into attraction/love and decide they’re going to make a go of it [much like hubby and me : -)] then their journey to ‘The End’ will be a relatively uneventful series of ‘dates’ that are much more interesting to the ‘datees’ than to those reading about them, plus the journey is likely to be over pretty quick, so what’s needed in fiction is some conflict.

BRANDED BY FIRE :: BERKLEY BOOKS :: July 2009



Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to possess her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problem is that he’s a wolf, she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.

But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped from DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man—before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it’ll leave them both branded by fire…

If you’ve read any of Nalini Singh’s books, then you’ll know she’s a master at writing romances and in Branded by Fire she’s got two characters who, while attracted to each other find reasons to deny that attraction [adding that necessary conflict ; -)] but because they end up working together, [meaning there’s no chance of walking away and letting the attraction fizzle out] the attraction deepens and they’re soon clashing and rubbing each other the wrong, or more likely the right way, to their exciting Happy Ever After.

Giveaway Draw


So for a chance to win an uncorrected proof copy of The Cold Kiss of Death* [not released until the 16th July] along with a copy of one of Nalini Singh’s books** leave a comment telling me your favourite pair of ‘Lovebirds’ from film, television or fiction.

ETA: My own favourites are Eddi McCandry and the Phouka from War for the Oaks: Emma Bull :-)

Again you can give yourself more chances in the metaphorical hat by spreading the word about The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaway on your LJ, Blog, twitter, myspace, facebook wherever, just paste the link [one extra entry per link]to where you’ve posted back in the comments.

Draw is open to anyone, anywhere until end of Wednesday, 13th May everywhere. Prizes not claimed within 7 days will be drawn again.

* Also a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood if you haven't read it :-)
**Visions of Heat or Mine to Possess.

Good Luck!!

x/posted from http://suzannemcleod.blogspot.com/ leave a comment here or there to enter.

Comments

[janicu.livejournal.com]

Hmm, this is a tough question so I'll just say that my latest favorite couple is Taya and Cristof from A Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti (my favorite book of this month).

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of A Clockwork Heart, so will go and look it up, thanks :-)

[janicu.livejournal.com]

No problem. I've been pimping it ever since I read it!

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

It looks *good* I love the idea of a metal winged courier and the whole steampunk thing ... *adds to wishlist* thank you :-)

[maeve-the-red.livejournal.com]

Happy anniversary.

I reckon we two have rather different attitudes to our characters' love lives.

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[ravelda.livejournal.com]

Gwen and Tavian from OTHER, by Karen Kincy. Aka me. ;P

I'm too tired to come up with a serious answer, or to link to this on my blog.

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

Hey, we always love our own characters best, wouldn't be much point writing about them if we didn't ;P And love the name Tavian :-)

[unpissenlit.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, happy belated anniversary!

My favourite pair is Sira and Morgan from The Trade Pact Cycle(starting with A Thousand Words for Stranger) of Julie E. Czerneda's The Clan Chronicles series. *happy sigh* :)

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-) I haven't read any of Julie E. Czerneda's books, so that's another to look up :-)

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

It looks like Sci-Fi with romantic elements? [which is always the best kind :-)]

[unpissenlit.livejournal.com]

Huh. Ya, I suppose it is(I don't often try to nail down genres) and well, if that is what it is, then oh yes, I do VERY much like that kind. :D

[rflong.livejournal.com]

Somehow I missed this so I'm arriving late.

I'd have to go with John and Aeryn from Farscape. Just the combination of star crossed lovers, madness, tenderness, tortured souls and the sexual chemistry.

(Happy Anniversary)

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

Late arrivals are very welcome :-) Farscape is one of those programmes that's on my 'to-watch-list'. As I don't watch much TV, I usually end up doing series like this as a marathon on DVD at some point, but 'star-crossed lovers' *yum* :-)

[nalla-xkao.livejournal.com]

uh, this is hard.
i would say... Zsadist and Bella from Lover Awakened (by J.R.Ward)
but i have too many favs u__u

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that one yet, but I've heard Zsadist and Bella are great. And like you, I have too many favs too :-)