Character on the Couch: Beth Dolgner's Carter

I had a lovely time at Anachrocon a couple of weekends ago with fellow authors including Beth Dolgner, who, I found, lives quite close to me. She was kind enough to send her gentleman ghost hunter Carter over for a chat.

Ghost of a Threat 

Book 1 of the Betty Boo, Ghost Hunter Series

Normal young women go on dates on Saturday nights. Paranormal investigator Betty “Boo” Boorman goes on ghost hunts in Savannah, Georgia, America's most haunted city. She's more comfortable around ghosts than guys, anyway.

A violent haunting forces Betty to team up with her rival ghost hunter, the arrogant Carter Lansford. When the violence is turned toward her, though, Betty knows she needs additional expertise. She enlists the help of a handsome stranger, who introduces himself simply as Maxwell, Demon.

Betty's ghost hunting is cut short when she's threatened and, finally, attacked. Either someone wants her to stay away from an investigation, or a demon hunter is targeting her. As Betty begins to fall for Maxwell's mysterious charm, she starts to wonder if her life—and her soul—are worth the risk.

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1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.

Carter Lansford had never thought of himself as someone who would willingly visit a psychologist. He was descended from a long line of strong men, rich merchants who had helped shape Savannah’s history. None of them would have ever visited a psychologist. After all, they certainly weren’t the ones who needed help. They did just fine on their own, thank you.

Then again, none of Carter’s ancestors had been ghost hunters like him. Nor had they, Carter thought smugly, ever published a book, been a featured guest at paranormal conventions or been the local media’s favorite person during the Halloween season. They had also never seen demons in the flesh.


2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?

Carter had refused to believe in demons for as long as possible, assuming that violent paranormal activity was simply the result of really angry ghosts. He had been in denial until he had seen a demon lay his hands on a man and burn him from the inside out, incinerating the body completely. Carter shuddered every time he remembered the scene, a sickening feeling in his stomach rising as he recalled the smell of burning flesh. Carter would never dare to tell his friends about the nightmares, and so he had finally given in, hoping no one would see him furtively entering the psychologist’s office.

3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?

Carter walked into the office and headed straight for the window. He brushed the fingers of one finely manicured hand along the windowsill, as if he was inspecting for dust. With a sniff of satisfaction, he turned and walked to the couch, sitting down with the air of visiting royalty. He crossed his legs and smoothed his blonde hair calmly.

4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?

“So,” Carter said grandly in his Southern drawl, finally making eye contact with the psychologist, “if you’ve read my book, then what I’m going to say won’t be much of a surprise to you. Do you believe in ghosts and demons?”

“Do you, Mr. Lansford?”

“Of course. I have proven their existence. My paranormal investigation team is the best in Savannah. Understand, though, that I can’t tell you all of my story because some of it could have, well,” Carter paused dramatically, “negative consequences.”

“Our discussion is completely confidential, I assure you.”

Carter waved a hand dismissively. “I’m a public figure. I can’t be too careful.”

5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?

Of course The Burglar Bar would be the closest bar to the psychologist’s office. Carter kept walking, knowing it was a favorite place of Betty’s. While he and his rival ghost hunter might have formed a tenuous friendship, he was in no mood to run into her, especially since so much of his therapy session had been about her and her boyfriend. It was worth walking the few extra blocks to enter the cool darkness of the bar at the Pink House. The snug space in the basement of the historic mansion was quiet at this time of day, and Carter sat at the far end of the bar, as far from the few other patrons as possible. Carter barely looked at the bartender, and his voice was distracted as he said simply, “Martini.”

6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?

My best characters show up in my mind pretty fully formed, and the opening chapters of a novel are when I get to know them. I carefully observe the decisions they make and the things they say, tweaking the text until it suits their personality. Often, after that “getting to know you” stage, my characters seem to act on their own. I don’t feel like I’m creating them anymore: they are autonomous beings, and I’m simply following in their wake, writing down everything they say and do.


Of all the characters I’ve ever written, Carter is my favorite. His snobbish attitude meant he often said or did things that surprised me. I’d be typing a manuscript while thinking, “Really, Carter? Can you really be that much of a jerk?” He often disappointed me in the first two Betty Boo novels, but I was proud to see his character evolve and grow over the course of the whole series. Carter always felt so real to me!

CD says: I love it when that happens! I usually feel like opening chapters are a "getting to know you" period for my characters as well. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Beth Dolgner started writing short stories at a young age, and having a journalism teacher for a dad certainly set her on the right track. After she graduated from Florida Atlantic University with her degree in Communications, Beth began working as a freelance writer, journalist and public relations representative. 

Georgia Spirits and Specters, Beth's first non-fiction book, debuted in the spring of 2009 and was followed by “Everyday Voodoo” in 2010. Beth made her fiction debut in October of 2011 with the paranormal romance Ghost of a Threat, the first in the Betty Boo, Ghost Hunter series. She is also the author of the young adult steampunk novel Manifest.

Beth and her husband Ed live in Atlanta, Georgia, with their four cats. Beth is online at www.BethDolgner.com. Her books are available in paperback, Kindle and Nook formats from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Snarkology Halloween Hop: Victorian Ghosts and Hysteria

 

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This year I'm thrilled and honored to be part of the Snarkology Halloween Hop. There are lots of bloggers participating, each with their own prize, and the grand prizes for the actual blog hop are fabulous, too. 

Click here to enter for a chance to win:

(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or

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(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

Victorian Ghosts and Hysteria

When I was a kid, I spent hours reading ghost stories. Something about apparitions from beyond the grave fascinated me. Like many elementary school children in the South, I read Kathryn Tucker Windham's series, most notably 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, which, thanks to my overactive imagination, ensured that I didn't go upstairs to go to the bathroom in the evenings without turning ALL the lights on. Yes, I liked the idea of ghosts. No, I didn't want to meet one.

Pratt Hall at Huntingdon College (image credit: al.com article)

Thankfully I'd mostly gotten over my fear of ghosts by the time I went to Huntingdon College. If you're familiar with the 13 Alabama Ghosts book, you will recognize the school as the site of the haunting mentioned in the eleventh chapter, or The Red Lady of Huntingdon College (hyperlinked to an al.com story about her). My sorority pledge room or storage room - I was never sure which - was supposedly the site of the tragedy, but we were always careful to never be up there alone or piss off Martha. I never saw, heard, or felt her, which was probably good with my aforementioned imagination. You see, the mind is a tricky thing. The Victorians knew this well.

While researching my current work, the third book in my Aether Psychics series, which will be called Aether Spirit, I found a fascinating book called The Birth of Neurosis:  Myth, Malady, and the Victorians by physician and medical historian George Drinka. It was written in the early 1980s and is long out of print, but thanks to my local library, I was able to get my hands on a copy quickly. It details the history of mental health in the Victorian era outside of Freud. Yes, there were others working in psychology, which was really psychiatry since they were all medical doctors at the time. The cultural context for mental illness is fascinating and can be seen in Victorian ghost stories if you know where to look.

First let’s talk about how death was handled in Victorian times. Typically people died at home, not removed from their relatives in hospitals, and it was common across the lifespan. Women frequently died in childbirth and children before they reached adulthood. If you think about it, signs of death and mourning were everywhere, whether they were people in mourning clothing, the peals of church bells, or elaborate funerals and processions. Rules about mourning were also part of the many Victorian social regulations. Is it any wonder that ghost stories became a popular genre with well-known authors such as Charles Dickens (of course), Arthur Conan Doyle, and Henry James contributing to it? It was actually a great genre for female authors, too.

So how do ghosts and mental illness intersect? What happened beyond the grave and “madness” were two areas the Victorians didn’t have much control over or knowledge about, but about which they were fascinated. They’d made some progress with regard to nerves but still didn’t know exactly how they worked and regarded the nervous system, particularly that of women, as fragile and easily overwhelmed by the growing chaos of “modern” life or other disturbances. Would such overwhelmed nervous systems be more inclined to see things that weren’t there and mistake them for spirits? We recall Ebenezer Scrooge’s accusation that Marley’s ghost is a bit of undigested beef.

According to The Birth of Neurosis, one theory about psychological problems was called the Degenerate Theory, in which successive generations succumbed to worse forms of mental illness until the final progeny died either in prison or mental institutions. So, rather than being a cause for anxiety for individuals and their immediate family only, psychological issues could potentially mean the dying out of an entire family, and this concern permeates the ghost story literature of the era. For example, in the first story in Michael Sims’ entertaining compilation Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories, from which I draw my examples, the narrator says, 

“…I thought I could make out that Miss Furnivall was crazy, from their odd ways about her, and I was afraid lest something of the same kind (which might be in the family, you know) hung over my darling.” 

Real paper books!

She’s talking about her “darling” charge, a little girl named Rosemund, and the child's great aunt, who is guilty over some events of many years previously. The story is The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Mental illness had symptoms similar to the sensations experienced by those who encountered ghosts. Recall that Arthur Conan Doyle was a trained physician. In his story The Captain of the Pole Star, the captain asks the narrator, the ship’s doctor, about the symptoms of madness. The narrator replies, “Pains in the head, noises in the ear, flashes before the eyes, delusions…” The captain has also been seeing a ghost and is going mad from grief. Or is he? The doctor has to sort it out.

The emotional experiences that attract ghosts in stories also drove people mad, for example, guilt, witnessing violent death, and suggestion through frightening tales. These are evident in The Phantom Coach story by Amelia B. Edwards and Henry James’ Sir Edmund Orme. Also, the narrator in Charles Dickens’ lesser known story The Trial for Murder is at a point in his life when he’s feeling burned out by his job and dissatisfied with his situation when he starts seeing a ghost. Although they didn't call it burnout, Victorian physicians treated men and women who were "neurasthenic" due to overwhelm from the demands of life.

Victorian ghost stories are entertaining in their own right, but knowing how the society viewed psychological illness adds an interesting dimension to the tales.

I will never forget 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. What is one ghost story that still haunts you? See what I did there? Tell me your favorite ghost story for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. Novels, short stories, and movies are all fair game. Please leave your email address in the comment box itself so I can easily contact the winner. And don't forget to enter for a chance to win one of the main blog tour prizes.

Character on the Couch: Jillian Neal's Brock and Hope

Today I'm delighted to have Jillian Neal and her characters from her newly released novel Gypsy Hope to the couch. We authors typically try to use our powers for good, but Jillian is taking it a step further. For every copy of Gypsy Hope sold, Jillian is donating $1 to the ProLiteracy organization to help combat adult illiteracy. ProLiteracy works globally to educate, provide resource materials, and to help people that are illiterate. So pull up a beach chair, and let's meet these characters!

This is the kind of cover that makes me go "awww!"

First, let me thank Cecilia for having my characters, Brock Camden and Hope Hendrix, on the couch today. Strong characters, passionate love scenes, and deep emotion are the hallmarks of my work. Brock and Hope’s story is no different but does offer another element that I think makes it all the more compelling. Brock is illiterate. Overcoming that, learning to accept both of their pasts, and ultimately a future neither of them imagined makes Gypsy Hope an engaging and heartbreaking novel, to be sure. But I write romance so there will always be a happily ever after. I wouldn’t even know how to write anything else.


1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.

Ha! Honestly, a court order wouldn’t be necessary though Brock Camden would probably not go willingly. He would go for Hope. He would do most anything for her. They’ve been best friends since high school. They would both tell you that counseling would be helpful due to their traumatic childhoods. (Brock’s father was an abusive alcoholic. That situation led to his dyslexia and illiteracy never being diagnosed. Hope’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was a little girl.) Brock is a cowboy through and through, however. He would be more inclined to work and try to bury his pain and his past out in the pastures. That is how he’d been dealing with all of his issues right up until the moment Hope proposes they become a couple long enough for him to “show her the sexual ropes” she feels she’s missed out on.

2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?

Largely the conflicts are internal. Hope has fear/anxiety issues due to her parents’ deaths. Brock is terrified that someone will figure out that he’s illiterate. When Hope discovers his painful secret, he pushes her away, too. She has to convince him that she loves him whether he can read or not and show him that illiterate does not mean unintelligent, unlovable, or even unattractive.

3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?

Brock would follow Hope’s lead. She would cautiously seat herself on the couch. He would sit beside her, wrap his arm around her, and immediately be ready to tell you to “back off” if he thought you were being too intrusive. If he sensed or suspected that Hope was afraid or that the session was too painful, he’d suggest/demand that they leave. He’s extremely protective and would like to think that their problems could be solved without external help.

4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?

Brock would only talk if Hope asked him to share. I envision short clipped sentences. He can be quite gruff. His cowboy drawl softens the blow. His opinion would be - what happened in his past happened. There’s no changing it. Why drudge it up now?

Hope would talk more openly in an effort to seek healing for the issues she knows she has. If she loosened up, Brock might follow suit.

5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?

If Brock were alone and not driving, he’d have whiskey straight up, probably something from the Jack Daniel’s distillery. He’s wary of alcohol after seeing what happened to his father when he drank too much, so he would not over do it. If he were with Hope and driving her home, he’d just have a cheap beer. Hope wouldn’t be likely to venture into a bar alone but does like a glass of wine. She’s a light-weight, so she would be cautious.

6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)? And for this book, how did you research illiteracy?

The research on illiteracy actually came many years before Gypsy Hope was born. When my eldest son was eight, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. We were inundated with the horrifying statistics about illiteracy. 757 million people around the world cannot read or write a simple sentence. Nineteen percent of graduating high school seniors cannot read above a third grade level. I wanted to give illiteracy a voice, and in that desire, Brock Camden came on the scene.

As for my characters, they tend to come to me fully-formed. As I write, I get to know them. This is why I will re-write a manuscript at least three times before it goes to my critique partners or my editors. I want to really dig deep and get to know my characters. I’m constantly asking myself, “What if? and How would they react?” when I write. I always want to dig deeper. I never want to “phone in” a scene.

Speaking of Myers-Briggs I am an INFJ empath. Given that I derive other people’s emotions with ease, my novels tend to have a great deal of emotional depth. INFJ’s think using images. So, I often use Pinterest for character and plot development. I can pull the emotion out of an image and transfer it into words. I knew Brock had been Gypsy Beach’s football star in high school but I was missing a part of his past. I opened Pinterest one day and three pictures of sexy cowboys were at the top of my screen. I had it. It hit me like lightening. He was ultimately a misplaced cowboy never meant to be on a beach in North Carolina. So, how had he gotten there? How did that make him feel? and Would he ever go back to the ranch that raised him?

Jillian Neal is a Romance author that manages to blend her imagination, Southern sass, and loving heart in every novel she pens. She showed her talent for weaving intricate plot lines and showcasing dynamic characters in her seven-book, urban fantasy, series, The Gifted Realm. Her skillset continues to shine in her contemporary series, Gypsy Beach, which will leave you with a longing to pack your bags and move to a tiny beach town full of bohemian charm.

She lives outside of Atlanta with her husband and their children.

Cecilia says: I'm an INFJ, too! And yes, I also think in images, although I'm still not good at Pinterest. Thanks so much for coming by and bringing your characters! I do want my readers to know that Jillian's books have the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. They're perfect beach reads whether you have a beach to read on or not.

If you have a character you'd like help with or would like to feature on this blog, please fill out & submit the comment form on the top right. Thanks, and happy reading!

Characters on the Couch: Aidee Ladnier's Charlotte

Today we get to meet Charlotte, aka "Charly," the other half of the paranormally talented duo from Aidee Ladnier's ongoing project.

India Eisley, Aidee's visual model for Charlotte (from Aidee's Smudges Pinterest page)

Character Two name: Charlotte (Charly)

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Species (if applicable): Human

Cultural or historical context (if important to the story, e.g., if it's a Regency): Modern day teenager, American South

Brief description and relevant history: 

Charlotte's parents have just divorced and she and her mom have moved in with her great aunt. Although bullied at her last school, she's still angry to be moved away from everything she's ever known. Her mother offers to help her remake herself for her new school and Charlotte adopts the name Charly and tries to remake herself as the perfect, popular girl. She begins hanging out with the popular crowd but she's drawn to Miranda. And when she's around Miranda she hears voices. Then when they touch, suddenly both of them can see the echoes Miranda sees only they don't repeat actions but instead interact with the young women (like their touch completed a psychic circuit). Miranda represents everything scary to her, gifts she doesn't understand, a sexuality she's not comfortable with, etc.

Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist: 

I feel kind of backed into a corner with this character. She has every reason to stay away from the other character and I'm uncertain how to build the bond between them.

Follow-up questions:

The relationship between Charly and her mother is potentially a huge area to explore. Does her mother help her reinvent herself because she wants to help or because she wants her daughter to be “normal”?  

I think her mother helps her because she wants her daughter to have the best. She's willing to take on two jobs in order to pay the credit card bill to pay for Charly remaking herself. She feels guilty for uprooting her daughter but after her divorce, they literally had nothing and so her mother retreated back to her family support system. Charly has family all over town but doesn't realize it at first.

Having every reason to stay away from Miranda is a good basis for a romance novel character. What do they have in common other than unusual talents and homosexuality? Is that why Charly was bullied?

Miranda is a painter and is volunteered by one of her instructors into doing set painting for the school play which Charly is one of the minor players in.

Has Charly had any unusual experiences before she met Miranda that could be related to their talent?

When she's around Miranda she occasionally hears whispers and voices. This alarms her that she's possibly having auditory hallucinations, but as soon as she connects with Miranda she realizes that she's actually hearing the same component that Miranda sees. It's a little harder for her to tune out, and starts to cause some anxiety. They quickly learn, though that once the circuit is complete, the spirits last thought is completed, their last words finished and their last breath breathed. They can move on.

What does Charly want from life? What does she fear most?

Charly wants to be accepted. She joins every club and extracurricular activity she can when she's enrolled mid-year. Her idea is that the law of averages will mean she'll meet someone she can be friends with. She's afraid of being lonely. Her mother is always at work, her aunt is really old and comes from an alien (small town) culture, and Charly's afraid of being alone.

And for the relationship – what does Miranda have that Charly envies and vice versa? Mother/lack of mother relationship could be huge here.

I think Charly's envious of Miranda's ability to buy or do or go anywhere she wants because her family has a lot of money. Charly's mom is barely making it, forced to move in with family in order to survive. Initially, I think Charly's a little willfully ignorant of her mother's finances, but it slowly becomes more worrisome for her. She sees Miranda as having everything she wants and not wanting it.

Cecilia says:

Common values and interests are a great force of attraction to other people. When clients talk to me about wanting to find a partner or even to meet new friends, I encourage them to put themselves in situations that will allow them to meet people with the same interests repeatedly. Think about your involvement in Southern Magic. I’ve found several good friends through Georgia Romance Writers because we have a common interest – writing – that helps us “get” each other.

Both of your characters want the same thing – acceptance. It doesn’t look the same at first because they’re doing opposite things to gain it. Miranda, who wants to be accepted by her family, is in avoidance mode, and Charly is actively pursuing it with all her activities. Gradually coming to recognize it and realizing that they actually do understand each other on a deep level will be a great romantic arc to your story. It also sounds like they have the potential to connect at first through artistic pursuits, again with Miranda being more behind-the-scenes and Charly pursuing the spotlight, but both involved in the drama department.

The desire for acceptance also provides a good basis for conflict because it will also get in the way of them pursuing their helping the spirits cross over. Even in a place that has stories like The Ghost in the Field, people who actually have that kind of talent are often shunned. Thus there needs to be something positive they can connect over on a deeper level. I can see your characters having arguments as to whether they should continue with this spiritual work, but both of them having a noble reason to continue. For Miranda, it’s wanting to help her best friend cross over. Perhaps Charly can discover something that could help her family finances, like a treasure hidden in her great aunt’s house that one of the smudges knows about. That brings up a different value – altruism, or whatever else you’d like to call it.

As for Charly’s internal conflict, her primary conflict emotion sounds like anger hiding fear. The relationship with Miranda has the potential to gradually give her the sense of security she wants if she can overcome fear and envy, which will cause her to push Miranda away at first, and learn to focus on what’s truly important to her.

Thanks so much for bringing the girls by, Aidee! I enjoyed analyzing them. These are fascinating characters, and I look forward to seeing how this story turns out.

If you have a character you'd like help with, please send me a message through the contact form (upper right on page) or email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com

About Aidee Ladnier:

Aidee Ladnier began writing fiction at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, and amass a secret file with the CIA. A lover of genre fiction, it has been a lifelong dream of Aidee's to write both romance and erotica with a little science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing.

You can find her on her blog at http://www.aideeladnier.com or on her favorite social media sites.

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Character on the Couch: Aidee Ladnier's Miranda

Today I'm so excited to have an unpublished character for my couch. I love featuring the published ones, but I admit that these are even more fun for me. Meet Aidee Ladnier's Miranda:

Ellen Page, who is Aidee's visual model for Miranda (stolen from her Pinterest page)

Character One name: Miranda

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Species (if applicable): Human

Cultural or historical context: Modern day teenager, American South

Brief description and relevant history:

Miranda is a high school student that identifies as lesbian which you would think is her big secret, but no, it's that she can see "smudges" or echoes left when people die. She can't interact with them, just watch them as they do the same things over and over that they may have done in life. Miranda's mother died young, when she was four or five, from cancer but she's never seen her mother's ghost echo. Miranda's father remarried and she has a good relationship with her stepmother although they have little in common on the surface. She is an average student and has friends at school although her best friend committed suicide the year before (not really, she was murdered which is the crux of the exterior story when Miranda sees her echo struggling with an invisible attacker). She's also very interested in the new girl, Charly.

Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist:

This character has a lot of death surrounding her and I'm uncertain how this will affect her or even allow her to function. I want this story to allow her to bring her friend's killer to justice as well as be a tiny first romance between my two characters but I'm afraid she has too much on her plate.

Follow-up questions:
What does Miranda believe about what happens after people die? Is there a heaven? Hell? One way to think about it is, what was she taught about death as a child? Does she belong to some sort of spiritual or religious tradition?

Miranda was raised in a Methodist household and believes that when people die they go to Heaven if they’re good and Hell if they’re bad. I don’t think she’s thought about it much, just that this is what happens. She was told that her mother went to Heaven and to her that just means she’s no longer around.

Does she believe that the smudges are really the peoples’ spirits or just echoes before she meets Charly and they find out the truth? How old was she when she started seeing them? (Note: we'll meet Charly next week)

I don’t think she thinks the smudges are people’s spirits. She’s only seen them do the same thing over and over like a recording. So to her, they are almost disconnected from the people they represent, more like a snippet of a 3D film only she can see. I think she started seeing them at a fairly young age and that her mother may have also seen them and counseled her not to speak of them. Perhaps her mother would have explained more when she got older, but since she died when Miranda was young, that opportunity passed. Miranda’s father’s family has lived nearby (perhaps a few hundred miles away), but he met Miranda’s mother while he was at college and she came from somewhere else. Miranda has never met anyone from her mother’s side of the family possibly because her mother had a falling out with them or even ran away.

How was Miranda’s mother’s death handled? Like, was there a big funeral with lots of supportive family, or were she and her father essentially left to themselves with some show-sympathy and a few casseroles? 

One of Miranda's most vivid memories of her mother's death was her father dropping her off at school the day after the funeral and going to work. It was as if nothing had happened or it was an event that happened in the past. He was unwilling to talk about it, her grandparents (father's side) seemed relieved, and everyone politely stepped around the subject at her elementary school. She never even talked about it until her father's new wife asked her about it. And then it all came flooding out, tears, rage, feelings of abandonment and her stepmother helped her, validated her, and offered her comfort. It's one of the reasons that their relationship is so good in the present. While Miranda cannot go to her father or her father's family due to their coldness and stand-offishness, her stepmom, has always been there and her stepmom's family has always welcomed Miranda but they live very far away.

It might be helpful to think about larger motivation. What does Miranda want from life that seeing the smudges keeps her from accomplishing or thinking that she’ll accomplish?

The smudges have sort of forced Miranda into the role of silent witness. They give her a sense that no matter what you do in life, you're remembered by something insignificant like walking your dog or taking out the trash. She's stalled a little (not wanting to think about applying for college, not wanting to apply herself in school - making passing grades but nothing above). She fights to remain staunchly average despite the fact that she's not. Due to her father's career as a physician and his family money, as well as her intelligence, she has a lot of opportunities that she's passing up on.

What does Miranda fear the most?  

Being rejected by her father and stepmother. As a result she has never explicitly come out, and in return her family has never asked about her sexuality. She also doesn't date so that the delicate fiction that she's a perfectly average daughter is maintained. And she'll certainly never mention the smudges.

You mention a best friend. Were they a clique of two, or are there others? Does Miranda have friends or do other kids avoid her because she’s weird?  

She was friends with several other high schoolers but Anne was her best friend. When Anne died, Miranda pulled away from her other friends, turning down activities, parties and invitations. At first they gave her some slack, but now everyone thinks she should be moving on. But Miranda really just wants to be left alone.

Do Miranda and Charly live in a place like Charleston or New Orleans where there’s more of an acknowledgment of odd spiritual stuff, or are they in a setting where anything outside the strict Christian norm is regarded with suspicion? Setting could also strongly impact how accepted their sexuality is.

I think they're not too far from a large city like Charleston or New Orleans, but their town is small to middling. Some odd spiritual stuff is accepted - for example, everyone knows the story of the Ghost in the Field who cries for her children on rainy nights. That said, they aren't so small that they're expected in church every Sunday but small enough that everyone knows what church you go to. There are a couple of prominent out gay couples, so their sexuality though atypical would not result in their house being burned down.

Cecilia says:

Wow, Miranda does have a lot on her plate, but she also has a lot of advantages and resources that balance out her challenges. Instead of being too complex, it all sounds like layers to the same internal conflict.

Miranda doesn’t want to be noticed because notice brings rejection. That’s what she learned from how her father and his family tiptoed around her mother’s death and denied its importance, even to the point of being relieved. What did the poor woman do to bring that kind of negative attention? Or was she an extraordinary person who married into a traditional family who couldn’t handle her, and she couldn’t help it?

Miranda senses that her mother was rejected by her father and his family, possibly for this talent Miranda inherited from her. But what about the good things Miranda learned from her mother? Is she throwing out everything because of how her mother’s death was handled? It’s great she has a good relationship with her stepmother, but she needs to resolve her feelings and fears about her mother in order to move forward, and that will mean looking at the whole person, perhaps acknowledging parts of her mother she hasn’t allowed herself to think about. It also might mean rejecting some of the messages she’s gotten from her father and his family, which will push her emotionally out of this stuck place. I’d do a complete character profile for Miranda’s mother and figure out what characteristics Miranda inherited from her that are not allowed in her father’s family. For example, Miranda is a painter. Is it possible she wants to be an artist but doesn’t think her family would approve of that career choice, so she keeps her grades average so as not to be pushed into an “acceptable” path?

Doing whatever she’ll end up doing with the smudges and taking up romantically with Charly will definitely bring Miranda notice as well as give her a sense of connection to another person who truly understands her on all levels. You’re giving her a great choice for her to make – the safety of ordinariness and the security of fitting into her father’s family or following her heart with the possibility of being something really special with someone really special with all the risk it entails. Her core conflict emotion is fear, and what will push her to overcome it is your character and story arc.

Thanks for reading! We'll meet Charly next week. Meanwhile, please feel free to check out some of Aidee's published books. If you have a character you'd like help with, please send me a message through the contact form (upper right on page) or email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com

About Aidee Ladnier:

Aidee Ladnier began writing fiction at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, and amass a secret file with the CIA. A lover of genre fiction, it has been a lifelong dream of Aidee's to write both romance and erotica with a little science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing.

You can find her on her blog at http://www.aideeladnier.com or on her favorite social media sites.

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Published Character on the Couch: A Couples' Session with Theodora and Seth

This Thursday I'm happy to welcome Theo and Seth of Catherine Butzen's The God Collector, out last month. This sounds like a fantastic book, and I got my copy from Amazon today. Of course, I'm partial to heroes named Seth these days. ;)

Their love is ancient history if they can’t catch the thief out to kill them.

Theodora Speer loves her job at the Columbian Exposition Museum designing murals, but a sense of movement—in her art and in her life—eludes her.  She meets the museum’s enigmatic donor Seth Adler while working on a new exhibit: a strange cache of shabtis, or clay funerary figurines, accompanying a prize mummy, and something sparks.

Seth Adler’s interest in the Egyptian artifacts and in Theo goes deeper than patronage, but he can’t tell her that. A series of robberies has everyone on edge and when the Columbian is hit, Theo and Seth are implicated. Someone thinks there was more to the ancient Egyptian funeral rites than meets the eye and wants the mummy and his grave goods.

Seth and Theo are forced on the run, and it may be too much movement for strict realist Theo to keep up with. But the man—and the mummy—are more than she realized. And if she can’t reconcile the past and the present, she and Seth may have no future.

Here's the interview:

If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer. 

Theodora Speer would willingly visit a psychologist to untangle her own personal concerns, especially following a rather ... explosive meeting with a certain man. Seth Adler would not be brought in, by Theo or anyone else, unless he was directly ordered by a presiding legal authority. Disobeying could risk exposing his false identity, and to him, personal preservation and playing the long game are everything.

Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?

Yes and no. The problem is that Seth is not, so to speak, what he appears to be. He has trouble figuring out how to relate to other people because he rarely wants to, and he's learned to wait out problems simply by outliving the person who's causing him the problem. Theo, on the other hand, has only one life to live, and she can't comprehend the type of mindset that would leave a country for a hundred years just to wait until an enemy has died. They clash in The God Collector, and they are likely to clash in the office.

It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?

Theo hesitates before taking a seat on the couch. She sits with knees together, hands resting on the cushions beside her, fingers fidgeting with nothing. "Too much coffee," she says, trying to grin. Seth does not sit; he remains standing against the wall, remaining formal and withdrawn.

Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be?

Theo tries to explain the situation. It doesn't go well. She mumbles something about Egypt and toys with the necklace she wears, which shows what looks like a melted ankh in silver. Seth picks up the slack somewhat: "One might say the issue is a fundamental clash of mindsets," he says. "I prefer to wait; she prefers to act. I can't object, because it's saved my life--" 

"In a manner of speaking," Theo interrupts, shaking her head bemusedly.

"And you wonder why I don't like modern people," he tells her. There's a note of teasing in his voice, though it's hard to discern past his glacial exterior. "They'll never respect you once they've got their hands on your heart--"

"In a manner of speaking," Theo repeats, grinning. The free hand on the couch cups, as if she's remembering holding something.

Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?

When it comes to bars, Theo goes alone. She orders a screwdriver and sits blankly, staring at the air for a few minutes while she sips. Then she takes a pen out of her purse and begins to sketch on the bar napkin. The shape that emerges under her hand is not entirely human: a twisted, liquid thing, struggling to live even while it has no body to inhabit. She crumples up the napkin and throws it away.

When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?

Interviews are definitely helpful. I studied some psychology, and I often find myself returning to my old textbooks when I'm trying to build a new character, but just sitting them down and asking "What's your problem?" is surprisingly useful to me. Sometimes I'll have two characters pick a fight with each other just to see what they shout--they've surprised me more than once!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I look forward to meeting your characters in your book.

If you're a writer who needs help with a character or an author who would like to send someone over to be interviewed, please email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com

Speaking of heroes named Seth, I'll be doing a blog hop in anticipation of the release of A Perfect Man on May 12 with cool prizes overall and all along. Please join the Facebook event for more info and prize updates.

Published Character on the Couch: Tara from Brighid's Flame

Just a quick note about an upcoming appearance... I'll be signing books and chatting with fans this coming Saturday, March 28, from 2:00 to 4:00 at Hermit Woods Winery in Meredith, New Hampshire. I'll try to bring up some of this lovely Southern weather for y'all!

Today I'm happy to welcome Cate Morgan, who is a fellow Samhain author and who shares the same wonderful editor Holly Atkinson, and her character Tara from her just-released novel Brighid's Flame.

Learn it easy, or learn it hard. You don’t mess with New York City.

Keepers of the Flame, Book 3

Tara Fitzpatrick is amazed how far she’s come since the Seven-Year War, when she and her best friend Stephen eked out a bare-bones existence in the Central Park Shanties. Now she has it all: Stephen at her side, rewarding work for the powerful Vincent Dante’s foundation, and a budding romance with Julien, Vincent’s heir.

If only the Underground movement would stop inciting civil unrest against Vincent’s efforts to rebuild the Big Apple, Tara’s life would be perfect.

Then Julien is shot before her eyes, shattering Tara’s world. Her pursuit of the shooter leads her down a rabbit hole dug by betrayal, misconceptions, and inescapable truth.

Suddenly the fate of an entire city rests on her shoulders. The man she was trained to protect is the man she is now forced to destroy. And the acceptance of her true destiny as a Keeper of the Flame comes at a terrible price—if she even survives the fight.

But if she’s lucky, perhaps the fight alone will be enough to save the city she loves.

Warning: Contains powerful alpha men, kick-ass women, dark secrets, and cat-and-mouse games. Also, explosions—because explosions are fun.

1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? 

Yes, a court order is a valid answer. If Tara were to see a psychologist, it would be because she was ordered to by her superiors. Being in private security in an apocalyptic New York, she is essentially military during a shattering era of human history. That's a lot of pressure for a girl from the Central Park Shanties! 

 

2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself? 

Tara's issues are combination of both, but mainly internal. She was with her mother when she died in the first attacks of the Seven-Year War, and she a majority of the war either in the system in a series of horrible homes, being very angry and restless and unable to control any part of her life. She was a fighter, that's for sure! When she was rescued from the Shanties--a whole Lord of the Flies situation--she was safe for the first time years. Then her world is turned upside down when she learns those she loves and admires have been keeping some pretty dark secrets from her, and she feels betrayed. And--here's the kicker--she discovers that she's not entirely human. And yet she has humanity's fate quivering in the palm of her hand.

 

3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do? 

Tara stands to attention and looks straight ahead until asked (or ordered) to sit. When she sits, she does so bolt upright, on the edge of her seat, ready for action at a moment's notice.

 

4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? 

She has trust issues, so she doesn't say much. She'll answer direct questions because she must, but she won't give away a whole lot. not even in body language. She may admit to being weary, however, because there hasn't been a single day of her life since the War started that she hasn't been fighting.

 

5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next? 

Tara doesn't really drink, and she doesn't have any other vices other than really bad coffee, because she doesn't like to be out of control. If she's in a bar, it's to meet someone--her best friend Stephen, a contact. She'll order coffee, and get right back to business, or talk to Stephen about the session.

 

6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)? 

It's pretty rare when a character more or less downloads themselves into my brain to tell me their story. (In fact, it's a little disorienting when they do.) And every book is more or less different as far as my prep work and drafting process is concerned. But, generally, I have four things that go into a character's profile, all sourced from theatre techniques:

 

1) Character Sketch--not just physical appearance, but notes on their body language, where they live, any objects that are close to them. Their wants and desires.

 

2) Back Story--birth, background, childhoods, first kiss, relationships and friendships, all the way up to the point where the story starts.

 

3) Dream--this is fast-drafted, an almost stream of conscious depiction of one of my character's dreams. It usually runs a page or two at most, and I highlight all the repeated images and symbols to help me tap into that character's psyche.

 

4) Wardrobe--what would the character for certain occasions? What rituals do they perform in their dressing or grooming that stand out? Why? Is their closet messy, or perfectly organized? I'll refine this as I get plot points down and a scene list. But they all have that one object or wardrobe piece that defines their character. For Tara, it's her uniform.

Cecilia says: Tara sounds like a fascinating character, and your book sounds really interesting! Thanks so much for stopping by.

You can find Cate at her website, which includes buy links.

If you're a published author and would like to have a character come by or if you're unpublished and would like some help with one, please email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com.

Character on the Couch: Officer Brady

After a brief hiatus to address some work and health issues, I'm back to welcoming characters to my couch. Georgia Romance Writers colleague S.L. Morgan brought me this interesting young policeman, who isn't being cooperative.

Character name: Brady

Age: 31-32

Gender: Male

Brief description and relevant history:

Brady is a police detective, he became a cop to solve crimes as his sister's abduction, rape and murder (when he was a young teen) was never solved. Although he would like to go to college, he doesn't have time. However, he doesn't believe a formal education necessarily makes a person smart. He sneaks off (tells no one) on his days off to go visit cultural and historical sites and museums to learn on his own. He doesn't want anyone to think he's ignorant because he never went to college. He believes his job is detrimental to a relationship as he was dumped by an intelligent person and due to his odd working hours. He is extremely turned on by intelligent women, they feed his desire for knowledge.

Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist:

I need to understand what drives his desire for knowledge and why he's afraid to tell anyone what he does on his days off. He needs a hobby other than visiting museums and I'm not sure what to have him do that would intrigue my heroine (she's a linguist).

I asked the following questions to get more info:

Brady believes a formal education doesn't necessarily make someone smart, but he's into self-education. Where did he acquire both of these values? Were his parents educated but didn't have enough common sense to balance their book smarts? Or did he get messages from uneducated parents that book-learning isn't real education? Was either of his parents, likely his father since boys tend to identify more with them, a self-taught, well-regarded expert?

Brady wanted to go to college. But, he gave it up to become a police officer due to his sister's tragedy. He did not have the time, money, nor grades to get into college, so he's educating himself with his weekend trips.

Brady's sister's abduction, etc. obviously had a profound effect on him. How did he feel at the time it happened? Did he take any responsibility? Did he feel that if he had only known _____, he would have been able to save her? Or was he in school at the time and blamed himself for putting learning above family, like maybe he was at an honors club meeting the day she wanted him to take her to the pool and ended up going by herself and disappearing? This could be an interesting little flashback from both the crime's perspective and to illuminate his motivations.

 Brady was doing boy things (I think I had him working on his bike) and his sister went up to a car of other teen boys. She jumped in the car with them before he could stop her. But, since they were kids from his school, he didn't think much of it and didn't say or do anything until she never returned. He feels guilty for: 1. Letting her go alone with a bunch of boys. 2. Feeling relieved that she was out of his hair. 3. Feeling guilty for not telling his parents until it was too late where and when she left (she was eventually raped and killed and her body left under the bleachers at school. No one was convicted.). 4. He became a cop to protect other "sisters".

What area of linguistics is your heroine in, and how do she and Brady meet?

Andrea is focusing on the dead languages (Old English, Latin, Sanskrit, and the fourth I forgot). She is a favorite of the linguistic teachers as her parents were involved in the acquisition of authentic dead language documents. She and Brady had a one time meet at a presentation she was giving at a museum where Brady was visiting. He actually approached her and asked her out to coffee. She chickened out and stood him up by leaving by a back door.

Ouch! Poor Brady. Here are my thoughts on how to move him and his story forward:

It seems to me that you’re stuck with Brady’s internal conflict, which Leigh Michaels calls the “long-term problem.” She defines it as having come up before the story begins and is connected to the character’s past or personality. You have the good makings of one because he does have a bad past experience in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of his sister, and his actions indicate a lot of potential for internal conflict. You need to clarify motivation and how it connects to his current self-educational efforts beyond that he’s engaging in them because he missed out on going to college.

When people feel guilty or undeserving, they can get defensive and act like they don’t want what they really crave. For example, Brady could feel that he doesn’t deserve a college education because his sister won’t have the opportunity for one. Also, he could be getting his informal education because going back to school for a formal one would mean he’d have to admit just how badly the incident with his sister affected him emotionally, which is contrary to his professional persona.

Since internal conflict is something a character needs to move beyond to resolve the external conflict, it seems to me that Brady’s going to need to embrace this smart, education-craving side of himself, both to make the romance work and address another external conflict. Since he’s a cop, I’m guessing your book has some sort of crime as part of the plot. You’re right that you do need to figure out why he’s keeping his weekend museum trips secret. Has he been mocked for his intellectual pursuits, either by his colleagues or friends? Or does he not want to admit to himself or others why he’s engaging in them because he might have to acknowledge some unexpressed grief or unaddressed trauma?

With regard to the romance, you have the piece that will drive the heroine away – that he doesn’t believe education makes people smart, which is an attitude educated people tend to get annoyed with. Also, you mentioned he was dumped by an intelligent woman, which means he may be defensive around Andrea even if he is attracted to her. Yes, you need the piece she can connect with. If she’s a professor, she may sense that he wants to learn and relate to that. Or perhaps he needs to consult with her on something related to her field, which helps her see that he does respect her knowledge and education. A third option would be that she has an affinity for “lost” things due to what her parents did, and it currently shows because she is a scholar of dead, or lost, languages. Brady does sound lost in a lot of ways. You also need to clarify her internal conflict, to which you give us a clue with her sneaking away on their date.

Brady and Andrea sound like a really interesting couple, and I look forward to reading more about them in the future!

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Do you have a character you're stuck on? Or a fascinating already published one who wouldn't mind coming by for an interview? Email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com 

Blood's Shadow release day!

It's release day for Blood's Shadow, the third Lycanthropy Files book! Thank you especially to my editor Holly Atkinson and Samhain Publishing for helping this dream come true. I'd also like to thank my readers for taking a chance on a new author. I hope you've enjoyed reading these books as much as I've loved writing them.

Encountering werewolves can be deadly. Trying to cure them? Murder.

The Lycanthropy Files, Book 3

As the Investigator for the Lycanthrope Council, Gabriel McCord encountered his share of sticky situations in order to keep werewolf kind under the radar of discovery. Now, as the Council’s liaison to the Institute for Lycanthropic Reversal, he advocates for those who were turned werewolf against their will.

Everyone seems to be on board with the Institute’s controversial experimental process— until one of its geneticists is found lying on his desk in a pool of blood. Gabriel races to single out a killer from a long list of suspects. Purists, who believe lycanthropy is a gift that shouldn’t be returned. Young Bloods, who want the cure for born lycanthropes as well as made. The Institute’s own very attractive psychologist, whose most precious possession has fallen into the hands of an ancient secret society bent on the destruction of werewolves.

Failure means he’ll lose his place on the Council and endanger the tenuous truce between wizard and lycanthrope. Even if he wins, he could lose his heart to a woman with deadly secrets of her own.

Warning: Some bloody scenes, adult language, and consensual sex between adults. Also alcohol consumption at Scottish levels and tempting portrayals of unhealthy Scottish food.

I wrote the books to stand alone if that's how people would prefer to read them, but if you do want to grab the whole series today, it's a great time to do so because the first two books are on sale through today. You can click on the links above for excerpts and buy links or the pictures to the right if you'd like to buy them from Samhain.

Meanwhile, here are the buy links for Blood's Shadow:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Samhain (all ebook formats available and on sale for $3.85)

Character on the Couch: Getting Catty with Another Villain

Someone didn't get his coffee this morning. (Image attribution via Wikimedia Commons: Puma concolor shot at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum |Source=self-made |Author= User:Cm0rris0n)

Fellow author of shifter literature Abigail Owen approached me wanting to make the villain of her second book, Kyle Carstairs, a bit more menacing. Here's our initial exchange:

Character name: Kyle Carstairs

Age: 28ish

Gender: Male

Species (if applicable): mountain lion shifter

Cultural or historical context: these shifters are very similar to their wild counterparts - loners and very aggressive. They've been forced to band together in pride-like groups.

Brief description and relevant history:  Kyle is my villain in the 2nd book in a series. He was co-villain but mostly off-stage in the 1st book. Kyle's father was the Alpha for one of the prides. He ruled with an iron fist. He and his father were challenged together. The dad was killed, and Kyle ran off. In book 2 he's joined forces with a larger off-screen villain (the reason cougars had to band together in the first place - these people take more shape in book 3).

Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist: Trying to make him more menacing without going over the top. Getting behind his motivations.

What you may not want me to share generally in the post:

Open to sharing all that in the post. :)

Note: I removed one question/answer pair that may lead to spoilers.

Rawr. (Image in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

So I sent the following questions for follow-up:

Are your mountain lion shifters (love it!) female-dominant?

The society is male dominated, but with a twist. I based the society on real mountain lion behavior. Mountain lions don't live in packs or with other lions - they're very much loners. The older males are the 'big dogs' because they're bigger and stronger only. Cougars are known to kill each other for territory. I add another twist. Due to natural environments shrinking, the types of shifters who do live in packs (lions, wolves) are attacking the loners like cougars, and killing them to gain their territories. Cougar shifters banded together to form the Shadowcat Nation - a group of ten Dares (like prides) that are Alpha Male led. But it's a really tense situation, since their animal forms don't naturally live in groups.

Even if not, what was Kyle's relationship to his mother or any other significant females? Yeah, paging Dr. Freud. ;-)

Kyle's mother doesn't even rate a mention in book 1. His father is Alpha of the Carstairs Dare, and Kyle wants the job. Based on the above scenario, Kyle's mom has been out of the picture a while. If she didn't run away from his father (who's a sadistic tyrant) then he killed her. Kyle has never asked which.

What is Kyle's greatest insecurity?

Not being in control. He wants to rule everything in his domain and destroy anything that threatens him (typical cougar). But he takes it to another level, trying to force one woman to be his mate (wife) (for political gain) while trying to force another woman to mate him (difference is this is just sex) in order to produce a cub who would inherit the mother's Seer ability. But a Seer he could control after he killed the mother.

Similarly, what strength does he have that he needs to control better? In other words, what's gotten him in trouble before?

I had to really think hard about this. My initial thinking is that his strength lies in - ironically - his strength. He's a massive cougar, very intimidating, with an ugly temper and temperament. He manages by fear. So far, only Jaxon has "bested" him in a fight, and even then not completely. Kyle still got away, though being so beaten threw his confidence a bit.

So here are my thoughts:

It seems to me that you've figured out Kyle's motivations – power and control – but they need more depth to make him truly menacing. In other words, what is his internal conflict? For example, has he ever thought about why he wants to lead the Carstairs Dare? It's a fairly straightforward motivation for someone to want to be king, but people still want to do so for their own reasons. How will him being the leader help him resolve what he's struggling with? Sure, he can want external things like wealth, but it will add depth to his character to give him more to deal with internally. You're on the right track with his insecurity and wanting control, but control of what?

I did a workshop at the 2012 Moonlight & Magnolias Conference called Characters on the Couch:  Personality as the Key to Believable Internal Conflict. Since you did an online Myers-Briggs personality profile and came up with INTJ as his personality, here are some possible things to consider:

INTJ is a good type for a fiercely independent person/shifter because independence is one of their strongest characteristics. So is the ability to come up with a vision of how things could be so much better-run or organized and strategy, although they may be less interested in implementing it themselves. In pursuing their vision, they often fail to consider how others are thinking or feeling.

So what is Kyle's vision for the dare if he should become king? Or does his vision go beyond it? How could you integrate his need for control?

I hope this was helpful, and I look forward to reading this series when it's published!

If you would like to type your characters, here's a link to a free online MBTI, which I find is accurate enough for character typing:  http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

As for typing yourself, I recommend finding a psychologist who administers it and paying to take the real thing. A lot of companies also offer them as part of career development testing.

Oh, and here are some mountain lion kittens. Because kittens:

Too freaking adorable! (Image in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

If you have a character you'd like to send to my couch, please send me an email at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com. You know what to do to make that an actual email address. I'm a clinical psychologist by trade, so I bring real-life psychological knowledge to help you through those stuck points. And no, I don't charge.