Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Blog Tour + #Giveaway: Beyond Your Touch by Pat Esden @patesden @XpressoTours


Beyond Your Touch
Pat Esden
(The Dark Heart #2)
Published by: Kensington
Publication date: August 30th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance



She wants more than he can promise.
His desires could lead to betrayal.
But without each other, neither can survive the dangers ahead.

Annie Freemont knows this isn’t the right time to get involved with a man like Chase. After years of distrust, she’s finally drawing close to her estranged family, and he’s an employee on their estate in Maine. Though she never intended to stay on the estate for long, her father’s illness and the mysteries surrounding her family made leaving impossible. And now with the newfound hope of rescuing her long-missing mother, Annie’s determined to be involved with the family’s plans one way or another.

If only she could keep her mind off Chase and focus on the impending rescue. But there’s something about the enigmatic Chase that she can’t resist. And she’s not the only woman. Annie fears a seductive stranger who is key to safely freeing her mother is also obsessed with him. As plans transform into action and time for a treacherous journey into a strange world draws near, every move Annie makes will test the one bond she’s trusted with her secrets, her desires—and her heart.





Sequel to:
25810168


Guest post:

"Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?"

Hi, my name is Pat Esden. I’m the author of the Dark Heart series from Kensington Books. HOLD ON ME, book one in the series, is currently available. Book two, BEYOND YOUR TOUCH, is going to be released on August 30th

All the characters in my novels don’t come to me at the same time. My ideas tend to start in the form of a scene with the main character and maybe another important character in an emotionally hot or painful situation, a turning point in the main character’s life. From there, I begin to think about the main character and ask questions. How did they get into this situation? Why is it painful for them? What could happen to make the situation worse for them?  . . . To me, the character’s age, what brought them to this point, and their personality is more important than their physical appearance.

In A HOLD ON ME (Dark Heart series book 1), the first scene I envisioned was an older teenage girl standing in a cold ocean holding a jar of cremains. Her father was sitting on the rocky beach with his hands over his face. He looked up at the girl and said, “Who are you?” I could feel the pain his words struck inside her. She loved her father and he didn’t recognize her. From there I started asking questions, developing Annie and her dad’s characters while I brainstormed the plot. By the way, this scene is in the novel at the end of chapter five.

The hardest character for me to find is the antagonist and I won’t start seriously outlining or writing until I have a firm grasp of their character. I might, however, do some free writing to discover who they are. The Dark Heart series has an antagonist that overarches the entire series as well as several lesser antagonists in each novel. It took me a while to figure out how they all interconnected, but puzzling out personalities and motivations is a large part of the fun of writing.

In BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (Dark Heart book 2), the character of Lotli wears the mask of both Annie’s friend and an antagonist. She was an offshoot of me thinking about what kind of antagonist would be the most difficult for Annie to face. Lotli’s character became clearer and stronger as I revised the novel, but I needed to have a solid idea what I was aiming for in order for the early drafts of the novel to work at all.

That said, I do come up with some secondary characters as I write. Plus, I sometimes combine several characters into one while revising. What’s most important to me is that all my characters, no matter how minor, earns their right to be in the novel by having at least some depth, motivation, and an ability to add tension to the story.



Author Bio:
PAT ESDEN would love to say she spent her childhood in intellectual pursuits. The truth is she was fonder of exploring abandoned houses and old cemeteries. When not out on her own adventures, she can be found in her northern Vermont home writing stories about brave, smart women and the men who capture their hearts. An antique-dealing florist by trade, she’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales. 


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3 comments:

Trish Esden said...

Thank you for inviting me to guest post! I enjoyed writing it :)

Giselle said...

Thanks for being on the tour, Nancy! :)

Mary Preston said...

A great Guest Post thank you.