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.
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Sequel to:
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.
3 comments:
Thank you for inviting me to guest post! I enjoyed writing it :)
Thanks for being on the tour, Nancy! :)
A great Guest Post thank you.
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