Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Daily Dose | Create a Character
Daily Dose / January 12, 2010

The Daily DoseSmattering of Romance, Paranormal, and General Observations One of the questions I hear frequently is how do I create my characters? Where do they come from? What inspired me? This is also the hardest question to answer because characters can come from anywhere. They can spring fully formed from my forehead like Athena did from Zeus or percolate in the foamy waves generated by my sea of imagination like Aphrodite or they can simply take shape over time, like a carefully worn path through the mountains that the river cuts relentlessly. Where Do Characters Come From? Ask any author where his or her characters come from and you will likely receive a different answer. One author I met last summer described her character creation process as an introduction. Some of her characters arrive, fully formed with names and introduce themselves. Still others describe the process as getting to know their characters as they write. One author I know begins with the germ of an idea, a word, a catch phrase or even just a hint of personality and then she writes until that character takes shape on the page. She described her process of getting to know the…

Susan Crandall | Sleep… Is It Really Safe?
Uncategorized / January 12, 2010

I’ve always been curious about the working of the human mind; which has certainly come in handy during my career as a fiction writer. It doesn’t matter how cool your plot is if your characters are acting…well, out of character. I spend a lot of time before I ever start writing a book working on my characters’ backgrounds and psyches. When I began planning my romantic suspense SLEEP NO MORE, I was looking for something that was a deep-seated part of my heroine that could present a danger in itself, as well as lead to danger from external forces. When sleepwalking came to mind, I immediately knew I had just the ticket. The research into sleepwalking made me more certain that I wanted to wrap this book’s plot around it. To read more of SLEEP IS IT REALLY SAFE please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Fresh Pick | ROSEMARY AND RUE by Seanan McGuire
Fresh Pick / January 12, 2010

October Daye #1 September 2009On Sale: September 1, 2009Featuring: October “Toby” Daye368 pages ISBN: 0756405718EAN: 9780756405717Paperback$7.99 Fantasy Urban Buy at Amazon.com Rosemary And Rue by Seanan McGuire October “Toby” Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas… The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening’s killer. Excerpt I woke up just after sundown with a pounding head and the vague, nagging feeling that something was wrong. Cagney and Lacey had somehow managed to open the bedroom door while I was sleeping, and had migrated from the couch to the warmer and hence more desirable bed. They started to wail as…