Not Just Best Friends by S.A. Hoag

by S.A. Hoag

Notice – the views expressed here are mine and not those of the SFRB.

Character building is a complex and time-consuming affair.  You want them to be realistic, but usually they are extraordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances.  In The Wildblood series, I’ve used the relationship between two unusual people to reveal the storyline.  The catch is – they are best friends, and it’s complicated.

No, really it is, and there’s the fun part.  The dynamics between these two reveal important subplots and hint at things that I hope keep the readers intrigued.  While Wade is nearly a perfect example of an alpha male, and Shannon a head-strong alpha female, there are enough twists to make them unique.  I’ve been character-building around this pair, and I’ve been world building through their interactions.  Using them, I’ve expanded on family interactions, their friends and co-workers, and perhaps most importantly, the world they occupy.

What makes this work for me, in this series, is that they have a unique relationship.  The little quirks and details, complications that might echo similarities in Real Life.  They bicker, sometimes they fight, they laugh and joke, they share their hopes and fears with each other.  What are they afraid of, and what do they cherish most?  In this series, the question is, what would they do to protect their home?  People, even fictional ones, have their limits.  The author should exploit those, and the reader should enjoy them.  

When I’m reading, that’s what catches me – details that I can relate to.  Is this character confident and well-mannered, but afraid of large group of people?  Does she dance alone when she’s happy?  Does he keep a secret stash of romance novels?  When all is said and done, why will I remember this character?  Why would I read more, or why wouldn’t I? 

These are the things I consider during my many edits.  Spelling, sentence structure, plot, all those things of course are important.  If the story is boring or the characters don’t catch the imagination of the reader, technical stuff won’t matter.

What hooks you, in that first page?

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Renegades: Book 2 of The Wildblood
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYNY774

Uncontrollable. Unpredictable. Dangerous. The Wildblood.
Now, Team Three know what they are.

Renegades: Book 2 of The Wildblood takes up with Team Three out among clans of the Altered, and cities where civilization has held ground.  Their efforts to establish The Vista’s domain create unique conflicts and forge unexpected allies. One of the most pressing obstacle turns out to be their own governing council, a threat as real and dangerous as the nomads of the outlands.

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Find all my books, in eBook formats and paperback here - www.topaz08.com

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The Wildblood Series

No one remembers what started the war, the big one. It happened too fast, and there were too many lies, for the truth to be known. Civilization stopped, and what came next was fueled by rage and fear.

Twenty years on, a tiny refuge, a place called The Vista, may be one of the last vestiges of humanity. Isolated, guarded, and hiding a dark secret, the people have survived World War Last, and they are content with that. Their children, however, are not. The search for others will send them out into a world they know nothing about, where the line between enemy and ally is blurred. The war may not be over.

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S. A. Hoag - Author

I've been a lifelong Sci Fi addict, from Saturday morning monster movies, to a well-stocked public library, and being absolutely thrilled at the advent of CGI.

Writing came about naturally. I love contemplating 'what if' or 'what next', and then books happen. Detailed plots, intricate relationships, surprise twists, these are a few of my favorite things. I want my readers to be entertained.

Now I watch sunsets in the desert, the stars at night, and enjoy being with my family. You can find all my current books at my website. I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them.

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Where you can find me

Website – http://www.topaz08.com

Wordpress - https://topaz08.wordpress.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HoagSheila

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thewildbloodseries/

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/topaz08/

Amazon Author Page - https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00WARWIHY

How To Build A Better Villain

(Or Any Other Believable Character For That Matter)

by Christina Westcott

In my latest book, the villain, Janos Tritico, is so driven by the desire to gain ultimate control of the Scyran Empire, that he’s willing to form an alliance with the alien Tzraka. Half a century earlier, humanity waged a devastating war against these creatures, a conflict in which Tritico himself was nearly killed. What type of person would lust for power so fiercely that they would be willing to destroy everything they sought to gain total control of it?

That answer can be found in an intriguing personality typing system called the Enneagram. Its origins are thought to date back to the ancient Middle East, but it came into modern prominence in the self-help boom of the 1980s. A fellow author turned me on to a book entitled Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery by Don Richard Riso as a guide to put together believable personalities for the people who lived in my books. I’ve used it so often my copy is dog-eared, held together by tape and full of underlines, yellow markers, tea stains and cat hairs.

The Enneagram separates personality types into nine distinct numbered groups and this book further divides them by Healthy, Average and Unhealthy, with personality traits and motivations listed for each. I chose to make my villain an Eight, often called the Leader or the Boss. Oddly, this is the type where we’re most likely to encounter the Alpha Male. Healthy Eights are magnanimous, heroic and able to inspire others. They seek power, but to use it for the good of humanity. Conversely, the Unhealthy Eight also seeks power, but for his own twisted reasons and he doesn’t care what he has to do to achieve his goals. The two sub-groups are mirror images. A Neurotic Eight is the most destructive of all types, while the healthy individuals can be among the most magnanimous and heroic.

We want our characters to grow, or disintegrate, in response to the changes we put them through, but to transform in a way that is consistent with their personality. After all, an introverted artist type wouldn’t deteriorate into a megalomaniac—or if they do, you’d better give us a good reason why it happened. The Enneagram supplies us with a glimpse into our character’s personality traits as he rises to become the hero (Luke Skywalker) or steps to the Dark Side (Darth Vader).

http://www.enneagramcentral.com/OnlineTest/testa.htm

http://www.enneagramquiz.com/quiz.html

These are a couple of sites to take the Enneagram Personality test for yourself, just for fun, and then as your character. Once you’ve established their type, you’ll be able to find a wealth of information on how they’d behave and craft a richer, more complex character.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are solely that of the author and not of the SFR Brigade

 

 

 

 

A Hero for the Empire: Book One in the Dragon’s Bidding Saga

Warning: Space is no place to go it alone. We recommend taking along a telepathic cat, an immortal mercenary, and a cybernetically augmented Imperial SpecOps agent. You never know what kind of trouble you’ll run into…

Blurb: Commander Kimber FitzWarren is running on borrowed time. The cybernetic augmentations that give her superhuman strength and speed have also shortened her life. The success of her next mission is imperative, not only to save her Empire, but because this operation could be her last. She and a cabal of idealistic officers are plotting to topple the corrupt Imperial government. The key to placing missing military legend Arianne Ransahov on the throne lies with the one man who can find her, mercenary Wolf Youngblood.

Having just survived an Imperial assassination attempt, Wolf is understandably on edge when Fitz shows up in his bedroom at 0-dark-30. Except she isn’t there to kill him, but to plead for his help. Help he’s reluctant to give—until another assassin pushes the issue. Pursued by Imperial forces, left with no one to depend on but each other, a passion grows between them that even their secrets can’t destroy.

But before they can explore what’s left of their futures, they have to survive this mission.

Bio: As long as she can remember, Christina Westcott has had imaginary people living in her head. Cyborgs, mercenaries, wizards, dragons and cats. Lots of cats—shape-shifting cats, talking cats and telepathic cats. After continual nagging from this weird cast of characters inside her, Chris decided to turn them loose on the world in her science fiction and fantasy stories.

She’s been an collector of not only books and cats, but of experiences, riding in rodeos, driving racecars and flying airplanes. All good experience for becoming a writer.

She lives in sunny Southwest Florida where she delights in telling all her friends “up north” the local temperature in the middle of January and she proudly wears the moniker Crazy Cat Lady. She and the cats are hard at work on Cypher, the second book in the Dragon’s Bidding Saga, where we find out what happened when our heroes returned to the Empire and tried to live their happily ever after—not an easy job for two Imperial cyborgs.

You can catch her on her website at http://www.christinawestcottauthor.com or at http://www.facebook.com/chriswestcott33

Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Empire-Dragons-Bidding-ebook/dp/B00KNPC1KY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406210280&sr=8-1&keywords=a+hero+for+the+empire

Barnes and Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-hero-for-the-empire-christina-westcott/1119633306?ean=9781619223547

Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22396223-a-hero-for-the-empire?ac=1