The narrators are finished with Savage Champion and I’ve listened to the whole thing, and approved it. They are great. It gives me chills listening to my characters come to life. I hope you will check it out soon. When I get the date for release of the audio, I’ll notify you.
Red Herrings & Dangling Strings
If you read enough of my books, you will know that I love red herrings . They are, of course, to keep you guessing who the true bad guy is or who will die next. I won’t go into detail here, for most people understand their purpose.
When it comes to the dangling strings, they can show up in another book of the same series or even other series entirely. They’re not really important, just something for fans to note.
One of my favorite dangling strings was in The Circle books. Though the first book a person is mentioned to have been moved out of a cell before the heroine was placed inside another. Then in the second book, they use a name of a known dangerous man no one alive has seen. Then in the final full novel, the man shows up as a secondary character. He was to have his own book, but HarperCollins/Avon didn’t want another Circle book. Even so, he shows up in a novella I self-published, but still as a secondary character.
Not only do people show up in different books or series, but places too. I created fictional Sand County, Alabama, because the law enforcement was known to be crooked in my books (Brothers of Mayhem series). I didn’t want the local authority to become upset with me if I used a real one.
Years ago, I “interviewed” Olivia and Collin from The Circle Organization’s book, Circle of Desire, and I’ve meant to do this again with other main characters in my books. So here’s an interview with Cassidy and Thorn, the main characters of the Brothers of Mayhem MC book, Hidden Heat.
“Welcome. I’m glad you’re visiting with us today.” I smile at the couple sitting on my sofa.
“Good to be here,” Thorn says, one arm stretched out behind Cassidy’s shoulders.
Cassidy smirks, one eyebrow cocked as she glares back at me.
“Babe.” Thorn nudges her shoulder.“Be nice.”
My lips fold in as I hide a smile. I must’ve stared at Thorn too long. He is mighty fine.
“Let’s get to the first question. How did you meet Thorn?” I ask, looking straight at Cassidy. I’d heard she was a tough chick. With a rough childhood, being raised by two self-absorbed parents in the midst of a outlaw motorcycle club, I respected that.
She sighs. “I met him at a bar.”
Seconds tick by. Cassidy glances around the room. Obviously, in her mind, she’d answered my question. Thorn snaps his fingers in front of her face. She bats away his hand, cussing a blue streak.
Chuckling at her attitude, he explains, “Since she’s not going to elaborate, I will. We met at the Skull and Bones Bar. It’s owned by the Brothers of Mayhem Motorcycle Club. One time in particular when she came in really stuck. I was bartending, and she, being a biker princess, came sashaying in looking for her teenage brother.” His grin spreads wider. “With her dad being a the former president of the club, everyone gave her a lot of leeway. She was a spoilt princess.” He grunts when she elbows his ribs. “She impressed the hell out of me when she swung the baseball bat she was carrying, ready to beat the info out of someone about her brother’s whereabouts. Babe doesn’t take shit off anyone. Do you, Babe?”
“And don’t you forget it.” She laughs and turns to me. “I pretty much raised my brother by myself. Our mom died years earlier and Dad was in prison at the time. Storm, that’s my brother, only had me to look out for him. He knew not to hang around the Brothers of Mayhem. Being near those assholes only brought trouble.”
“So was it love at first sight?” I nudge.
“Ha!” Cassidy shakes her head.
Thorn squeezes her to his side. “I was working undercover and had to think quick to get her out of a bad situation.”
“I was handling it fine without your help,” she tosses back. Her face flushes. Is it from embarrassment at how he’s looking at her? He appears to be thinking of eating her with a spoon. Damn, that is sexy.
“Your dad’s protection could only reach so far from prison. I had to claim you as my old lady,” he says in a soft voice as if he wants to reenact that moment.
“Old lady, sheesh. I’m not old.” She rolls her eyes. “You only did so so you could go down on me.”
I blink in surprise by the answer.
“Yeah, there is that. Had to prove you were mine. Plus you tasted so good.” Thorn whispers into Cassidy’s ear, but loud enough for me to catch.
The glint in his eyes said there was more to that story, but wanting to keep it PG, I ask my next question, this time directed at Thorn. “I heard she’s rather forgiving. You had left without a word at one point. Did you deserve it?”
“No. But I’m grateful she’s so understanding. Being a strong, smart woman, she understands the circumstances of an undercover cop. We can’t talk with those involved in the case until after the trial. I was sent out of state to protect me and those who helped my case. It ate me up inside leaving her, but I came back as soon as I could.”
“How did you feel about coming back and her being pregnant with your kid?” I catch the look Cassidy shoots Thorn. Her gaze full of tenderness and love for the man next to her. My chest tightens on seeing how he returns the look, feeling. Anyone in the same room would know, these two are madly in love even after so many years.
“I have no words to describe it. I’m a lucky man.” He kisses the top of her head. Cassidy leans against him, contentment softening her smile.
“What are you two doing now? Still working uncover or security together?”
“No,” Cassidy answers. “We moved to Nashville. Thorn is working with a friend in bail bonds and such. I’m running a small shop selling my brother’s work.”
“The ‘and such’ is bounty hunting, right?” I hope she clarifies for my readers.
“Yes. He’s a bounty hunter.” She shrugs. “He’s good at tracking down people.”
“And Storm’s work is painting motorcycle gas tanks and other parts?” I ask,
“He does that, plus he has been known to put paint to canvas too. You should the picture he did for us. It’s hanging above my couch. He’s so talented.” Each word reveals how proud she is of her younger brother.
“So do either of you ever hear from the club? Any of the Brothers of Mayhem?”
“Last I heard from my brother,” Thorn’s voice deepens as if the subject is one he hates talking about, “they were working for the Whitfield brothers in Marystown, south of Sand City. That can’t be good. Those boys are nothing but trouble with a capital T. “
“Your brother?”
“Yeah, that’s a whole ‘nother story,” Thorn says with a sour expression as he stood, pulling Cassidy up with him. It appears he’s finished with the interview.
“Well, thank you so much for talking with me today. I hope you have a safe trip back home.”
Cassidy surprises me by hugging me. Then Thorn shakes my hand and leads his wife out of the front door. No long goodbyes from them.
~~
Hope you enjoyed hearing from Cassidy and Thorn (Hidden Heat) and learning a little about Storm (Full Heat) and Thorn’s brother, Wolf, (Naked Heat).
When I first started writing, critique partners and contest judges would often have a problem with my heroines. When I sold my first book, my editor said I needed to make my heroine likable.
Geez. She’s a cold-blooded assassin (Circle of Desire) and I understood why she was that way. Why couldn’t she?
I had explained piece by piece throughout the book how she was a dumpster baby, grew up in an orphanage and foster care. Then she was molested and became a runaway, walked the streets for a small time pimp, and then trained by a psycho to be an assassin. Why couldn’t the readers feel sympathy for her?
Well, if more than one person tells you that they do not like a character, you have to listen. And a big clue is the two words I used above. I understood.
So that means, I didn’t help the reader recognize where she was coming from when she did or said bad things. You can’t guarantee that the reader will read the whole book to grasp all of the fine details that made the heroine become that person. You have to give the reader a reason for her behavior. Of course, I do get aggravated with a reviewer when they say “I skipped through the book.” If she/he had read every word, they would have understood the heroine’s thought process. But it is the author’s responsibility to make it clear in the beginning that the main character(s) is someone you want in your life or sympathetic to their faults.
With encouragement from my editor, I went into the first chapter and added a sentence. That helped. See, it doesn’t take an info dump to get a point across. If you’re wondering, I showed in the narrative that her hands shook. Showing she was human.
I believe women often have a problem writing women because we think our readers (majority women) know the motivations behind the female lead’s actions. But that’s not true. Not every woman feels the same way about a situation. So we have to explain or show her rationale.
Funny how I forgot that lesson from my debut book when I wrote my first Brother of Mayhem book, Hidden Heat. Several reviewers felt that Cassidy was being immature by the fits she dealt the MC. She’s a strong heroine who knew if she didn’t stand her ground the club would run all of over her. I obviously didn’t make that clear enough in the beginning. But thankfully some reviewers/readers understood. Here’s one review that proved it. Debbie’s Reviews in Goodreads.
This means we (authors) have to stay on our toes and give our readers the information needed, within reason and in the most entertaining way. And readers need to give strong (or weak) heroines the benefit of doubt. If you want to skip pages, just don’t read the book.
Wolf Savalas has a good reason for kidnapping Sofia Cruz, the favorite cousin to the leader of Thirty-Second gang. His MC plans to hit the leader’s home and sweet Sofia will be in the crossfire.
Sofia stopped seeing the handsome biker after he admitted to being a deadly Mayhem Brother. So why is she now handcuffed to the sexy man? And why is she not sure if she wants to be set free?
Carla Swafford, Author 