Monday, 13 January 2014
Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to welcome Jane Lark to the blog today with a guest post as part of the 'I Found You' blog tour.
Getting into the mind of a character
The first thing I do when I come up with a story idea is
develop the characters. I have to really understand who they are and what
motivates them before I even begin to work out where their story is going to
go, and the story for I Found You
came from a single image of Rachel standing on a bridge. I didn’t just see her
standing in the electric light, I felt her pain, so then I had to unravel that
and give her a back story and a personality before I began to write.
I’ll be honest, I
Found You, wasn’t the easiest story to write. I don’t want to write
characters you’ll find everywhere, and the New Adult genre is flooded with bad
guy verse good girl. In I Found You,
it’s Rachel who’s a mess. Don’t get me wrong Jason has issues of a different sort
- but Rachel is the bad one. Where people tolerate a guy who has a dodgy back
story though, they are less tolerant of a girl, so the story weaves a fine
line, trying to draw out empathy for Rachel when she’s lived a fast life.
But there are reasons for her messed up mind and bad
judgments which come out later. Those reasons do pile on complexity though
because there are times, as a reader, you just won’t get her, at the same
moments Jason doesn’t get what the hell is going on either. That’s because she
is not a stereotypical person, only a small percentage of people would truly
understand Rachel…
But in my day job, part of what I work on, is developing
diversity, I promote accepting the differences in people and reducing judgement
and so I deliberately wrote this to stretch people’s minds and challenge
attitudes, and encourage acceptance of those who don’t fit in the usual round
peg hole. That’s Rachel…
Publisher Harper Impulse
Publishing date: 5th
December 2013
Tomorrow is
for regrets. Tonight is for being together.
On a cold
winter night, Rachel and Jason’s lives collide on Manhattan Bridge. She’s
running from life, he’s running toward it. But compassion urges him to help
her.
His offer
of a place to stay leads to friendship and trouble. There’s his fiancée back
home in Oregon and a family who just don’t trust this girl from the wrong side
of the tracks.
But when
the connection between them is so electric, so right… everyone else must be
wrong. And as the snow begins to settle on the Hudson, there’s nothing but the possibility
of what could be – of this, right here, right now. Them.
About the Author
Jane is a writer of authentic, passionate
and emotional Historical and New Adult Romances.
She began her first novel at sixteen, but a life full of difficulty
derailed her as she lives with the restrictions of Ankylosing Spondylitis.
When she finally
completed a novel it was because she was determined to be able to say I’m a
writer.
Now Jane is
thrilled to be giving her characters life in others’ imaginations at last.
Jane is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and uses her knowledge of psychology to bring her characters to life.
Jane is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and uses her knowledge of psychology to bring her characters to life.
‘Basically I’m a
sucker for a love story. I love the feeling of falling in love and it’s
wonderful to be able to do it time and time again in fiction, plus my
understanding of people helps me write the really intense relationships I enjoy
creating.’
Website http://www.janelark.co.uk
Twitter https://twitter.com/JaneLnabooks
Thank you for hosting on tour today JB.
Shaz
Hi Jonty,
Thanks so much for hosting me!
Best wishes,
Jane
x
This giveaway is awesome! I would love to win...of course.
here are a few blogs on this tour I am totally unfamiliar with. It is good exposure.
Looks like a fab give-away, thank you for the chance of winning xxxxx