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Showing posts with label Doran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doran. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2012

Writing Challenging Characters: Guest Post by Romance Author Kat Henry Doran


Please welcome Kat Henry Doran to Bea's Book Nook today. She's touring various blogs, talking about her new release. "Mad Dog and Archangel" (see my review here).




Over the years she's had the honor to work at a number of occupations: nurse, malpractice insurance investigator, forensic examiner, victim advocate, wife and mother.

Even if she sometimes wishes they'd remain in the closet, the years that she spent in the OR and labor floor, and later advocating for victims of sexual violence, contributes significantly to the voice of her writing. You don’t spend thirty years serving as loyal hand-maiden and mind reader for egotistical surgeons, then twelve years haunting police stations, Emergency Rooms, and criminal courts without developing an internal alarm system for overt misogyny, rampant apathy, and overwhelming bigotry. 

She retired her stethoscope and speculum a few years ago but continues to advocate, quietly, for marginalized populations through Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders. 

Kat likes hearing from readers. You can contact her through her website: www.KatHenry.com, or blog: www.WildWomanAuthor.blogspot.com

Kat will give one random commenter from the entire tour, a Funky Bag and a Toiletries Bag from Kats Kustom KarryAlls, US and Canada only, sorry. The more you comment, the better your chance of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/11/virtual-book-tour-mad-dog-and-archangel.html

Thank you Kat, for taking the time to sit down and talk to us today. 

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Are Challenging Characters Easier or Harder to Write?  

For me, the challenge in writing evil characters lays with keeping them realistic without going over the edge and turn them into caricatures. I find this challenge a great deal more fun to write. In turn, I have equally as much fun describing the after-effects of what the 'bad actors' inflict on their victims.   


As an example, in my first full-length novel, “Captain Marvelous”, six women are brutally murdered, then dumped along an interstate like last week's trash. The hero, a New York State Trooper, is assigned to investigate the murders. Assisting him is the local physician's assistant because of her experience working with victims of torture. I didn't want to show the murders on camera, but did have the hero and heroine viewing morgue photos which demonstrated distinct patterns of abuse which in turn helped to identify some of the perpetrators.  

Being a nurse helped me write the scenes involving medical emergencies. One in particular was great fun; the hero [an avowed wimp when it comes to blood, guts and gore] is compelled to apply pressure to a gaping abdominal wound to staunch hemorrhaging. As the heroine tells him to think happy thoughts and breathe through his mouth, he of course does the exact opposite and is close to passing out while waiting for the EMT's to arrive. It was easy to write this scene and a lot of fun. Towards the end of this story, I slipped in a scene from the Emergency Room and was able to take revenge against all the snotty, know-it-all nurses and doctors I've met in my time. Immense fun as well as great therapy. 


In my second novel, “Try Just Once More”, I wanted to create a series of events which were at first crossed off as circumstance or accidents but in reality were carefully planned attempts to murder an entire family one by one. The  evil-doer is never scene on camera until the bitter end and his motive is something people don't immediately put at the top of their list as reasons to kill. The heroine's revenge on this person was a lot of fun and made me laugh out loud. I hope it works for readers who are new to my books! 

I never thought I'd be able to write short fiction but I proved myself wrong in “Raising Kane”, part of the Out of the Dark anthology for the Wild Rose Press. I had spent a number of years working as an advocate for victims of sexual violence so those men who fear and loathe women, and the way they act out, were not foreign to me. Taking a real life event, a Take Back the Night march, I had the fictional protestors stop in front of a bar and lounge, the scene of a recent gang rape. Patrons of said establishment take offense at remarks made by some of the marchers and a riot ensues. The police arrive too late to prevent the majority of injuries and arrest everyone still standing, leaving the sorting out to God. The heroine, an investigative reporter, is assigned to cover the march and is arrested for being in the wrong place and the wrong time. The hero, the police department's Public Information Officer [read: spinmeister], is charged with putting a positive spin on the actions of the cops and make peace with innocent bystanders forced to spend a night in jail. I had a lot of fun writing the scene in the holding cell where other inmates discover the the heroine's background which contributes significantly to the conflict between her and the hero.   

For my contributions to the Class of '85 series, “Embraceable You”, “Mad Dog and the  Archangel” and [writing as Veronica Lynch] “The List”, there were no truly bad or evil characters, simply bullies and jerks, characters whom all readers can relate to from episodes in their past. In particular, I wanted to see what the ten and twelve year-old bullies from the playground turn into in their adult lives. A few of the other authors in the Class used a couple of the bullies in their stories too and it was fun to see them embrace characters I invented and run with them. 

Goddess Fish Blog Tour Review of Mad Dog and The Archangel by Kat Henry Doran

Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Release Date: January 11, 2012
Buying Links:  Wild Rose Press


Book Blurb:

Class of '85 Series

Rafael Archangeli comes back home to Summerville to bury an old friend, collect his inheritance, and then return to the only life he knows--conning wealthy women out of their money. In Rafe's world, money not only equals success, it goes a long way to obliterate the stigma of his past.

Grace Dunavan, former nun turned community activist, gave up worldly goods a long time ago with no regrets. But she's never known a man with the raw appeal of the Scourge of Summerville: Rafael Archangeli.

Their first meeting is like an errant strike of lightning, fierce and stunning in intensity, and takes both by surprise.

Has Grace turned Rafe into a changed man? Or is he using his inheritance to pull off the biggest scam of his life?

Teaser:

"He should be strung up by his considerably large brass balls and left there to hang until they rot off -or until tiny rodents gnaw them into unidentifiable bits of protoplasm." "Remind me never to get you pissed at me."

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book. My attention was grabbed from the first line and never flagged. It's not just a love story but also a story about second chances and redemption. Rafael AKA Archangel had a troubled childhood and teen years, and his adult life hasn't been much easier. He made some wrong choices, but he's starting to turn his life around. Unfortunately, many of the people he knew growing up are not inclined to give him a chance.

Grace AKA Mad Dog for some crazy chances she took when she was younger, is a former nun who is passionate about helping people and giving second chances. She is instantly attracted to Rafael, which is unusual for her. She also believes in second chances, and encourages Rafael to make changes in his life.

There are a few cliches, and some minor punctuation issues, but the story was engaging. Like I said, it held my attention. I really liked both Grace and Rafe, though Rafe was a bit more developed. Their attraction and romance was a bit quick, but again, I was so involved that I didn't mind. One of the things I really liked was the integration of social issues with the story, especially as abuse and rape are issues I feel strongly about. While they  were part of the story line, Doran didn't let them take over the story. She pointed out the difficulties that victims and advocates face without shoving it down out throats, neither are they there as token problems. It's a romance with some depth. "Mad Dog and The Archangel" isn't perfect but it's good and well worth reading

I received a PDF for review.

**** Also, Kat will give one random commenter from the entire tour, a Funky Bag and a Toiletries Bag from Kats Kustom KarryAlls, US and Canada only, sorry. The more you comment, the better your chance of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/11/virtual-book-tour-mad-dog-and-archangel.html