Power Play
by Marianne Morea
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Tour Organizer: NK Author Services
Tough as nails, Mitch Paris trained with the best, earning a place as second-in-command to the Alpha of the Brethren. Rissa Leighton survived sickness and an unhappy marriage until the fates brought the two of them together. Never one to give up a fight, it's now Mitch's turn to take the lead as alpha of his own pack, but after a ten year absence he returns home with Rissa to the Canadian Northwest Territories to find more than just the landscape has changed. A Blood Challenge has been issued, and not only must he prove his worth but past intrigues raise questions about his future, his new family and a murder that could change the course of their life and love...
Born and raised in New York, Marianne Morea’s stories embody the grit and complexity of the city. An avid traveler, she uses experiences from around the world in all her books. Dark Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy Suspense and Horror are the hallmarks of her writing style, where readers are thrust into a world where the city never sleeps because the nightmares are real.
"What's your
favorite thing about Paranormal Romances?”
The answer to this question
is easy. My favorite thing about Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy is world
building. The gift of seeing life through the potential of what if, to skew the mundane of everyday life with fantasy and
escape for a while into a world so much like ours, but not. It’s the
kaleidoscope of supernatural possibility and variation that Paranormal Romance
and Urban Fantasy offers the minute you open the cover, allowing us a
breathless glimpse of life outside of the realm of reality.
As a writer, world building
brings both challenges and rewards. Most people live ordinary lives. They have
a network of friends and family about them that help make them who and what
they are. They have daily routines and conflicts that come up from time to time
that they have to overcome. So why would it be any different for characters in
a book?
With the exception of the
word ‘ordinary’, developing your characters and their lives and loves is
important in order to paint a picture for the reader. What makes these
characters who they are, where they’ve been and where they are going? It’s
necessary to show the reader what is happening in the point of view of the
character speaking, rather than tell them. A reader has to feel like it’s
really happening, they have to be able to imagine and sense everything the
characters feel, see and sense. The way an author accomplishes that is through
rich description and to the point dialogue.
This is all part of world
building, giving the reader a bird’s eye view of the character’s life and
surroundings…enmeshing them right in the thick of their conflicts and how they
go about making choices and finding their resolutions. Good world building,
description and dialogue are what allow the reader to get lost in a book…it’s
what brings the characters to life in their imagination and where hopefully,
they linger while anticipating the next book in the series.
The places and events in my
stories are always born of personal experience. (Paranormal relationships
notwithstanding!) My usual haunts—New York, New Orleans, Maine, Montreal—are
featured heavily since they are the places I love the most. I also love to
travel, and many of the places I’ve been lend their flavor to the stories as
well. But if it’s something unfamiliar, a topic or procedure, etc., I will
contact experts in the field and pepper them with questions, or scour books on
the subject. These are essential elements when world building. You have to
write what you know or you will be spotted as a fake.
I’d have to say my favorite part of world building
is falling in love with my characters and their lives. They inspire me in so
many ways. And while I know that each one of them is just an extension of me,
it’s great to be able to live a hidden part of myself out loud through them.
It’s truly their gift. But, on the flip side, what I enjoy least about it are
the mechanics…all the editing and fact checking and so on…although I LOVE doing
the research for a story…research
introduces me, seduces me and immerses me in the world I am creating
from the very beginning. All in all I think of myself as lucky, though. I get
to do what I love for a living, so it never really feels like work.
Thanks for hosting my book! the Cursed by Blood series is an ongoing saga and a labor of love to write. I hope your readers enjoyed the interview and are intrigued enough to look up the series!
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