Guest Post and Free Novel! Author Connie Smith Discusses Character Building!

Characters can make a story, in my opinion. This isn’t limited to any particular genre. Whether the plot takes them to a fantasy land, a dance floor, a fancy European resort, a haunted house, or a library, if I can’t relate to and appreciate the characters, I can’t care about the story as much as the author probably wants, no matter how epic their journey. If I do like the characters, the simplest tasks can drag me into their world and make me love what I’m reading, even if their actions are menial. If you think about your favorite scenes in literature, you might find that some of them revolve around those simpler moments with characters you could connect with. Yes? No?

In any event, characters are extremely important to me, so I try to take character-building very seriously.

With The Division Chronicles, I not only had to concentrate on who would be in the books, but also what. You see, many of the human teenagers in this trilogy have essences of mythical creatures in them. Those essences have been brought to life, and some of the creatures’ powers are alive and well in each of the different packs of Essenced. If you do just a little bit of research, you’ll find that there are more than enough listed mythical species to fill the pages of this story, but I only needed a handful.

I wanted a good selection, some species readers probably already recognize, and others that some people might never have even heard of. And I wanted the characters to be entertaining. With that in mind, I decided (eventually) on two particular pieces of criteria: Each creature picked would have to allow the teenager carrying the essence to have at least one impressive power, and at least one quirky side effect. Sound fun?

To be honest, this might be my favorite aspect of writing these books, because there’s so much room to navigate and cross. If you ask me about many of the characters, there’s a good chance I’ll say something along the lines of “Yeah, he was fun to write!” because most of them have been just that. Exploring this element within the story opened up so many doors for depth and amusement, and I hope it’s something that many readers will enjoy as much as I have.

I won’t post every single quirk and power these packs have on this blog, but I will give you the list of species whose essences were collected and placed into the human DNA. Think them over. See which ones you recognize. Maybe you can decipher the powers and quirks all on your own! Here they are:

Werewolf

Vampire

Incubus

Wood Nymph

Kapre

Necromancer

Fairy

Dragon

Akki

Mermaid

Dwarf

Achiyalobopa

Abatwa

Antaeus

Syragh

Genie

Thunderbird

You’ve probably heard of some of these, but all of them? Likely not. You could easily Google each one and get the facts about them, but that still leaves the questions of powers and side effects. I’ll give you a few hints: poetry, thievery, skirt-chasing, and nicotine. Interested? Here’s hoping. If so, give the books a try 🙂

Thanks for reading, and check out my Twitter account this week for giveaway opportunities! I’m planning on offering one for each of the five days of this blog tour (Feb. 24^th-28^th), so multiple chances! Also, Essenced (book one) should be free through the whole tour, so snatch a copy! Emblazed (book two) should be available as of February 24^th for only $2.99!

Here is the link to get Essenced (FREE!):
http://www.amazon.com/Essenced-Division-Chronicles-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00E83O344/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1392410191&sr=8-3&keywords=connie+l.+smith

Here’s the blurb and link for Emblazed:
After all the preparations, Nicholai’s warriors stand on the threshold of warfare, the demons entering the realm in battalions and the world unknowingly depending on the army’s success to continue intact. But the battle is only the beginning of deadly struggles, and the soldiers will soon realize how little they know, how many things are at stake, and how much they have to lose.