15 November, 2013

#SpecialFeature: The Destiny of Character - Shaping Plot & Shaping Lives

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*** SPECIAL FEATURE - November'13 ***

About the Author
Dead fingers curled around an ancient crypt and a love of Celtic mythology were the two inspirations behind Cheryse Durrant's The Blood She Betrayed, the first novel in her young adult/new adult Heart Hunters series. Durrant grew up on an Australian farm where she chatted to scrub faeries and an imaginary superhero. She wrote her first story on her aunt's bedroom wall when she was five, but it did not attract literary acclaim. She worked as a journalist for 15 years before trading her soul for fiction. The coffee/chocolate/strawberry addict now lives on the eastern Australian coast where she teaches writing through Creative Dragons and is an avid WriteFest fan.

The Destiny of Character – Shaping Plot and Shaping Lives
I don’t know of anything more magical than characters that shape plot and change their fellow characters’ lives.
These are heroes and heroines have the power – by destiny or nature – to inspire that person on the next step of their journey, whether it’s shaking away a dark past or saving the world from evil.
In my favourite fairytale, Beauty & the Beast, the prince (or Rumplestiltskin, if you’re faithful to Once Upon a Time) was lost to darkness until Belle’s love and selflessness shaped and inspired him in new ways (or exchange these characters for Catherine and Vincent, if you’re faithful to the 1987 or 2012 TV series).
With my debut novel, The Blood She Betrayed, I never set out to create characters who would change one another but from my very first chapters, the dynamics emerged: Max had what exiled warrior princess Shahkara needed to move on from her dark and haunting past, while Shahkara had what the wealthy but directionless Max needed to grow and become the man of his destiny.
In my debut Heart Hunters novel, The Blood She Betrayed, Max has been living an empty existence since the brutal murder of his mother and brother, and can no longer tolerate his billionaire father’s manipulative ways but sees no way out.
Shahkara has come to Earth to find the death lantern that will save her kingdom, but she is haunted by her past, her half-demon self and the death of her lover.
Their personas and energies are a perfect foil for one another – Shahkara gives Max purpose and something to believe in, a genuine companion in his insincere world, while Max helps Shahkara realise she is still human, and deserves to be loved as a human, despite her demon blood and deadly, flesh-ripping talons.
Like all romantic couples, they face challenges before their Happily Ever After, but it is their character and courage that enables them to fight through these deadly challenges and save their worlds.
Long after I’ve read a book, after the plotline is forgotten, it’s the characters that remain burning in my heart. Sometimes it’s only an image or a quote. Often it’s what that character stands for and how they helped shape other characters in that story.

Blurb to The Blood She Betrayed:
"The Blood She Betrayed is unique and full of ingenious twists, turns and surprises. Shahkara is one of the most engaging female role models I’ve seen, a splendid protagonist who captured my heart from the first words she spoke." - LJ Smith, author of The Vampire Diaries

Her Book
The Blood She Betrayed
Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Paperback Released: October 12th, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9875538-6-7
eBook Release: Coming soon (within the next week)
ISBN: 978-0-9872717-9-2

To save her kingdom, she must betray her blood…
Thrust into the technology-driven Earthlands via magical mists, Shahkara is forced to rely on Max McCalden to help find the ancient Elnara death lantern, her homeworld’s last chance of survival against the heart-devouring Taloners.
Max has his own problems – a manipulative billionaire father, a murdered brother – but nothing prepares him for this fugitive warrior’s razor-sharp talons and magical abilities.
Shahkara’s half-Taloner blood demands what she knows she can’t have – a human heart. She longs for love, but as deadly enemies attack at every turn, will her lust for Max destroy them both? Or will she find the strength to free both worlds from a threat more horrific than the demons that share her blood?


Book Trailer




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Buy the Books
eBook link: To download the first 12 chapters FOR FREE, go to http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/content/blood-she-betrayed-launch-giveaway

Other Buy Links

Giveaway
3 kindle copies of The Blood She Betrayed, plus an autographed paperback to one lucky Australian winner.


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