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Guest Author - Katherine Grey

2/7/2022

 
Hey All! Please welcome fellow author, Katherine Grey. She hales from New York and is sharing all the details about her newest release, Promises To Keep. So, without further ado, let's get to know Katherine.
Paranormal Life: What genre(s) of Romance do your write, and why?
Katherine Grey: ​
I write contemporary with a hint of paranormal. I’ve written historical romance in the past and would like to do that again as well.
PL: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
KG: I climbed out the bathroom window on to the roof then inched my way to the edge, lowered myself over the side, hanging by my hands, then dropped to the ground to see if it was possible for my female main character to do it. This was more than a few years ago. I’m not sure I could do it now.
PL: That's pretty awesome!

PL: Which comes first for you – character or plot? And why?
KG: The character has always come first for me. I’m not sure why. I’ll overhear something or read a snippet of something and a character will pop into my head. Sometimes, it’s just a basic idea that needs to be fleshed out and sometimes, the character comes to me fully formed with a complete history.

PL: Is there any special music you like to listen to while writing? How does it inspire you?
KG: I like to listen to classical music, specifically anything by Yo Yo Ma. I’m not sure it inspires me. It’s a nice background noise (I hate to use that term when referring to music) that doesn’t distract me from the story itself. If I listen to music I can sing along to, then I tend to pay more attention to the songs than to my writing.

PL: What’s the best writing advice you were ever given?
KG: Don’t let anyone tell you there’s only one right way to write a book. Use the method that works best for you and don’t pay attention to what anyone else says. If what you’re doing works for you then it’s the right method for you.

PL: Can you tell us a little about your next project?
KG: I’m working on revisions for Broken Trust, the third book in my Echo Company series. The book revolves around Ivan Redleaf, a member of Echo Company, and Jane Carpenter, a small-town librarian. There is a secondary plot that continues Jimmy and Callie’s story, the characters from the first book in the series, Honor Bound.


Please read on for an exclusive excerpt from Promises To Keep.
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Vince Everett clamped down on the anger that threatened to resurface. He needed to get to the rendezvous point. And he needed to get there fast. There was no telling how long their escape would go unnoticed and until he met up with the rest of the team, he had no way of knowing if they made it out of the compound.
           
He moved down the side of the building, doing his best to keep to the shadows though it was damn hard with sodium vapor lights at regular intervals lighting up the night like a god damn carnival. He eyed the hard packed earth between his present position and the next building. It was a good twenty feet of open space.
           
The woman he carried had regained consciousness and began to stir, using his back to try and lever herself upward. He placed a hand on her ass and she froze--just as he intended. He’d never threaten an innocent woman or intentionally frighten one, but if it kept her from fighting him right now, he was willing to do it.
           
He felt her chest expand and knew trouble was brewing. He flipped her off his shoulder into the dirt. Covering her mouth with one hand, he planted his knee beside her hip. He pointed the gun at her, high enough to be sure she saw it. “Don’t make a sound,” he said in a low tone.
           
Music and raucous laughter spilled into the silence from the cantina at the far end of the compound. If she screamed all hell would break lose and his odds of getting out of Colombia outside a body bag would plummet to zero.
           
She nodded and he lifted his hand a scant few inches from her mouth.
           
“Why are you doing this? Who are you?” she whispered.
           
“Believe it or not, I’m trying to get us both out of here in one piece.”
           
She opened her mouth to say something more and he held up his hand. “Save the questions for later.” He lifted her to her feet. “You make even a peep, I’ll shoot you without a second thought. Got it?”


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Sometimes a leap of faith can cost you everything…
 
An empath who feels only the negative emotions of others, Ava Tiernan has lived a life of self-imposed isolation. Circumstances force her to put her trust in Vincent Everett, the leader of Echo Company, a special ops unit consisting of soldiers with unusual abilities. But when she needs his help the most, he doesn’t believe her and leaves her alone and defenseless against a man determined to exploit her.
 
After a mission goes sideways, leaving one of his men seriously injured, Captain Vincent Everett has one goal: find out who set up his team and why. When he discovers Ava is the reason his team was ambushed and has been kidnapped by a rogue government agent, he risks everything to save her.
 
Now he has one chance to make things right for his team, one chance to keep Ava safe, and one last chance to prove he’ll never let her down.
 

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Katherine Grey writes sexy sweet contemporary romances with a hint of the paranormal. She lives in upstate NY with her family. When she’s not writing, she can be found up to her elbows in flour trying out new cookie recipes.
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Motivation

2/4/2022

 
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​Motivation. It’s what good writing contains. Why are your characters doing what they are doing? Why do they feel a certain way? Here’s a look into one of my writing tips…always ask “but why?”
 
I can’t say I came up with this challenge. It first appeared to me in my monthly Friday Nighters critique group, though I’m sure it’s older than that. I’m not sure how many times my pages came back with multiple “but why?” in the margins. I soon came to despise them; however, I later embraced them. You see, by not taking the easy way out, it forced me to look at the various motivations in my WIP and validate or clarify them, for myself and more importantly, my readers, making my writing richer.


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​For example, in how many movies, as an audience member, have you watched someone enter a dark and scary basement knowing the character was crazy because he/she was going to die, get captured, tortured, fill-in-the-blank. You think to yourself the character is a complete idiot, call 911, get backup, turn tail and run, anything but enter the basement! As the audience member you just asked yourself the first “but why?”
 
The easiest explanation (in a horror movie) is the audience needs the scare/suspense so we’re gonna send the character into implausible danger to make it happen. It doesn’t matter why, just so long as we have the big scare. Well a movie may get away with this, but your story won’t.


​Have enough unanswered “but whys” in your WIP and it will make the reader shut down in disgust thinking your hero/heroine is stupid.
 
The good news? It doesn’t take much to fix the unanswered “but why”. It could be a simple thought in your character’s head (if he/she is alone): I really don’t want o go into this dark and scary basement, but the circuit breaker is in there and I really want lights on about now. Motivation now revealed, your character’s IQ has jumped by leaps and bounds.
 
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​If you have two characters eyeing the dark and scary basement, you could have them arguing:
 
Bob: “Are you crazy? The killer is probably down there!”
Jane: “But we need the lights on, besides there are two of us and one of him.”
Bob: “Screw that, let’s get out of here.”
Jane: Be brave, we can do this.”
Bob: “Fine, we’ll go down into the dark and scary basement, but if we die, I’m blaming you!”

​Not the best of examples, but I’m sure you get my drift. It’s a great question to work into your internal editor. And if you can’t figure out your “but why”? Well, you could “cover it up” and hope no one notices. Not the best of choices. Or you could “hold it up”, have a character point out the problem and shine a glaring flashlight at it. Oh, and there’s one “but why” fix you could get away with (probably) just once: “I have no idea why…” the “gloss it over” trick. After all, remember Casablanca?
 
Signor Ferrari: “…why, do not know. Because it cannot possibly profit me, but…”
 
Actor, Sydney Greenstreet’s line is a classic example of a “Plot Hole / Motivation cover up”.
 
​But it’s better and more believable if your motivations are justified. Do you have a favorite “but why” solution? Share it below in the comments sections.
 
Don’t take for granted your readers know the unmentioned motivation or see the gaping hole in your plot, remember to ask yourself, “but why?”

    Author

    Always looking for a little magic, CJ decided to create some of her own as a writer of paranormal romance, urban and contemporary fantasy.


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