The Genesis of Characters by Deborah McNemar

A blond woman steps from the shadows, a boned-down sniper rifle in her hands. Her hair is coiled up away from her face and held in place by a pair of silver sticks and those sapphire blue eyes miss nothing. There is something elegant and lethal about her, both strength and a surprising fragility. Athene.

Behind her, the shadows shift, resolving into a broad shouldered man with a ghost of a smile in his dark eyes. Pan. A slender girl, red hair spiking defiantly around her gamine face, steps forward, both protective and apprehensive. Alecto. Beside her, a tall man moves into place with a fighter's grace, his pale hair and quicksilver eyes giving him the looks of an angel. Thanatos. How the shadows ever hid the massive man with the bulging muscles is anyone's guess. He cracks a joke that makes the others shake their heads and roll their eyes. Hercules. There. At the back. I see him now, a younger man stands apart, part real and part shadow, and his smoke colored eyes remain wary. Morpheus.

This was the cast of characters who introduced themselves to me one March morning when I was supposed to be writing a short story for a contest. The story was written, a tale of a female sniper assassinating a political figure in a virtual reality world. It won the contest but left me with a lingering curiosity about what happened next. With nothing else in the works, I sat down and began to write, determined to uncover the whole story, and Pantheon was born.

I never imagined a short story would become four, full length novels. I never imagined I would ever write in the futuristic/science fiction genre. I'm technologically challenged on my best days. I don't understand how a cell phone works but that doesn't stop me from using one. That same acceptance of the technology by the characters goes a long way. It's not the technology that drives the story, after all, it's the people and that I can deal with. Each story covers a different character and each reveals another layer in this war that has become less a bid for power and more a personal vendetta against Pantheon. I'm loving the way this story is unfolding. As different as it is from what I normally write, it's presenting its own challenges and rewards.

Athene was only the first to tell me her story, the tale of a woman with no past, fighting to preserve her present and learning to believe in the possibility of a future. Then came Hercules with his ridiculous sense of humor that, more often than not, left me shaking my head in exasperation. He was a man who had found a woman he wasn't willing to let go of. The battle in Hades escalated the war began in Pantheon.

I knew Thanatos' story was next. But he's so reserved, I argued. How can I tell a story if the character doesn't open up to me? Then I met Elysia. Don't let her small stature fool you. Full of conviction, a passion for life and an overdeveloped safe-the-world gene, she slid through his self-preserving shields leaving him with a choice: walk away from the best thing that's ever happened to him and back into the emotionless distance he's lived in for so long or grab on and see where the ride takes him. It is Elysia's "nose" for trouble that leads him into the heart of the real war being fought, a war that could spell the end of Pantheon Consulting.

Beyond Elysia there is one more story to go. The war has escalated into open attacks and people are dying. Will Pantheon survive the revealing of secrets held for so long? Or will they fall and the world be left to find its way in the dark? There's only one way to find out.

Mobster Talk with Author M.M. Cox

“Who is this again?” Ray Gallo asks in a deep, gravelly voice, motioning to Frank.

 

“Frank Moretti; a friend of mine,” Gino says meaningfully. “He’s been working in the area for a while now. He’s got some connections that have been really helpful.”

 

Ray nods and turns his attention back to Chen. Chen continues to sit still, but as I watch him more closely, I notice a trickle of blood coming from Chen’s upper lip. I don’t want to think that Gino may have beaten this man or even allowed Frank to do it.

 

I still can’t believe that the man who has been so kind to me in my hour of need, the man who rescued me from the clutches of Barb Kluwer, could treat others so brutally.

-          Excerpt from Accidental Mobster by M. M. Cox

For me, storytelling has always been in the blood.  Usually, an idea for a book begins with one intense scene of dialogue and several action sequences that I’d love to see on the big screen. Then I sit down and start typing.

However, in today’s publishing industry, coming up with an idea that’s fresh is one tough undertaking. Thousands of new books are released every day.  And for writers of teen fiction, this becomes a more unique challenge. That’s because when it comes down to it, high school is often going to be a big part of the story, and how does a writer make that interesting?

Yet, I’ve always wanted to write young adult (YA) novels and take on that challenge. And I’ve always been in love with paranormal themes. Vampires, angels, ghosts—bring it on! But it wasn’t until I tuned into another interest of mine that I finally landed on a story that was definitely a strand of different.

That interest was the Mafia.

I’ve read and seen the Godfather and watched the Sopranos, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas, and Tenth & Wolf. I’ve even suffered through a few rounds of Mob Wives. I’ve read Way of the Wiseguy, The Making of Jack Falcone (movie alert next year!!!), Mob Star, and a plethora of other inside-the-mob stories. It’s not that I’m fascinated with crime. Not at all. It’s that I’m fascinated with how criminals get caught.

You see, I come from a family connected not to organized crime families, but connected to the good guys—law enforcement. Am I biased? Of course. But don’t worry, the Accidental Mobster, is no black and white tale of good and evil.  And that’s because I realize how messy justice can sometimes be.

Once I knew what I wanted to write about, it then became a question of execution. Everyone’s a sucker for a Cinderella story, right? Who doesn’t dream of going from rags to riches? I know writers fantasize about this every day. YA authors like me go to bed dreaming of becoming the next Rowling, Collins, or Meyer. It’s not the only reason we write, or even the primary one, but we’re only human.

So the rags-to-riches premise became my base for creating Danny Higgins. As a poor kid, he gets taken in by a wealthy man—a godfather he never knew anything about—who has a pretty spectacular house, luxury cars, a sweet wife, and snobby kids. The family even has the obligatory ankle-biting dog. What teenager wouldn’t be in heaven when everything he’s ever wanted is laid at his feet—expensive clothes, a stable family, and the chance to fit in at a trendy high school?

But all is not as it seems.  And when Danny finds out what his godfather does for a living, it definitely rocks his world. And really, isn’t that part of being a teenager? It’s a time in our lives when we figure out that people really aren’t perfect and that if things are too good to be true, they usually are. Throw in an undercover FBI agent with a hero-complex, an arrogant school bully, and a few hot females vying for Danny’s attention, and chaos, drama, and action explode.

A good part of the work that went into writing this book was figuring out how to keep the subject matter fresh and current and also relative to a teen audience. The Mafia is generally a grown man’s world, although older teen boys are sometimes caught up in it. I had to make Danny a bold kid who wouldn’t be afraid to get involved and stand-up to criminals—men who kill and steal without much compunction. Danny has his own ethical issues to resolve, including lying about his past and deciding where to settle his loyalties. In the end, it’s his street-smart personality and brashness that help him face down a room full of murderers to protect others.

Something I really enjoyed during the writing process was pulling on my experience living in the northeast United States to create the fictional town of Newcastle, New Jersey. I resided for a while in Delaware, and I knew several kids from New Jersey. What a great accent they have! I also spent time visiting different areas of New Jersey, some of which were very beautiful and others that felt neglected and depressed. Just like most of the U.S., in New Jersey there is definitely a contrast between haves and have-nots. But the bottom line is that New Jersey has a brand of people that are proud and resilient, and I worked very hard to illustrate that in my characters.

And as the story came together (and eventually, the second and third books in the trilogy as well), I found that I had created a family of characters that I cared about. They’re cool, tough, and smart, and their weaknesses only make me like them better.

This is a story that I have enjoyed writing and can’t wait to share, and I’m excited to see it making its public debut. My subject matter, the Mafia, is a fascinating and important piece of American culture, and it intrigues a wide range of people. You won’t find much on the subject written for young people, so Accidental Mobster does bring something fresh to the YA genre.  The book is packed with fist-fights, gun-toting bad guys, and criminal intrigue, and it doesn’t matter what age you are—I bet it’s got something in there for you.

Welcome

Welcome to the Bluewood Publishing Authors Blog.

Our authors will be blogging here about their experiences in getting published, from first draft manuscript to contract, and about their books, the inspiration behind them, and anything else they can think of. Given they are authors, that could be quite a wide range of subjects!

Welcome, and enjoy the ride, feel free to comment.