June 20, 2012

Blog Tour: Shackled by Angela Carling -- Guest Post, Trailer + Giveaway!




Welcome to our stop (THE FIRST STOP) on Angela Carling's SHACKLED blog tour!

Today we bring you a guest post by Angela herself, plus a chance to win a signed copy of Shackled or an ebook copy.

Now over to Angela Carling :-)

_______________________________________________

Hi there! My name is Angela Carling and I am the author of Unbreakable Love and Shackled. First I want to say thank you to Damaris for letting me stop over and post a guest blog. I’ve worked with her on both my blog tours and she is the coolest!

Today, she invited me to write about how to create relatable characters. I know entire books by far more talented people than me have been written on this subject, so I’m not going to go for the I know everything approach, because frankly I don’t. However, I have learned a few things on my publishing journey. I picked four to talk about today.

1. Your characters must be authentic to their environment. For four years, I studied nature vs. nurture as a psychology major and I am convinced that we come as a genetic package and then are profoundly affected by our environment. For example, someone raised with money and privilege will see the world very differently then someone raised in the ghetto. Characters need to fit into their environment in order to be believable or relatable.

2. Your character should have consistent quirks and qualities all the way through your story line. Giving a character flaws does two things, it makes them accessible and human and simultaneously it gives them something to overcome. Even superman had kryptonite. Let’s say you create a nail biter, along with that she’s probably a nervous personality. Take that and run with it all the way through. Chances are, some nervous nail biting reader will relate to her and how she deals with stress. I know I would☺

3. Finally, the character you create does not live in the world alone and so he or she must fit into the puzzle of characters around him or her. Think about the characters in The Hunger Games, how in the arena, Katniss’s character shows such contrast to say, those contestants who have been training all their life and are fighting for the win rather than for survival or Rue and her vulnerability vs. Katniss and her hunter instincts. When their personalities coexist and contrast, they take on new luster and depth.

The point is people don’t live in a bubble and neither should your characters.

4. All this being said, no character will relate to everyone. That’s not the goal. The goal is to make them real and relatable to as many people as we can. We all experience the same raw emotions, love, hate, loss, anger, disappointment. It is these emotions that endear us to the characters we read about and make them relatable even if we have nothing obvious in common with them. Use emotion powerfully and it will connect your readers to your characters, like hand to glove. Thanks for your time today and I hope that a character I’ve created in one of my books will make you laugh or maybe cry but most of all that you will know you are not alone in this big world!!!

Links:
WebsiteTwitterFacebookGoodReads


About SHACKLED...


GoodReadsAmazon
After shy, quiet Lucy and her family move from their small hometown in Minnesota to Seattle, Washington, she is surprised when Ryan, the most popular boy at school asks her out. Soon, she is swept up in a whirlwind romance and her naïve and trusting nature allows her to fall head over heels in love with her too-good-to-be suitor. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself enraptured by the excitement of her new relationship, leaving her blinded to the warning signs of danger ahead. Can her fairy tale romance last, or will she find that her prince charming is more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.


SHACKLED BOOK TRAILER:





_____________________________________________________


GIVEAWAY!

Leave a meaningful comment below and make sure to leave a way for us to contact you if you win! :-)

This giveaway will be open international, however if you win and live in the United States you have your choice of ebook or signed paperback. If you live outside the USA you will automatically win the ebook copy.


Good luck! 

**Giveaway ends June 24th and winner will be announced on June 25th. 





31 comments:

  1. 'Shackled' looks great, and I love the 'Hunger Games' mention, haha.

    BTW, my email is eftrunko@gmail.com. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like a great read. I love the trailer.

    lizzi0915 aol to dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds awesome! Great trailer:)

    ccfioriole at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a great book=)

    ansindt@ hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. This sounds like a really good book. I love the cover!

    Leigh Ann @ flyingonsilverwings.blogspot.com
    silverwingsbookblog@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! Sounds like an intriguing read!

    taffy(dot)lovell@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds really good! Love the interview. Thank you for the chance to win! wendynjason04 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, the book sounds good. I'll add it to my to-read list. :D Thank you!

    thunter_5@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. The concept of teenage romance turning to something dark and abusive is absolutely one that should be explored more, and I wish I had read/seen it when I was younger. I can't wait to read Shackled and see how she approaches the subject!

    Also, thanks for the interview, and reminder of creating true characters, not characitures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's me, the author(Angela Carling)I'm glad you agree that this topic should be out there. I promise the way it is approached is both breathlessly entertaining and actaully informative:) Hope you enjoy.

      Delete
  10. I love books that serve as great warnings, especially with four daughters (so I need all the help that I can get)! This looks like a great read!

    ilovemeinekinderatyahoodotcom

    Tamera

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They won't even know they are learning who not to pick:)

      Delete
  11. I love getting to know new to me author's and I am excited to check out Angela's story! It sounds really good and thanks for the giveaway! I completely agree with her assessment about how to create relatable characters.

    yadkny@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds really good!! Thanks for the trailer and the chance to win!!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Washington State, and especially Seattle are steeped in paranormal and supernatural history... Look at the underground parts of Seattle that are inhabited by ancient ghosts. I'd love to win Shackled for my home library. My eldest son and I both love this genre.

    NoraAdrienne(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I would love to read this book. It sounds very good. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hmm, the book summary doesn't tell me if this is a paranormal or realistic contemporary . . . (extemter at hotmail dot com)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is realistic contemporary:) Realistic, but a little freaky.

      Delete
  16. I love when characters have flaws and weird habits. It makes them seem more real and so much more easy to relate to. Thanks for the giveaway! :D

    laughs4life14(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  17. The description HOOKED me right away!!! Thank you very much for bringing Shackled to my attention, and also for the super sweet giveaway!!

    You know, I've always longed to visit Washington state - every time I come across a setting located there, it just sounds so beautiful & mysterious ... and sometimes you hear about people reporting that they've seen *bigfoot* type creatures as well :O

    GFC Mary DeBorde M.A.D.
    zenrei57 (at) hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really want to read this. I love reading books that are set in places that I have either visited or lived. I miss living in Seattle, so I would love to read this one.
    rsgrandinetti@yahoo(Dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  19. I really like the topic of this book and i've only come acrosse a few love/abuse storylines that I enjoy and have had this on my 'to read' pile. Sounds like a great read, thanks for the giveaway!
    GFC - Kaci Verdun
    kacidesigns@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Unbreakable Love was such a great book. I definitely loved Angela Carling's writing and I am so very excited for Shackled to come out. This sounds like a mystery and I can't wait to find out what happens in the story.

    sthrnsweetie115@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Aww. This sounds so good! Great trailer too! Thanks for sharing and for the chance to win!
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  22. This sounds pretty good....will add to my list to read. thanks for the interview and the chance to win. I am always excited to read something new.
    aprildan01@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. loved the trailer for this book it sounds like a great book. Thanks! Gale Nelson pgan427@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. liked the trailer and sounds like a book i def wantto read
    begesw@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. I enjoyed the interview. The book sounds interesting.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thank you for the great interview this sounds like a great book would love to read it!
    tishajean@ charter.net

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! We love reading your comments and we try to reply back to each comment. So make sure to check back with us.