How Characters Take on a Life of Their Own #amwriting #writertips #mgtab

When I first started Tidal Falls back in two thousand fourteen I never dreamed it would be more than a two or three book series, yet here I am releasing number six on Tuesday and am in the middle of writing book seven now.

Where do the ideas come from?

The original cast of characters I created in Tidal Falls all insisted on stories of their own. No, really! They’re very strong-willed and refused to go to bed without their stories being told.

Each book brought new friends and family, conflicts, and yes, resolutions, but through it all the underlying plotline continued to feed the storyline and allowed it to grow and flourish.

Some authors like to leave their secondary characters as supporting actors, so to speak. I find most of mine tend to want to take over even though it’s not their turn!

This is good. The further into the Wounded Hearts series I get, the easier it is to write. I’ve already created a world for them, one filled with trials and tribulations they must overcome in order to find their happy-ever-afters.

Because after all, it’s all about the romance 🙂

 

 

Maggie’s Revenge is the culmination of DEA agent Maggie Holt’s journey. Each book in the series reads easily as a standalone, or you can start out with Tidal Falls, on sale now for just 0.99 pennies!

Undercover DEA Agent, Magdalena Holt, has experienced the seedy underbelly of human trafficking. Sent to capture a drug king she finds more than she bargained for and is held captive for months before she escapes.

Now, Maggie is after one thing, revenge.

Read the exciting continuation of the Wounded Hearts saga today!

http://a.co/9pcFOF1

International Link: books2read.com/MaggiesRevenge

Add to TBR List: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36604203-maggie-s-revenge

 

 

 

Excerpt

Maggie stared out at the midnight sky and took her first easy breath since their precipitous escape that morning. She could hardly believe she was free; it didn’t seem possible. She’d already made peace with her conscience, knowing sooner or later she would be sold—most likely overseas—and would have to take her own life. It went against her upbringing to consider suicide, but it was either that or… she shuddered at the thought.

It was hard enough wondering about the women she’d already seen peddled away to the highest bidders. Her heart ached, not only for them, but for families left to hope and pray for miracles from a God who seemed to have forsaken them.

How do you like those Christian thoughts, Daddy?

She blinked rapidly until the big dipper came into view. She remembered the story her Iroquois mother told of the Great Bear who wandered freely through the sky. His massive paws helped him to hunt and fish the many rivers throughout the spring until his belly was full. He didn’t know three young braves had discovered him feeding and sought to kill him for his pelt and meat to feed their families during the long winter months.

The three braves chased the bear, trying to kill him, but he always escaped. All summer he ran, however the braves were strong and cunning. They caught up to him in the autumn, their arrows piercing his flesh until the Great Bear died.

His blood spilled from the sky, staining the foliage red and orange. The trees mourned, dropping all their leaves for their friend, the Great Bear.

As is the way of bears, the next spring Great Bear was reborn, and the three braves set out after him again.

“Look to the horizon, my child, and you will see this each year with the coming of spring; the cycle of life is never-ending. Remember this, Magdalena.” Her mother’s voice echoed in Maggie’s heart. Sometimes it felt like she was still that little girl listening with wide-eyed wonder to the stories of her heritage. Then reality would intrude and the innocence with which she’d once viewed the world evaporated.

Her mother believed in the reincarnation of her people. “We are strong,” she said, tucking a young Magdalena into her bed. “Our blood lives in the souls of the eagles; whose eyes can see into the future. The wolves; fast and cunning. And the bear; our eternal spirit brother.” She leaned over and kissed her daughter’s brow. “Remember your heritage, little one, and it will guide your steps.”

For the most part, her mother was right. When her father insisted on teaching her the ways of pick-pocketing and petty theft, her nimble fingers and swift feet had kept her out of the hands of the law. Too bad he never taught her how to fight. Maybe she could have protected her younger sister when… no, there was nothing she could have done as a twelve-year-old.

But, she could now.

She’d made a pledge on her sister’s deathbed. And for the next twenty years it had ruled her every thought and action. She’d been angry and bitter and could have followed her father’s thieving ways, if not for the man who took her under his wing after she was caught stealing cough syrup for her sick mother. He’d turned her life around, proved not all men were alike, and introduced her to martial arts. He’d also taught her sex could be for pleasure, not pain. When their relationship ended she’d come away heart-sore, but healthier for the experience.

Now this.

It seemed her fate in life to fight.

“What are you doing?” Olga said as she slid down beside her and leaned against the rock.

Maggie shrugged. “Thinking. Enjoying the fresh desert air.”

Olga chuckled. “I still cannot believe we got away. It’s a good thing those soldiers are dead, Chenglei would have carved them up for being idiots, anyway.”

Yes, he would have made their last breaths torture. As he would theirs, if he caught up to them. It was her job to make sure that didn’t happen.

 

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Thank you,

Jacquie Biggar

Jacqbiggar.com