Guest Post: The Stranger by Anna Del Mar

If your book was made into a film, who would you cast in the leading roles?
by Anna Del Mar

Would you hate me forever if I told you I’d prefer to skip the casting calls? I have a pair of good reasons. From my author’s point of view, I think it’d be hard, almost impossible to match the faces in my head with the faces of actors and actresses out there. Oh, there’s plenty of beautiful, talented, sexy actors and actresses who I’m sure would do a good job. But it’d be like Sophie’s choice for me. Painful. See, to an author, her characters are alive. So Seth and Summer, the protagonists of The Stranger are very real to me. So much so that seeing them played by other faces would be weird. Really weird.

My other reason to hold back on a casting call, my most important one, is the reader. I want to value and respect the choices they make in their mind. I want to give them the freedom to imagine whoever they wish, to be the rulers of the story. That’s the difference between reading and watching a movie. You’re in charge. I love that and I want to preserve it for my readers.

http://www.annadelmar.com/pages/books_stranger.html

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About the Book:

The Stranger
A Wounded Warrior Novel, Book Two
by Anna del Mar
Romantic Suspense, Contemporary romance, SEAL romance, Military Romance
Carina Press
Date of Publication: August 22, 2016
eISBN: 9781459294301
ASIN: B01EF3MHSU
Formats available: Epub, Mobi
Cover Artist: Carina Press

Ex-military pilot Seth Erickson is fighting his own demons, but when he finds Summer Silva, a beautiful, warmth-loving, Miami woman stranded in the frozen wilderness, he’ll do everything in his power to keep her safe from murder, treason, and the ruthless Alaskan winter.

Blurb:

When a mysterious stranger is your only hope...

The scars of the past have left their mark, both physical and emotional, on former military pilot Seth Erickson. Off-grid in the far reaches of the bitter Alaskan wilderness, he wants only to be left alone with his ghosts. But he can’t ignore a woman in need—beautiful, stranded and nearly frozen with fear.

Summer Silva never imagined that the search for her missing sister would leave her abandoned on a wintry back road, barely escaping with her life from a cold-blooded killer for hire. Now, hiding out in the isolated cabin of the secretive wounded warrior who saved her, Summer knows she must do what she fears most. Putting her trust in a stranger is all she has left.

All defenses are down

After a fiery first night together, Seth and Summer are bound by a need as powerful as a Bering Sea superstorm—and vulnerable to enemies just as fierce. For Seth, reawakened by desire, there is no sacrifice too great, no memory too dark, to keep Summer safe. But murder and treason lurk everywhere and Summer may not survive Alaska’s ruthless winter.

A Wounded Warrior Novel. This book is approximately 110,000 words

Buy Links For The Stranger:
Amazon | Carina Press | BN | Kobo | Google Play

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About the Author:

Anna del Mar writes hot, smart romances that soothe the soul, challenge the mind, and satisfy the heart. Her stories focus on strong heroines struggling to find their place in the world and the brave, sexy, kickass, military heroes who defy the limits of their broken bodies to protect the women they love. Anna enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, and the sea. Writing is her addiction, her drug of choice, and what she wants to do all the time. The extraordinary men and women she met during her years as a Navy wife inspire the fabulous heroes and heroines at the center of her stories. When she stays put—which doesn’t happen very often—she lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and two very opinionated cats.

Author links:

Email:
Anna@annadelmar.com
Website: http://www.annadelmar.com/pages/home.html
Blog: http://www.annadelmar.com/blog/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnnadelMar/?ref=hl
https://www.facebook.com/anna.delmar.376
Twitter:https://twitter.com/anna_del_mar
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/author/anna_del_mar

Guest Post: Do Not Bring the Villain Back Too Soon by Richard Held

Do Not Bring the Villain Back Too Soon
by Richard "Tony" Held

I recently edited the first volume of a series of fantasy/adventure novels.  In the original draft, the author had the main villain seemingly be killed—only to reveal a couple pages later that he had faked his demise.

I urged my client to reconsider this plot twist.

If you crave a story where the “big bad” gets his/her comeuppance, only to read a novel of good versus evil which ends with the villain avoiding that fate, chances are you will slam the book shut and think, So all that action/adventure was for nothing?!

Reality can leave you parched and thirsty for a cool, intoxicating drink of good storytelling where “real life” does not apply, especially when it comes to stories that pits good versus evil, because let’s face it:  in the real world, people can get away with evil deeds right and left without so much as a slap on the wrist.  A good story about good versus evil which ends with evil’s decisive defeat is marvelous escapism from that drab reality.  Having the villain come back at the end of a story—especially an intense one—risks a downer ending.  (Downer endings may have a place when making moral statements in fiction, but the moral statement of good versus evil is that evil is vile, good is decent.)

Bringing the villain back has another risk.  If you plan to write a series of novels and bring your villain back at the end of volume one but never write volume two, your readers will feel both cheated and unsatisfied.  This alone is a good reason to save your villain’s return for book two.

I am happy to report that my client took my advice and is saving her big bad guy’s return for the second volume in her series.  I strongly advise that you do the same, because such details can help make or break a story.

Richard “Tony” Held is an author.  He is also the proprietor/chief editor of Held Editing Services.  He would rather work with words for a living than unload trucks.