Guest Post and Spotlight: Secrets of the Moon

Young Adult

Date Published: 7/7/2013

Teenager Marjorie Emery eluded death. As she struggles to get her life back on track, she believes her efforts are paying off. Yet, when a black dressing, unfriendly, and incredibly handsome hottie walks into her classroom, she’s forced into a tailspin. Marjorie has no idea how much his presence is going to shatter what little tranquility she’s achieved.


 Kyran Rousseau’s gloomy nature has a name, one that is potentially fatal under the right circumstances. His family harbors secrets and does everything to protect Kyran. While, he doesn’t want to ruin Marjorie’s normal life, love has a way of changing his plans.


 Falling for Kyran is the least of Marjorie’s worries. With a faceless threat hunting her and a boyfriend who's as dangerous as he is good looking—how can Marjorie and Kyran keep all hell from breaking loose before it’s too late?

Kristy Centeno

As a child, she used to lose herself in an imaginary world by the means of a good book. Now that she’s all grown up, Kristy gets to create her own fictional realms and make them come to life in ways that most readers might not expect.

She’s always had a passion for writing but never had the opportunity do so until now. After trying out numerous options, she realized that writing was what she loved the most so when she found herself with some free time on her hands, she decided to pursue her passion. As it turned out, her very active imagination helped her achieve her goals of creating believable plots with some ordinary, and some not so ordinary characters that helped the stories move along in one way or another.

As she keeps moving along in achieving her dreams of becoming a published author, she divides her time in between her four children and her very understanding husband.

Website: http://www.kristycenteno.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KristyCenteno

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KrissyGirl122

Blog: http://booksbycenteno.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/KristyCenteno

BUY LINKS 

Amazon: HERE

Barnes and Noble: HERE

Publisher: http://www.inkspellpublishing.com/store.html

Guest Post:

Tips on How to Develop Your Characters

Character development is probably the easiest and most difficult process when writing a story. Taking each and every character seriously is very important because an author can pretty much kill an entire scene, chapter, or even the book if these individuals lack a certain amount of realism to them.

When it comes to the physical aspect you have to make sure to describe him/her in a way for others to be able to identify with. This is just as important as the character’s dialogue or actions because you need to present a person that comes across as believable. For some, this step is probably the easiest because it doesn’t require overthinking. However, it is just as significant.

• Give each character realistic qualities.
• Mention the color of his/her hair even if it’s only once during the entire story.
• What color are his/her eyes?
• Do they wear glasses?
• Do they have any ailments? Or conditions?
• What does he/she wear? Does it match their personality?
• Do they have any scars or tattoos? If so, why?
• Let the reader know what he/she looks like even if it’s by another character’s description of that particular individual.
• Extreme details are not always necessary, but cover at least the basics.

The audience must get an idea as to what the characters look like –what the feel of each one is—because it helps them connect with each person.

Personality is very important also. Creating three dimensional characters that others will either fall in love with or grow to hate is probably the most difficult, but quite possibly the most fun.

• Know your characters inside and out.
• Describe what they like in terms of hobbies, favorite food, color. Don’t leave out what they hate, but don’t make a big deal out of it unless it is relevant to the story itself.
• Don’t make two individuals too similar, this will confuse the reader.
• Be very aware of how certain events will impact your characters—the protagonist especially.
• Allow room for growth. Don’t leave your characters stuck in someplace or time where they cannot move forward from past events. They have to learn from past mistakes, tragedies, impacts eventually.
• They don’t have to be perfect. They can have flaws just like any other person.

Keep in mind these are only a few tips I use during character development. There are many others to take into consideration, but no matter how you go about developing each individual voice, always remember to make sure they feel and sound as realistic as possible.

Name identifies the character in more ways than one.

• When picking a name for your character consider not only what goes best with the him/her, but whether or not it means something to you.
• Does the name match the person somehow?
• Can you picture that specific character with that specific name?

The most important part of writing though, is doing what works best for you. What worked well for others might not work well for you. As long as you’re having fun, and doing what you like the most, the rest comes along smoothly.