Thursday, June 4, 2015

Dare Blog Tour—Character Spotlight

Hey, everyone! I have another blog post, a character spotlight, for Tricia Mingerink’s tour for her book, Dare!

Leith Torren
Occupation: Third Blade in the King’s Blades

Appearance: Eighteen years old, 5’8” tall with black hair and green eyes. He has a slim, wiry build.

History: He grew up in Blathe. Lord Respen Felix took him in when Leith was nine and began training him to be a Blade. At fourteen, he was one of the eight Blades who helped Respen overthrow King Leon and take the throne of Acktar.

Character: Leith is a mix of tough fighter and inner softie, though he doesn’t realize it at first. He fears failure, and that fear of failure sometimes pushes him to do things he’d rather not do, both in a good and bad way.

Author’s Note: When the idea for Dare struck, the first image I got was a dark room with black-clothed men sitting around a table. And I knew one of them was named Leith Torren, and he no longer wanted to be there. The rest of the story came from there.
Of all the characters in Dare, Leith was one of the easiest to write. I usually knew what he was thinking and feeling, though getting that on the page was tricky. In the first draft, I thought he was going to have his final change of heart earlier than he did. But when I sat down the write the scene, Leith kept getting angrier and angrier and suddenly burst out a line about his father. Yep, three-quarters of the way through the first draft and I finally figured out the main piece of Leith’s backstory.

First Draft Trivia: In the original first draft, Leith actually spent a good chunk of the middle of the book locked in a dungeon until a certain lord believed him. But I got halfway into the book and realized I’d written myself into a corner. I called up my main brainstorm buddy, and she helped me rework the plot. By the time we were done, I had to rewrite about half of what I had written but the result was much better than that early version. All of you have her to thank for the events in much of the middle of the book.

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Don't forget to enter Tricia's giveaway! (US entries only.)


Tour Schedule

June 2
June 3
June 4
June 5
June 8
June 9
June 10 
Facebook Party

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for doing both a character spotlight and an interview, Jaye!

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  2. I really love this book, and Leith of course! Awesome spotlight. :)

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  3. Oh my goodness I love it! Sounds so good and I think it awesome you included First Draft Trivia! :) Looking forward to reading it!

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  4. After reading this I am drawn into this series now!

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  5. Hi Jaye :) I am working on writing a book to :)

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