Angie Frazier Guest Post & Everlasting Giveaway

If you missed my review of Everlasting – and, yes, I put it up way in advance because I was so excited about the book – here it is. I was thrilled when Angie Frazier agreed to write a guest post for me, and so without further ado…

Thank you, Chelle for inviting me to post on Tempting Persephone! And an even bigger thank you for picturing this guy* as Oscar Kildare when you were reading Everlasting!

There are many things I love about Everlasting (and plenty of things I wish that I could go back and change!). But what do I love most about my book? That’s simple: the cast of characters. Specifically, the two main characters: Camille Rowen and Oscar Kildare.

Yes, I love them. That’s no surprise really. What writer doesn’t love their characters? It’s that unconditional kind of love that applies to babies, puppies, kittens and all manner of cute, fluffy animals. But just like babies and adorable fluff balls often challenge their devoted caregivers, Camille and Oscar challenged me.

They were definitely not easy to create. In fact, Camille and Oscar were two of the toughest, most stubborn characters that have ever taken up residence in my imagination.

I knew I wanted to write about an upper class girl who fell in love with a lower class boy, but I soon found out there was a lot more to it than having them ignore the social boundaries of the time (1855, to be exact). It had to be harder than that. I wanted Camille and Oscar to struggle more, to be torn between following their hearts and doing what society declared was “right.” I wanted them to be real, and that meant I needed them to be afraid.

When I started writing about them, Oscar and Camille already knew each other. They’d known each other for years. Camille’s father had taken Oscar in off the streets and molded him into a capable (and of course, well-muscled) sailor. They’d spent lots of time in each other’s company. The problem was, I hadn’t. I didn’t know them very well at all.

After a few drafts, I realized I was stuck in a rut and losing perspective. Fast.

Then it came to me: What would Oscar and Camille do if they weren’t in the story I was trying so hard to tell? What if they lived on in another story? What would they be like in some completely different situations?

So I started to create new stories for them—short stories with different plot lines that unraveled only in my head. I didn’t write any of these side stories down. I just thought them through. I worked on them when I was driving, when I went to bed and was trying to unwind, when I worked out or washed dishes or folded laundry. Oscar and Camille’s adventures in these “side stories” always got me excited and inspired to get back to their main story, and I always felt like I knew them a little bit better at the end of each one.

Once I got to know them better, I felt comfortable writing Camille’s storyline as a girl who was torn between traditional rules and paving a new path for herself. I found a way to show both sides of her. And with Oscar I found a way to craft him as more than just a stoic, protector-type hero. He had history and pain and a secret that he’d kept from Camille for a very long time. These pieces of their characters took shape out of those “side stories” and I was able to cull them and put them to use.

Do I think this method is strange? Yes, a little. Do other writers do this? I have no idea. But it definitely worked for me, so perhaps it will for others. Putting Oscar and Camille in other situations and seeing how they survived and ultimately fell in love gave me the insight I needed.

I recall a few of these side stories, though sometimes they were just little vignettes. From a mutiny at sea to a San Francisco soiree to a rampant fever epidemic, these side stories brought me closer to my characters. And as a personal bonus, even though I’ve shared one of their stories with the world, I get to keep all the little ones for myself.

Thanks Chelle!

And now, the giveaway…

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. It can be simply “enter me!” or you can tell me which actor most clearly resembles a favorite character when you picture him/her. (You know who I think of when I think of Oscar, *and because I absolutely cannot help myself, a few more pics of him.) US addresses only, please. Contest open until June 6th.

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