An Odd Duck: The Meet My Character Blog Tour

Teresa Cypher  is an administrator and moderator of the Weekend Writing Warriors and also a fellow participant. She’s brilliantly talented and a genuinely nice person (look at that lovely smile!) and I was flattered when she asked me to join a “Meet My Character” blog tour.

This kind of tour highlights a main character from a WIP, a soon to be published work, or a recently published work.  Each nominated author has a week to answer seven questions about this character and the world he or she inhabits, and then invites other authors to continue the fun.

Teresa’s post offers intriguing information about Marissa Krade—who may or may not be entirely sane—and can be found here.  Marissa and her unique problems are fascinating, and I hope to be able to read her whole story soon.

I decided to answer the seven questions with information about the main character of my current project, a paranormal mystery.  I’ve only just met the MC, so these questions helped me suss him out a little:

 

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

HIs name is Tom Mahon.  He’s fictional; any concrete resemblance to any Real Person™, contemporary or historical, would surprise the heck out of me.

 

2. When and where is the story set?

This one is set in the present day in a Midwestern city I haven’t named, yet, but is a lot like St. Louis, though perhaps in a more northern state.  Haven’t quite decided.

It’s also set in a world where the existence of werecreatures has been kept hidden from the general human public.

 

3. What should we know about him/her?

Tom was adopted as a baby and grew up in a loving, mixed-species family, with two other adopted children.  Unlike his brother and sister, he doesn’t know anything about his biological family.

He’s ex-Army, honorably discharged with the remainder of his platoon after they were captured in the Middle East.  He was uninjured, aside from a mild case of PTSD and returned home to be near his folks.  He opened a private detective agency with an Army buddy of his.

He’s tough, smart, and extremely loyal, once you earn his trust.

He’s also a wereduck.

 

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Tom’s brother Bryan, an unaffiliated wanderer of a werewolf, seriously ticks off  the leader of a west coast pack, who wants to exploit Bryan’s pedigree (so to speak) to take over the territory of the not-St. Louis pack.  Bryan goes on the run and Tom and his family become targets and potential hostages.

Meanwhile, a few members of the local Were-Council (a sort of regional U.N.) think that the non-wolves could benefit from a change in pack leaders.  They try to use Tom’s influence over his brother to convince Bryan to do a double cross on the west coast pack and keep the Alpha seat for himself.

The current Big Dog isn’t happy about any of this, and wants Tom to help him fix it.

There might also be an ex-girlfriend swanning about (ahem) with her own agenda and a feral young lady who will do anything to keep Bryan alive.

 

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

To save his brother, protect his friends and family, and maybe have an agency left, once the smoke clears—because it looks like he’s going to be ticking off every power player in the city.

 

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The working title is Odd Duck, though one friend wants me to put “cassoulet” in there somewhere, and another suggested some truly terrible puns that really laid an egg.

I recently started sharing eight sentences from it each Sunday through Weekend Writing Warriors and the Sunday Snippet Facebook group.

You can start here, if you’re interested.

 

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

I don’t have a specific date, but I hope it might be six to nine months after I meet my publisher’s deadline for final edits, which may be three to six months after my agent sells it, which could be two or three months after I get an agent, which I pray will be four months or so after I start querying it, which will be a couple of months after it’s finished, which won’t happen until I can spackle that plot hole in chapter twelve. It’s always chapter twelve, isn’t it?

Seriously, though, I haven’t a clue. But I do know Tom’s story is a blast to write.

Even chapter twelve.

______________

Last year at the Midwest Writers’ Workshop,  I unexpectedly met up with Terry Peterson, a wonderfully talented writer and family friend.

Terry is one of those supportive, positive people who know you can do anything you want to and has a knack for getting you to agree with her.  I’m so pleased she agreed to help keep this tour going!

Here’s her bio:

I am a grandmother who writes as often as I can, whenever I can, as much as I can–on the back on envelopes or my hand if there isn’t paper, in dreams occasionally. By definition, I’m a word addict. My short stories appear regularly at The Piker Press. I often provide the illustrations. My blog at terrypetersen.wordpress.com focuses on positive thinking. I prefer to delve into the muck of real life and come up with a gem. I have finished two novels, not yet published, and I am working on a middle-grade chapter book.

Terry’s post will go up next Monday (the 4th of August), and I hope you’ll stop by her place to read it!

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