Guest: Patti O'Shea

Welcome Patti to the convertible today! It's been breezy here in MN lately, so don't keep the top down too long, ok, Patti?

Before I get started, I wanted to announce that to celebrate the June 30th release of EDGE OF DAWN, I'm giving away a copy of IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, the first book in my Light Warriors series. To be eligible, leave a comment and one random winner will be chosen.

One of the questions I get asked the most is where do I get my ideas. The quick answer is everywhere--and it's true--but I can't write them unless (and until) I have characters.

With EDGE OF DAWN, my heroine, Shona Blackwood showed up while I was writing her older brother's story. I knew as soon as I heard her name that she had a book, but I didn't know much about her beyond her name, the fact that she was ten years younger than her brother, that she lived in Seattle, and that she was a talented glass artist. I had no hero for her and no plot.

Fast forward a few months. That's when Logan showed up. He's the Seattle-based troubleshooter for the Gineal people (they're a society of magic users) and he has a problem--whenever he uses too much magic, he has a seizure. Not good when his job is to fight demons and other evil beings in order to protect humans.

This was enough for me to start thinking, hmm, what if Logan has kept this a secret from his bosses? What if Shona is in danger, and since he's the Seattle-based troubleshooter, they assign him to protect her? What if he's told he must keep magic a secret from her? And what if Shona has a secret of her own, something that she doesn't realize is the key to the danger she's in? Now I'm starting to get a story!

I spend a lot of time living with my characters, getting to know them--what drives them, what scares them, what their greatest fear is--and then I use it against them. Hey, they torment me, so it's only fair that I get to torture them in return, and besides, at the end they get a happy ending and true love. I think they're getting the best end of the deal.

Shona has lost her ability to do her art and it's always been her passion. She doesn't understand why her desire to work is gone and she nothing she's tried brings it back. Then there's this guy who tried to mug her and seems to be stalking her because he keeps showing up again and again.

Logan has more problems than his overuse of magic putting him down for the count, too. He's sworn an oath of fealty to his council and he's never rebelled against them, yet his promise to keep the truth about the Gineal from Shona is weighing on him. If he obeys his bosses, he's betraying Shona's trust. If he tells her about himself and magic, he's committing treason and possibly putting his people at risk. Okay, maybe I do enjoy torturing my characters because I smiled as I wrote this.

But it's the characters who mold the story. Their actions and reactions decide which direction the plot is going to head and each hero and heroine is unique. If I were to take a different set of characters, plop them in the same situation, the story would change quickly because they'd make other choices.

Logan's twin, Kel, for example, wouldn't be particularly worried about the council's orders. Sure, he'd try to follow them, but when they didn't work for him or the situation any longer, he'd use his own judgment and face the consequences later. But then Kel has dealt with things far worse than the council's wrath and that experience has him making different decisions than his brother.

This is probably the reason why I write--to see what choices my hero and heroine are going to make and what the outcome is going to be. Even as well as I know my characters, they still manage to surprise me. It happens in every book and EDGE OF DAWN was no exception. Um, I was going to share some of them here, but realized they were spoilers. Let's just say I didn't expect anyone to show up and telepathically talk to Shona. And that was merely the beginning of my whoa moments.

I love the surprises, though. Seriously. If I knew everything that was going to happen before I sat down and wrote, well, why bother then? It's all about the journey for me, the discovery. I want my characters to do things that make me mutter to myself. Okay, maybe I like it better after the book is turned in on time, but still it's pretty cool to have my hero and heroine take over and tell me what they're going to do. And usually what they decide is much more interesting and ends up working better than anything I was thinking of doing. Now this is what I call magic!

If you'd like to find out more about me or any of my books, swing by my website: www.pattioshea.com. I have excerpts from all my books, back cover blurbs, and info on what's coming next.

What was the biggest surprise moment you've come across while reading a book? Was it something the characters did or the direction the story took?