A warm welcome to Vanessa North joining us on her Riptide blog tour for new release Rough Road

Welcome Vanessa 🙂

Hi, Welcome to the Rough Road Blog Tour!

I’m Vanessa North, and I’ll be sharing some of my thoughts throughout the week on writing the second book in the Lake Lovelace series, Rough Road. Join the conversation by commenting on the posts and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a $25 Riptide Publishing gift certificate. Thanks for reading!

You can find all of the Rough Road tour stops at http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/rough-road

The Side Character Shakedown

It happens every book. You’re just writing along…minding your own business…making shit up as you do because that’s your job.

BAM!

Along comes an Eddie Russell. A side character with a past. And, more importantly a future. Look how shiny! No matter how much you really want to finish your story, something about him keeps catching your attention.

“Wait your turn,” you hiss, eyeing the deadline countdown in the bottom of your screen. “I have to finish this one first.”

“But I’m kinky,” he whines. “You know how much fun we’re going to have?”

And that’s how it happens. The side character shakedown. You end up making all kinds of devil’s bargains with these imaginary people just so you can finish the project you’re actually working on in a somewhat timely fashion.

When I was writing Double Up, I assuaged the Eddie-Muse by bookmarking photos of men in bondage. Maybe that was my brain’s way of keeping him tied up in my imagination, or maybe the pictures were just really hot, but it worked—for a while. And then it was time to write Eddie’s book. And he was right! We had so much fun.

And I was just typing along…And here comes Tina Durham.

“I have a dog named Elvis,” she reminded me, like she was just making conversation. But I’m on to these side characters when they try to play it casual.

“I know, I made him up. Wait your turn.”

“Two words, writer-lady: Roller. Derby. You know how much fun we’re going to have?”

Okay, so, maybe I don’t really have actual conversations with the characters in my head—but it’s a pretty good illustration for how the process happens that what began as a little standalone novella turns into a whole series.

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite secondary characters from the books you love—did they ever get their own HEA? Share in the comments!

Blurb

Eddie Russell is many things: A wealthy pillar of the community. An outrageous flirt. A doting best friend. A masochist with a kink for brawling with his bedmates. But he is definitely not a man who invites intimacy. His friends are close but few, his lovers rarer still.

When Eddie runs his Mercedes off the road on a hot July afternoon, Wish Carver comes to his aid—and leaves his number in Eddie’s phone. Wish, a road crew worker half Eddie’s age and sexy as sin, seems fascinated by Eddie’s different sides. Mutual attraction and compatible kinks ignite the sheets, but it’s their connection outside the bedroom that Eddie begins to crave.

When the two come down on opposite sides of a local issue, Eddie finds his growing feelings for Wish at odds with his business interests and his devotion to his best friend, local wakeboarding legend Ben Warren. Torn between old loyalties and his new love, Eddie is reluctant to make a choice. But he knows he can’t make Wish wait too long to make up his mind.

Buy Links

Riptide

Amazon

Author of over a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories, Vanessa North delights in giving happy-ever-afters to characters who don’t think they deserve them. Relentless curiosity led her to take up knitting and run a few marathons “just to see if she could.” She started writing for the same reason. Her very patient husband pretends not to notice when her hobbies take over the house. Living and writing in Northwest Georgia, she finds her attempts to keep a quiet home are frequently thwarted by twin boy-children and a very, very large dog.

Connect with Vanessa:

Website: vanessanorth.com

Facebook profile page: facebook.com/AuthorVanessaNorth

Twitter: @VanessaNWrites

Goodreads: goodreads.com/VanessaNorth

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for $25 in Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 3rd. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to leave your email so we can contact you if you win!