Category:Authors, Blog, Featured Books

Troublemakers

By: Pamela Palmer
August 17, 2010

Some characters are a challenge from the day they first appear on the page, though that challenge can come in different forms. Sometimes they’re a challenge for the author — they’re hard to get a handle on or hard to understand. Sometimes they’re a pain in the butt to the other characters. Sometimes they simply fight tooth and nail against the role they’re meant to play. The hero of my latest book, RAPTURE UNTAMED, book four in the Feral Warriors series, is all of these things. And more.

From the moment he first appeared in book one, Jag has been trouble. He’s a jerk and knows he’s a jerk. And loves being a jerk. He has a bad attitude, a foul mouth, and enjoys nothing more than making the other Feral Warriors lose their cool and go feral, ripping into him with fangs and claws. Jag loves a good fight and loves getting a rise out of people, especially the pretty little redheaded Therian Guard, Olivia. The first time they met, she drove her heel through his instep at his crass welcome. The second time was in the war room at Feral House.

Jag leaned forward, willing Olivia to meet his gaze. “Whatcha say, Red? Be my buddy? We’ll have oh so much fun, Sugar. I’ll f*** your brains out when we’re not hunting.”

Olivia’s eyes flared with shock, and something more, something dark and hot.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her two men go tense as iron rods against the back wall, as if ready to leap to her defense. Against a Feral. Idiots.

Olivia’s hand shot toward the pair like a traffic cop’s, though her gaze held Jag’s.

Jag!” Lyon snapped. “You will show some respect.”

Jag leaned back in his chair, his mouth pulling up in a small, satisfied    smile. Ah, yes. He did so love to spread good cheer.

How do you make a hero out of a guy like this? That became the challenge of writing Jag’s story. I sometimes felt like I was walking a tightrope. Stray too far to one side and I risked forcing him to be something he hasn’t been in all three preceding books. There’s nothing worse than changing a character’s personality just because he’s been thrust into the role of ‘hero’. Protagonist or not, he still had to be Jag. But if I strayed too far to the other side, I risked him being too unlikable. Which was exactly what he wanted, troublesome shifter.

So where did I find that middle ground? The key was in understanding him, in digging deep into his psyche and understanding why he was the way he was. What made him tick. I’m not going to tell you what I discovered — you’ll have to read his story for that — but I will say that once I fully understood him, seeing the hero inside him was easy.

Of course, finding the hero inside him was only the first step. I had to make the reader see it. And the heroine. Fortunately, Olivia figured out Jag pretty quickly.

“Do you even know why you do it?” Olivia asked.

“Do what?”

“Annoy the hell out of everyone?”

Jag shrugged. “It’s just who I am, Sugar. Like I said, I’m not a nice guy.”

“See, I don’t believe that.”

Tearing his gaze from the road, he gave her an incredulous look.

She leaned her shoulder more firmly against the car seat as if settling in for a nice long discussion. Hell.

From the beginning, the biggest obstacle to making Jag a hero was Jag himself. He not only didn’t see himself in that role, but he didn’t want anything to do with it. I had to drag him there kicking and screaming the entire way. But he had it in him, I knew that. And when he finally realized it, I have to admit, Olivia wasn’t the only one who fell in love with him.

Some guys are born heroes. But sometimes the ones who have the longest path to travel are the most interesting. Watching Jag become what he never thought he could be, made all the trouble worthwhile.

OTHER DISCUSSIONS HAPPENING IN AUTHORS Romance


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