Guest Post and Excerpt Devil's Dilemma Chronicles Chosen by Author Sirena Robinson

GUEST POST: Author Sirena Robinson

Hey everyone! A huge thank you to Autumn for featuring me today. She’s invited me to do a guest post for you all and to post an excerpt from my new novel, Devil’s Dilemma. A few days ago, another blogger asked me some very good questions about why my characters are who they are and how I decided. It’s made me think a lot about that, and I thought I’d explore it a little more here.
For me, it’s not a conscious decision who my characters are. I tend to feel more comfortable with a female MC, but I almost always have a male MC as well. For example, in Devil’s Dilemma, Griffin and Braxton are equally important to the story and each are a main character. We have chapters where Griffin never appears, and chapters where Braxton never appears. They share MC status in my head. However, even though the story is different without Brax, it is still Griffin’s story.
When I sit down to write a new book, I often have an idea of what it should be. That might be some dialogue, a few scenes, the ending. It could be anything. I’ve mentioned before that once, I wrote a whole novel around one single line of dialogue. That one line got in my head and I couldn’t rest until I wrote the book that went along with it. For other people, they outline every scene and chapter and know exactly what is going to happen.
For my characters, I never think about whether they’re a man or woman. They just are. I never consider whether they have blue or green eyes, I just know what they look like. It’s never a conscious decision to have a character be good or bad, that’s just who they are. I know this might sound weird to some of you, but I’d be willing to bet there are a lot of writers out there who agree with me.
I always joke that it’s the characters’ story, I’m just the one they picked to tell it. People laugh, but they don’t really realize how true that is. Fiction is its own kind of truth. No, the characters might not exist in our reality, but they DO exist. They exist in the book, they exist in my imagination, and after you’re done reading the novel, I’d hope that they would be just as real for you as they are for me.
Thanks again for letting me join you today. It’s been a blast and I can’t wait for some of you to read the book! If you’re interested in reading it, I am doing a raffle of five e-copies of Devil’s Dilemma at the end of the tour. I’m drawing names on March 1^st, and all you have to do to win is leave a comment with an email address. In addition, several other indie authors are donating books for one grand prize.

Author Bio:

Sirena N. Robinson has been writing since she was ten years old and cast her 5th grade teacher as a villain in a series of short stories. She continued to write through high school and pursued a Minor in English Literature from The Ohio State University, graduating in 2008 with Bachelor's Degrees in Political Science and International Relations. She received her Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School in 2011 and passed the Ohio bar that July. She will receive her Master's Degree in Social Work from Ohio University in 2014.

 

When not writing, Sirena is pursuing a career as an attorney in private practice in Jackson, Ohio where she predominantly works in the Juvenile Court as an appointed lawyer in child welfare cases. She lives in the sleepy Appalachian town of Jackson with her husband, daughter, and their menagerie of dogs and cats. She has a flair for the paranormal, discusses her characters as if they are real people, and is at the mercy of the army of plot bunnies that constantly fight to get out of her head and onto paper.

 

 

Connect with Sirena:

~ Website ~

Excerpt: 

Griffin spent most mornings looking out the window, searching the woods for any sign of life. A bird, a snake, anything that would tell her that her instincts were wrong. Every morning, there was nothing. So after a while, she would resign herself to yet another day of being afraid and go downstairs to eat. At least she was keeping food down since Gabriel had given her a reprieve from the wasting away. She'd managed to put on a few pounds, filling out her gaunt frame slightly.

            It was snowing. Big flakes falling from the sky, piling on top of one another, coating the ground and the road, covering the cars. It was nearly impossible to see for how thick the snow was coming down.

            Griffin had always loved the snow and could vaguely remember sitting on her grandmother’s lap, watching the flakes drift down, amped with excitement that she would get to go outside with her grandfather and play in it as soon as he got home. Even throughout her time in foster care, she’d always loved the first snowfall.

            Mind made up, she left the window and crossed the room, her clothes hitting the floor. She pulled on jeans instead of her sweat pants and donned a thick grey sweater and wool socks. She hopped on one foot to tug on her boot before switching and yanking on the other. Rifling through her closet, she realized she didn’t have a coat, then saw Braxton’s hanging up by the door. Feeling more relaxed than she had in months, she grabbed the coat and dashed down the stairs, swinging around to hurry through the kitchen and out the back door.

            The cold air was fresh and crisp on her face, and she curled her toes inside her boots, enjoying the feel. She tipped her head back and let the snowflakes settle on her skin, melting from her body heat. After a moment of enjoying the snow, she spread her arms out and fell backward.

            The impact jarred her, but the snow cushioned the fall. Feeling like a child, she moved her arms and legs, reveling in the simple joy of making a snow angel. When she’d sufficiently cleared the snow around her, she simply lay there, staring up at the dreary gray sky, watching the snow drift down. She let the tears take her.

Buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Dilemma-Chronicles-Chosen-Book-ebook/dp/B00H0JSUDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390930131&sr=8-1&keywords=sirena+robinson