Today I'm honored to host Rainy Kaye on her Summoned Blog Tour. We have a lot of treat for you today, so sit back and enjoy! We're going to start with a few word from Rainy herself. Take it away, my dear!
The Making of
Summoned: 4 Ways to Keep a Story Interesting
Many story concepts lend themselves to great beginnings and
endings, but the middle can become a bit murky. Might have gars or creepy,
invasive fish in it, so writers often feel like skirting around the edges,
sticking to the shallow end with less slippery things. But sometimes, you just
have to take the plunge.
Make it the worst. There
are things your character does not want to happen. They will do anything to
never have to face this darkest of dark fears, to be put into the terrible
situation that they’re too scared to even imagine. In the words of Picard: make
it so!
Seriously, twist those thumb screws and make them beg. It’s
terrible and mean and makes you doubt your sanity (I was doing that anyway,
myself) so just go for it. The characters will hate you—but your audience
won’t.
Make it big. Don’t
just start a fire; create a bomb. In SUMMONED, I did this literally, but you
don’t have to always blow things up (I just happen to love big booms, but refer
to the above sanity check). Whatever it is your character needs to do, force
them to make it bigger.
Make it flawed. The
only thing better than making a fire into an explosion is making the explosion
go off as the worst possible time. Perfect escapes aren’t nearly as fun to
write (or read) as one that is terribly inconvenient right up to the end.
Make it uncomfortable. This probably says more about me than I
should be okay with, but I enjoy making my characters squirm. Have you met
Silvia yet? Dimitri despises his current lot in life, but he’s really not
looking forward to when that person
gets a hold of him. The reason is kind of gross.
Personally, diving in is one of my most favorite parts of
writing. If it doesn’t work, you can always revise it or even delete the whole
scene. But when it does work—and sometimes, it really does—you won’t fear the
deep end again.
Blurb
Twenty-three year old Dimitri has to do what he is
told—literally. Controlled by a paranormal bond, he is forced to use his wits
to fulfill unlimited deadly wishes made by multimillionaire Karl Walker.
Dimitri has no idea how his family line became trapped in
the genie bond. He just knows resisting has never ended well. When he meets
Syd—assertive, sexy, intelligent Syd—he becomes determined to make her his own.
Except Karl has ensured Dimitri can't tell anyone about the bond, and Syd isn't
the type to tolerate secrets.
Then Karl starts sending him away on back-to-back wishes.
Unable to balance love and lies, Dimitri sets out to uncover Karl's ultimate
plan and put it to an end. But doing so forces him to confront the one wish he
never saw coming—the wish that will destroy him.
Summoned is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
About Rainy:
Rainy Kaye is an aspiring overlord. In the mean time, she
blogs at
RainyoftheDark.com and writes
paranormal novels from her lair somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona. When not
plotting world domination, she enjoys getting lost around the globe, studying
music so she can sing along with symphonic metal bands, and becoming distracted
by Twitter
@rainyofthedark.
She is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
Excerpt:
Intel has provided me next to nothing for this assignment. In a way, I'm relieved. After the disaster at the downtown office, I will never fully trust their hookups again.
Still, a little more information to go on would be great. All I have is the address, shift schedule, and the description of the books. They have gold colored spines, and they should be sitting in a box together.
The “should be” is unsettling. I “should be” in bed with Syd, but I'm stomping the gas pedal between Phoenix and San Diego.
I've only visited San Diego once, and that was to break into a home and steal some business plans. As it turned out, the owners had been on vacation. No alarm had been engaged. I miss the easy wishes.
When I arrive into San Diego, the clock shows nearly nine at night. According to the schedule, the lab is used during business hours as a research and teaching facility. At night, it's rented out to a college class and some independent groups.
This means that at no time will the facility be completely empty. It also means I'm better off going during the second shift. The day researchers are more likely to notice someone who doesn't belong than the tenants at night.
The real problem is finding those books. The case file managed to leave out that tidbit. This will be like treasure hunting without a treasure map.
Oh, and then I get to burn down everything when I'm done. Hopefully the people inside will escape unscathed.
I scratch my head as I shuffle through the papers again. The night is about to get interesting. This wish shouldn't take too long—I won't even need to stay overnight—but I'm going to need supplies.
My Review:
First of all. I am glad to see books out featuring Arabic lore. There is a wealth of great material for stories there that is untapped. This story focuses on djinn, or genies as most people know them. However, if you think this is going to be anything like I Dream of Jeannie or Disney's Aladdin, you will be very mistaken.
This book is filled with violence, sex, and a mystery that keeps you reading until the end. At first I was really questioning why Dimitri had no power, but I'm really satisfied with the answer at the end. Dimitri himself was just awesome. He attitude and quips had me laughing aloud throughout the entire book. And at the end I had some real Damn? Really? Moments.I loved how everything snapped together. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Kaye's work.
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