Is Raine me?

Before I get to today's blog topic, here's a link to a really fun article over at BookSpotCentral.com on "The best looking women on book covers fantasy and science fiction 2008 edition."

Raine is "Miss April" along with two others. Damon obviously had a lot of fun writing the article and he's had a sneak peek of the new Raine on The Trouble with Demons cover and has declared her "smoking hot." I just love a man with great taste in women. ; ) Thanks, Damon!

We now rejoin our regularly scheduled blog now in progress . . .Yesterday, I asked for blog topic suggestions and Kate had a wonderful question: How much of yourself do you put into your characters? Are any of the characters based off of yourself, or do each of them have some little characteristic of you in them?

So how much of me is in my characters? Quite a bit, actually. I've read interviews with authors who said that there's some of them in most, if not all, of their characters. My husband tells me that I am Raine. (I think she's way cooler than I could ever be.) But if my hubby wants to think that I'm cool, snarky, smart, savvy, and sexy -- who am I to argue? ; )

Through characters, writers can work out a lot of subconscious crap going on in their lives (their main character's problems and fears); we can behave in socially unacceptable ways (I love writing Sarad Nukpana -- and he really comes into his own in The Trouble with Demons); and we can do heroic acts we wouldn't do in real life, but would like to think we could if we had to. They don't call it fantasy for nothing.

Now I don't mean that I have Raine's problems (and thank God that I don't), but in guiding my characters on their journey toward solving those problems or dealing with situations, I can't help but to inject my own experiences and opinions, and how if I were such a character in such a situation, this is how I would go about dealing with it.

As to habits: Raine is afraid of water; I can't tread water worth a damn. Dump me in the ocean and I'd be in serious trouble. Using the Saghred makes Raine sick & dizzy; heck, I can't watch rollercoasters on TV, and Dramamine lives in my pocketbook. Raine talks before she thinks; ditto for me (though I'm getting better at it). Raine isn't exactly what you'd call diplomatic; if I've got a problem with someone, I also cut through the crap and get right to the problem. I'm sure the list goes on, but I'm just now getting to my coffee; I haven't cleared the brain cobwebs yet.

All that being said, there are some characters that have nothing to do with me: Carnades Silvanus being one. Rudra Muralin is another. But for some reason, I simply adore writing Sarad Nukpana; any scene with him and Raine simply flows. Sarad is so blissfully evil; he's evil because it's fun.

In The Trouble with Demons he says: "Morality and honor are an inefficient, unproductive waste of my time." That's Sarad in a nutshell right there. And it's most definitely not me. ; )

Today is the last day for your entries for the "which character is your favorite and why" contest. I'll be announcing the winners on Monday.

And tomorrow for the "Saturday Fun Pic," I'll be posting the final map of Raine's world. My publisher's art department has scanned in my original map, and it's all ready to go into The Trouble with Demons. You guys get a sneak peek.

Do any of you have any questions for me? Potential blog topics? As always, I welcome your input.

Happy Friday!

Lisa