Marianne Scott’s Multi-Book Spotlight Tour

Books Details:

​Book Title:  Finding Ruby Draker, Shadows in the Aftermath, Reinhardt, and Underneath the Fireflies by Marianne Scott
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+)
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Publisher:  Crowe Creations
Release dates:  Re-release 2023
Content Rating:  PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader(s).

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Book Details:

​Book Title:  Underneath the Fireflies by Marianne Scott
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+),  496 pages
Genre: Murder Mystery / Thriller
Publisher: Crowe Creations
Release date:  January 2023
Content Rating:  PG-13. Occasional colloquial language is used in dialog. Nothing that would offend the most discerning reader(s).

DESCRIPTION

No matter where Grace Walker goes, her extra sensory power goes with her. She’s an empath and she sees things — terrible things. After a tragic accident at the place where she works, she decides to take a mental-health break on a remote West Coast island. But she no sooner gets to Galliano Island when a vision of the murder of an Indigenous woman draws her into a disturbing and threatening dilemma.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND GUEST POST

Marianne Scott is the Canadian author of four mystery thrillers and is currently working on her fifth novel, a sci-fi/thriller. She is a graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University. She studied creative writing through Conestoga and Humber College. She has been the president of the Cambridge Writer’s Collective. She constantly works to improve her craft by engaging with other writing organizations and is a standing member of One Lit Place, a writers’ hub by creator/editor Jenna Kalinsky. She has an author’s website and blog. She is a full-time writer who lives in Hespeler Ontario.   

Guest Post

Creating Relatable Characters

In my opinion, a story without characters is an essay, a piece of writing that supports a thesis. Essays are great, but aimed primarily for an academic audience. It’s basically just about the facts.  All you need is supporting evidence from other writers along with your personal narrative on a particular subject and voila! You’ll score an A on your story. But a story, especially a fiction story, doesn’t work like that.  It is nothing without characters. The people in your story are responsible for emotions and actions that move a story in a planned direction. Together with supporting characters, they keep the action moving. They propel the plot forward by fascinating the reader. And, it’s the emotional response from your reader that keeps a reader turning the page. When your characters engage your readers, you get fans that return to read more of your work. You may even find your characters become so memorable that they become household names. Think of characters like Harry Potter, Bella and Edward in the Twilight series, or Jack Reicher in Lee Child’s novels. Well rounded characters become real because they are so identifiable. It’s the reason film makers adapt a novel to the big screen because we love what they do and say. 

Through description, I try to make my characters visually real. But that’s not enough. I try to get inside their heads, so I can think like them, feel their values, and anticipate what they’ll do next. When you know your characters that well, it not only allows a writer to determine how they will react to a particular situation, but sometimes it will seem like they are actually talking to you, telling you what comes next in your story. I know that sounds weird, but it’s no different than being able to intuit what your child will do in a certain circumstance. Exceptional character development will give your readers that same opportunity. Then, there’s the twist. The writer can surprise a reader by making them act in a completely different way. That’s how a writer adds intrigue and suspense. 

I spend time on making a profile for each of my characters. It’s a written document with their complete history. I may not use everything in that profile but by understanding character motivations, fears, ambitions, and weakness (especially their weaknesses) your character come to life. 

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