Thursday, September 06, 2007
Hero or Villain?
I do a monthly newsletter on Yahoo Groups for my subscribers. It's nothing fancy--no cool layouts or graphics, just a chatty little newsletter in which I announce my news. I also run a monthly contest just for my subscribers. For this month's contest, I asked my subscribers to name the male villain in Shadows on the Soul. The answers started to trickle in, and that's when I started getting a complex. Because so far everyone has answered "Gabriel" on their first try.
Gabriel is actually the hero of Shadows on the Soul. Yes, he's a dark hero, but there's still something very unsettling about having my fans name him the villain. I'm pretty sure I know what's happening. I suspect those who have answered so far have not read the full book yet. Perhaps they've only read the first chapter online, in which Gabriel acts decidedly unheroic. Logic tells me someone cannot read the full book and think Gabriel is the villain, but I still cringe each time I see a contest entry come in. (Although I must admit to a fair amount of amusement, also. Obviously, I've succeeded in my goal of making Gabriel dark, and scary, and hard to redeem! I just hope I succeeded in redeeming him in the end.)
Those of you who aren't writers probably can't imagine the depth of self-doubt we tend to go through. And it never goes away, no matter what successes we may have. (Yes, Romantic Times gave Shadows on the Soul a 4 1/2 star Top Pick, but does that stop me from chewing my nails to the quick? Nope.) So despite my quite logical assurances to myself that no one who read the full book would think Gabriel was the villain, I can't help the niggle of worry.
So if you've read Shadows on the Soul and know the real answer to my contest question, please sign up for my newsletter so I can enter you in the subscribers contest! You'll make me feel better, and you might win a nifty mug or mousepad to boot. To subscribe, send a blank email to: JennaBlackBooks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
posted by Jenna Black @ 9:15 AM
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1 Comments:
Hi! I was looking around, searching for possible new authors when I came across your website, I read the first chapter of The Devil Inside and holy crap! I CAN'T wait for it to come out! just the first chapter totally pulled me in and I really can't wait to read the book. I'm fairly shaking with excitement! lol.
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