End of character

I'm drawing my character series to a close with this one... meaning this is your last chance to comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of Frostbite. I'm not feeling great today, which has me putting this off, delaying, delaying, delaying... but faithful reader deserves better treatment. I may start throwing out teasers for Two Wizard Roulette soon to make up for this abuse.
My books are best described as character-driven. There are times I know what's going to happen in a scene... until I actually start writing it and the characters are full of ideas all their own. More than any other plot elements, the characters desires push my stories forward.
We've been talking about interesting people and the elements of them that have inspired characters. I could add to that list a former mayor who got in trouble selling imaginary cattle and being involved with the wrong bankers. There was a recovering meth addict who was my business partner and went on to open his game store. I could talk about a girl whose penchant for tragedy inspired Colin Fisher's adventures in the first place, because she just wanted somewhere to run (you've met her briefly in Frostbite as Carrie Ann Womack... and I hope you'll know her better as the series goes.)
But really there comes a point that I have to acknowledge that my characters with all their quirks and flaws are ultimately a part of me. I think I caught the full brunt of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." I certainly have, both for better and worse. My life has rarely, very rarely, been boring and I appreciate the current rollercoaster of writing and publishing. I think too much and that shows up in my characters. I've been told I have the ability to instantly and effortlessly specify my current emotional state, from exuberant joy to shattering heartbreak. I self identified as a Goth in the days before emo was really an option, and there's nothing quite as satisfying as picking through those dark heavy laden emotions. Marriage and parenting requires me to dwell less in those and work on more stable, happier heartbeats... and I'm trying. (At least my characters can still wrestle with their inner demons.) I'm bipolar, impulsive to the point of reckless, and I still identify with the villain of Two Wizard Roulette more than I should. That's my character DNA that I bring to the written page... a mix of heart and darkness.
One of the real blessings of talking to people about Frostbite is realizing how many of you are in the same boat as me. Our darker spirits may be forced into abeyance for the sake of keeping a household alive... but that does not mean we cannot indulge them in the occasional fictional flight of fantasy. Thank you for reading.