Enter the Dynamic Duo!!

Lately, I got the brilliant idea (thank you, Dragon, for supporting me in this) to do a promotional giveaway for my two year Blogoversary. I expected to have a certain amount of support from my fellow Indie Authors, expecially the ones with whom I've made personal friends. What I didn't expect however, was the overwhelming support and the rapid fire offer of a guest post from a rather dynamic couple of collaborating authors, Wodke Hawkinson. I have been acquainted with them, my husband was more so and so it really came as no surprise to him, but their generosity blew me completely away. After I picked my chin up off the floor and found out just how far they'd gone to help me out, I decided that it simply wouldn't be fair if they had gone the extra mile, while I just sat back and let it happen. That was when I decided to ask Wodke Hawkinson to honor me with a guest spot on my blog and, as it turned out, my timing was rather fortuitous. They had a book just come out that they're working on promoting that goes by the title "Zeke" and is a dark kind of thriller. They told me a little bit about it:



Description:



Zeke is a dark novel of sexual obsession, psychological manipulation, and peril. Sue Cox, a naive college student, falls for the exciting new bookstore clerk. Zeke captures her heart, awakens her sexuality, and begins to exert subtle control over her. Before long she’s wildly in love, ignores the warning signs, and makes a rash decision to go on the road with him. As they travel, he becomes increasingly unstable and deviant.



Sue’s parents refuse to believe she left willingly and hire a private investigator to locate her. Will he find her in time?



This brings me to MY point: Wodke Hawkinson needs your attention while they tell us a bit about this little treasure "Zeke."



I asked a few questions, they gave a few answers and thus, an interview took shape...



Interview of Wodke Hawkinson with RJ Palmer



I want you to note that they do think independently because it might just be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" creepy if they answered everything in unison AND as a duo so where you see initials, that was where each of them took the time to answer on their own...Carry on...



RJ Palmer:



Which one of you, or is it both of you that love psychology? Is there anything you’ve learned while researching for your books that you found particularly riveting?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K- I took numerous psychology courses in college and have a strong interest in the subject. However, one thing I learned when researching Zeke was unrelated to psychology, but instead to geography. We mapped out the entire journey taken by Sue and Zeke and carefully constructed the timeline, although it doesn’t show in the book. It was an eye opener for me. Did you know there are really no straight roads from northern Maine to eastern New Hampshire? Or for that matter, all the way to St. Louis? That’s when we decided to invent the names of the roads and highways. lol.



Though the road trip in Zeke could actually be driven, we further confounded the likelihood of that happening by changing the names of most of the towns.



P- It is Karen that loves psychology, but who doesn’t know something on the subject just by being subjected to the news? We basically used common knowledge of a psychologically warped mentality when we wrote Zeke’s character.



RJ Palmer:



Your novels have a dark, sad or haunting and brooding aspect to them and I was wondering what experiences you draw upon to bring out such profound depth of emotion? You don’t have to go into a lot of detail, but I find myself curious. Were both of you over comers from abusive relationships?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K- No, the incidents in Zeke are not based on personal experience. They are purely fictional, although both PJ and I have known persons who struggled with similar issues. I suppose the haunting element comes from trying to capture the sadness we humans all face from time to time in our lives. Everyone has experienced common feelings like rejection, grief, pain, disappointment, helplessness, etc. For some reason, it seems that hurtful events hold a greater power over us than uplifting ones, which is unfortunate. I read somewhere that it takes at least ten positive incidents to counteract just one negative experience. I don’t know if that’s true, but it very well could be. Human beings are always stumbling, making bad choices, and getting into predicaments. I think readers are interested to find how characters deal with their circumstances and either pull through or fall victim to their unwise decisions and the distress imposed upon them by others. In Zeke, we attempted to show that abusive relationships don’t start out that way. They start out fulfilling a need. Often the abuse doesn’t develop until the victim has made a great emotional investment in the other person, and has already been significantly “rewired” by the abuser. Of course, Zeke (the character) isn’t a standard example of an abuser. He’s quite extreme.



We don’t actually stick with any one genre, although it might appear so because both Betrayed and Zeke have in common the theme of a woman in a perilous situation. But we have also explored various genres in our short story collections; and our other book, Tangerine, is more of a sci-fi. Tangerine is really quite different from our other two novels. (Tangerine was our first novel together. It has been picked up by a publisher so we pulled the original version from the e-book venues it was on. It has since undergone a rewrite and will hopefully be re-released at the end of the month in e-form)



P- No, we are not survivors of abusive relationships. I have been very fortunate to have been married to a wonderful man for thirty-five years and every one of them has been happy.



I do, however, have a friend who was in a bad marriage for many years. Her husband would be loving and friendly and then turn into a savage monster for no apparent reason. I suggested repeatedly that she should get out before he killed her but she had what seems to be a common reason for staying. If I leave, he’ll find me and kill me. What she couldn’t see was the fact that he was going to kill her if she stayed. Thankfully, the marriage ended and she is alive and well today.



On the other hand, I had a friend who had been in abusive situations and finally found a good man. She left the good relationship and found another bad man. She said she didn’t know how to handle having someone be nice to her. I don’t understand this thinking but the world is full of unusual people and situations.



RJ Palmer:



Tell me about the psychology of “Zeke”. Is there anything in particular you would like readers to know while they read it?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K & P- Zeke’s power lies in his ability to sense what a woman needs and wants, ferret out her hidden insecurities, and play on her doubts and fears. He doesn’t start exerting control until he has successfully won her heart. He also seems to categorize women; he targets a different type of woman in a different way, depending on his particular need at the time. It’s really all about him.



(Note from Yours Truly: I want for other women and men in these kind of relationships to recognize what's going on and empower themselves because I DO know from personal experience that it CAN be done. If this kind of thing happens to you, don't be ashamed or afraid to seek help and remember that they only want you to feel worthless because they feel that way and if you feel like nothing, you won't leave them. And now back to your regularly scheduled program.)



RJ Palmer:



What went through your minds the most while you wrote “Zeke”? What was it you most wanted to communicate in the writing? Sort of an underlying theme?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K & P- One thing uppermost in our minds when writing Zeke was our intense dislike for the character. At times, we even procrastinated on writing because we found Zeke so despicable. We eventually toned down a lot of the most shocking content and developed other elements besides Zeke’s vile personality.



K- For me, when we decided to expand the part played by the detective (who is a good, decent man), it was easier to go to the keyboard and write. Will Falstaff counter-balanced the nastiness of Zeke. Originally, the private investigator didn’t play a very big role because we wanted to focus on Zeke and his mind games. But, giving Will a larger part in the story felt right to us.



K & P- One thing we really wanted to communicate in the story is that with the right kind of manipulation, a person can be convinced to do things outside his or her character. Sue was simply out of her league when it came to Zeke. She was vulnerable, inexperienced, and easily exploited. Zeke managed to put her into degrading situations and then twist reality until she frequently doubted her own perceptions.



Another concept we tried to express is the superficiality of physical appearance. Zeke was very good-looking, which was another deception because his appealing exterior gave a false impression of his nature.



We also hope we conveyed that by a certain point in the story, Sue felt she had little or no choice in what happened to her. As outsiders, we can look on her situation and see things differently, but she couldn’t.



RJ Palmer:



You both seem fond of psychological thrillers, which is more an educated guess than anything. What do you read when you cozy up with a book for the afternoon?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K- I do like thrillers, but I’m also happy reading science fiction, some nonfiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, or even humor. I’m a multi-genre reader!



P- Actually, psychological thrillers are only one genre of book I enjoy. So far the books we’ve written contain a psychological thriller, Zeke; a suspense, Betrayed, and a book set in the future, Tangerine (coming soon). We have 3 short story volumes that run the gamut of genres. As for what I like to read, I tend to be the same as Karen; all genres are my friends.



RJ Palmer:



Ladies, your novels have rave reviews, congratulations for that for it is no easy feat. Are there any pearls of wisdom you might like to share with an up-and-comer? Advice for a would be author or for your following?



Wodke Hawkinson:



K & P- We’ve been fortunate that readers who appreciate the kind of stories we tell have managed to find their way to our books. It’s only a matter of time, though, until a reader who hates our style will stumble upon Zeke and leave a scathing review. It’s bound to happen. In fact, we would tell other authors not to dread the negative rating for it is normal that your writing will not appeal to everyone. As far as other advice to writers, our success is still too new to us. We don’t feel like we are authorities on the subject. The only two things we can come up with are these: Be sure to proof/edit your book meticulously, and don’t be afraid to hire a professional editor if you feel it will improve your work. We subject our books to painstaking proofing and editing and still mistakes sometimes slip through. The other thing is to stay true to your style and write the stories YOU want to tell. Oh, and one more: Read, read, read.



Now, if you want to find out more about this particularly dynamic duo, find them here on Amazon and here is their personal website and, of course, here for their wonderful blog FindAGoodBookToRead.



And while you're at it, you'll want to pick up your own copy of "Zeke" available here on Amazon, here on Smashwords and here on Nook.



Ladies, thank you for allowing me to play hostess here and thank you soooo much for your help and support!