Curse of the Granville Fortune by Kelly Hashway blog tour: Creating Sympathetic Characters

When I got the idea for Curse of the Granville Fortune I had a vision of a young boy in my head. On the outside, he was your typical nine-year-old boy. You wouldn’t know the torment he endures—unless of course you witnessed one of his mind-numbing visions that makes him shake and sweat uncontrollably. Jack “J.B.” Beaumonte is afraid he’s going crazy. Ever since he was four years old, he’s struggled to keep his secret from the world. The hardest part is not letting his own family find out about the visions. In short, he feels like a freak. He doesn’t know why he’s different or what’s actually happening to him. I fell in love with poor J.B. because I wanted to help him and tell him he’s not a freak.What’s really wrong with J.B. is that he’s cursed. And he’s not the only one—though he’s felt that way for five years. J.B.’s entire family is cursed, only it affects each family member in a slightly different way. The curse preys on a person’s biggest fear. For J.B., that’s being different. Not just different though. He’s afraid of losing his mind. Why? Well, J.B. has always been good at figuring things out. Got a puzzle you can’t solve? J.B. can probably help. But lately, his visions are getting worse and he’s afraid he really is going crazy.My hope is that readers will feel for J.B. the way that I do. J.B.’s biggest concern isn’t saving himself from the curse. It’s saving his family. Even though he’s enduring physical and psychological pain, he wants to protect those he loves. I couldn’t help but root for him throughout the book. To me, he’s a character you can sympathize with and cheer on.
It’s tough to balance a character’s strengths and weaknesses at times, especially when they overlap like J.B.’s. But I think that balance is what makes J.B. so likable.


ABOUT CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE:
Title: Curse of the Granville Fortune (Granville Fortune #1)Publication Date:  October 21, 2014Publisher:  Tantrum BooksAuthor: Kelly Hashway
Find the fortune, break the curse!
The hunt is on for an ancient treasure tied to nine-year-old J.B.’s family history. He’s been having visions that make him sweaty, lightheaded, and certain he’s turning into some kind of freak—or worse, going insane. But things are worse than he imagined. The visions stem from a family curse. An ancient ancestor was accused of stealing the massive Granville fortune, and now J.B.’s entirely family will suffer.
To break the curse, J.B. must find and return the Granville’s stolen property. But he’s not the only one searching for the treasure. As he sets out on his journey through a dark and foreboding forest, he’ll battle his worst fears and fight terrifying creatures along the way. And when he meets two others who share the missing pieces of his visions and suffer from the same curse, the three soon realize they need to work together to break the curse before it’s too late.

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ABOUT KELLY HASHWAY:  
Kelly Hashway grew up reading R.L. Stein’s Fear Street novels and writing stories of her own, so it was no surprise to her family when she majored in English and later obtained a masters degree in English Secondary Education from East Stroudsburg University. After teaching middle school language arts for seven years, Hashway went back to school and focused specifically on writing. She is now the author of three young adult series, one middle grade series, and several picture books. She also writes contemporary romance under the pen name Ashelyn Drake. When she isn’t writing, Hashway works as a freelance editor for small presses as well as for her own list of clients. In her spare time, she enjoys running, traveling, and volunteering with the PTO. Hashway currently resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, and two pets.
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