Marita’s Comments (group member since Nov 02, 2011)

Marita’s comments from the Q&A with Marita A. Hansen group.

Harlen wrote: "You're making me so excited!!!! I want June to be here now."

I want June to be here too, because I can't wait to read what people think of it. It's my biggest book yet, the editing now pushing it to 140,000 words long!

The Secondary Characters from Behind the Lens

Tama: Yes, he's back and just as juvenile as ever, and everyone will be happy to know that Tama finally starts getting what's coming to him, the first dose of it. And it is in this book that he meets Jenna from Graffiti Heaven, and you will see how their relationship progresses in Behind the Beat. Sledge did warn Tama about Jenna, but he was too stupid to listen :)

Nike: He's in a few scenes, and does something very significant near the end of the book, which affects future stories. And if you remember what he was like in Behind the Hood, he is very different now, the three months between those books having seen him grow from a boy to a man, and a very dangerous one. He is being primed as a killer by Craven, though Craven and everyone has no idea just how volatile and dangerous Nike is.

Ant: Yes, it's Ant from Graffiti Heaven, and you guys will hate what he's grown into. He is NASTY. He is extremely manipulative and very vengeful. He causes considerable trouble in this book, a real villain.

Jade: Dante's stalker and someone who plays a significant role in Dante's future.

Ash: This is not his book, so he doesn't play much of a role, but you will still see him, and be assured he will be getting points of views in future books, especially the one where he goes back to school

The Characters in Behind the Lens who get a voice:

Dante: The main character and the one who gets the most chapters. He has a lot of relationship trouble in this book with two women after him: Kara (his ex) and Beth, both of those women fighting like banshees. You'll also meet his stalker, someone who will be playing a significant role in his life, along with his boss and someone linked to him, this last person causing most of the trouble.

Also for you ladies, Dante is one of the reasons this book turned erotica.

Kara: You haven't met Kara. She was mentioned in passing as a past love of Dante's in Behind the Tears. She is from Bosnia, and is a very feisty blonde woman with a wicked sense of humor, and right and wrong. Once she is given the go ahead by Craven, who Dante doesn't know is her boss, she full out tries to get Dante back, not wanting to have left him in the first place, but being forced to, and the reason is huge, something that turns very nasty at a point, not Kara's fault at all.

Beth: Still annoying as ever, but she soon starts learning what it's like to be involved with Dante, and it's not something she ever anticipated.

Corey: Gets himself into huge trouble like Dante, with one thing after another happening. Between his relationship with Sledge, Tama causing trouble, Tyler causing trouble, ANT CAUSING THE MOST TROUBLE, and so forth, Corey doesn't know what the hell is happening. As he said, he doesn't understand why people want him, because he's a pale, skinny, bald guy with cancer. Kara explains later on in the book the reason why he is constantly getting hit on, minus Tama who wants to hit him in a totally different way - AKA with his fists.

Sledge
Finally gets some, lol, and goes through the biggest growth in how he handles people learning about his relationship with Corey. Plus, he puts himself in huge danger, which will affect his future stories.

I will be writing comments relating to this book on this new thread as well as adding quotes once I start working with my editor.

P.S. You think my other books are raunchy? Hell no! This book has unintentionally turned erotica, which I blame on Dante as well as Corey. I can't seem to keep one genre for the whole series, each book having a mind of its own.

The Behind the Lives series:

Behind the Hood #1 (Harsh Realism and many say Edgy YA)

Behind the Tears #2 (Dark Romance)

Behind the Lens #3 (Erotica)

This is the place to put down your thoughts about what you would like me to write about, because I do listen to what people say. For example, I never planned on giving Trey his own series (Dirty Dancer), but only decided to do so after reading about someone wanting to get his viewpoint, and since I was already planning on creating another series, I thought why not, I'll give him the lead role.

So, go ahead and tell me what you would like to read about, where you want my current series to go and what you want to see from the characters.

2013 Challenges:

1) To read 4 books per month.
2) To publish 3 books by the end of 2013: Behind the Lies, Crying Out Silent and Volume 1 of Dirty Dancer.
3) To run another Marathon, or plenty of half-marathons, which are more fun because they don't hurt like full Marathons.
4) To not die from lack of sleep because I have too much to do and have a habit of going to bed at 3am :)
5)To finally read The Bone People and Once Were Warriors (both now requested from the library).
6) To get a Creative New Zealand Grant before I go broke from writing :) I shouldn't be smiling at that because it's true - publishing is expensive.
7) To enjoy being back in good ole New Zealand.
8) To adapt my Behind the Lives series for the small screen.
9) To get back into the soccer community in Auckland.
10) And to sell more books! So I can continue doing what I love: writing.

Behind the Lies is a continuation of the Rata story. It starts from the same day the last book left off.

The first chapter introduces you to Kara Craven, Dante's ex-girlfriend. And yes, her last name is recognisable because she's married to Craven's son. Craven is not happy about the Rata brothers wanting to quit the business, so poor Kara is pushed into changing Dante's mind, unless she wants the brothers killed.

But Kara wants to do more than change Dante's mind, she wants to get him back, and will use any means to do so. So, Beth has a major cat fight on her hands, one that gets NASTY.

The other main story-line is Sledge and Corey's. And guess who's back and wants to split them up after seeing something he shouldn't have through Corey's bedroom window? It's not sweet Tyler. The unsuspecting peeping tom is an escaped prisoner who everyone loves to hate, and what he sees in the bedroom disgusts him, and makes him hate Corey. Of course this person doesn't blame Sledge, because he thinks Corey has seduced his buddy, so is purely at fault. Go figure, the guy is bigoted.

The Connors are definitely going to see a lot of trouble in this book.

That's all for now, I'll update you guys on more info about the progress of the story when I can.

Ash Rata:



Ash Rata is the character on the cover with the Maori tattoo on his neck. His nationality is a mixture of Croatian and Maori, but he was born and bred in South Auckland, New Zealand. At 25, he is the oldest of the Rata brothers. He is also a drug dealer, but not by choice, his ties to the crime lord Nigel Craven something he wants to break free from.

He has a brother called Dante, who is 23, but they look the same, their tattoos the only distinguishing marks between the two.

He also has another brother called Sledge and a sister called Juliet.

If you want to discuss any of the characters you can talk about them here.

Pop your thoughts up here.

I would like to apologise to anyone that went into reading Behind the Hood thinking it wasn't YA. I don't believe it's YA, but quite a few people have disagreed with me, saying it is. So, I have taken down the note mentioning that it isn't YA, because I don't want to set anyone wrong. Sometimes authors write things with certain intentions then get surprised when it's classified under a category they didn't expect. I'm afraid this has happened to me. Also, I am apologising through this forum as Goodreads recommends it's better not to get into discussions under reviews. I agree with this, because everyone has differing opinions and I respect that - no one's view is wrong, it's theirs, and again, I respect it. Also, I have seen authors get themselves into trouble writing under reviews of their books, and I definitely stay well clear of trouble.

Again, if I have said anyone wrong, I apologise.

P.S. Book 2 is definitely Adult, but I have refrained from saying this, because people have started to classify it as NA also. I don't think I should take part in classifying my books in the future, because I'm useless at it :) but unfortunately I'm an Indie writer so I don't have much choice.

What is your favourite book? And why?

Harlen wrote: "You know what I mean about fun, NOT PG!!!!"

PG? I don't write PG, lol. And what you said reminds me of what Juliet says to Ash about making something PG. And in relation to Corey and Sledge, you have to read it to find out :)

I have completed Behind the Tears in time, so Christmas Eve is the release date.

Harlen wrote: "Sooooo, is Corey and Sledge going to :) you know, have some FUN?"

Define fun ;)

Leanne wrote: "I already told you the cover is stunning but I need to say it again. It's bloody stunning! The tattoo is really cool too, you designed it as well which I find even cooler lol. So looking forward to..."

Thanks :)

Update:

Here's the new cover, click on it to make it larger or go into my picture files on my author page to see a much bigger version:


Also, unlike Behind the Hood, this book has a large romance element, although it's a dark one, especially since both Ash and Dante are quite damaged. There is also a M/M romance in here, I won't tell you which characters are involved, you'll have to see, but there are also two M/F relationships which also involves a LOT of angst. This book is intense like the others, but filled more with suspense, Chaz's escape always lingering in the background, building up to quite a showdown. I'm aiming to get this book out this month (finger's crossed!) because that's my deadline.

Cheers, Marita.

Chapter 2 from Behind the Tears is aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh! This is how things went: The parole hearing scene is put in from Chaz's viewpoint, rewritten a few times, it is then taken out and redone from Sledge's viewpoint, rewritten twice before
being taken out and replaced with another chapter from Ash's view. Ash's chapter 2 is rewritten three times before I give up and put the parole hearing scene back in, but from Dante's viewpoint. FINALLY I GOT IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now doing a happy dance.

Leanne wrote: "I loved that fact that sex in the book in general, like you said sex is reality and I found this book a realistic fiction so the more real, the better.
You didn't go over board with the detail, yo..."

Thanks Leanne :)

Graffiti Heaven is raising a lot of eyebrows, especially with the first chapter. Can YA books have the topics of sex, etc. without offending people? I mean, ones that don't skirt around the subject, that put real scenes in there. Graffiti Heaven's first chapter was based on someone's experience, he really had to jump out that window. And he was a year younger than my character. I had to put the character's age at being a week away from turning 16 as it relates to another book, although the person in reality was 14 at the time. So, is it acceptable to write reality or not? Or will it get parents up in arms against a book that does this?