For those of you who may have been visiting another part of the galaxy the past couple of years, Terry writes a wonderfully crafted werewolf romance series.
I’ve enjoyed reading her stories. I’m fascinated by the differences of each book and especially her characters. Each book brings in new characters while putting the existing werewolf characters into situations, which show who and what they are. Another side of them, if you will and highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and shows more of their personalities.
Wolf Fever is the same. We are reintroduced to several werewolves met in other stories. They’re familiar yet they aren’t because we see them in a different set of circumstances and different conflicts. There’s always something new to learn about them. Wolf Fever is one of Terry’s best character studies of the werewolf pack.
I was curious how she kept her stories fresh and her characters so real. Series can be difficult, in my opinion, because it is all too easy for the elements and dear characters one loves to be present but the story lacks oomph, becoming stale. The characters can easily lose their zest and fun and become just names speaking lines. I don’t know if this is because the writer is becoming bored with the world and characters, or they’ve boxed themselves in with the parameters of their world. I’ve observed this in several series I love. So not seeing this to be the case so far in Terry’s books, I asked her how she manages to keep hers fresh and characters fun.
Terry's used to me asking unusual questions and she was gracious in explaining how she manages it all.
For each new book I write, I try to give a whole new situation that isn’t like the other stories. Sometimes I come up with something in my research, but otherwise I try to create individuals who are very different from one another and some kind of a goal that’s different or the dynamics between a group of people that is unique.
In Wolf Fever, Carol Woods is considering how differently she sees some of the alpha males:
“She couldn’t help liking Ryan, despite his denial of her abilities. He had an easy but determined manner about him, not brusque like Darien or teasing like Jake or afraid to make waves like Tom. His determination was matched only by her own.”
What’s fun is comparing them and then at some future date, challenging this way they have of dealing with situations. Just a character detail like that can often give me ideas for a whole story.
Tom, for instance, is the peacemaker. He’s used to the pack leader, Darien, making the decisions and because Jake is the next oldest, when Darien isn’t available, Jake decides. So one of these days, I’m going to have to put him into a situation to challenge that.
Jake adamantly doesn’t believe in dream mating. So guess who’s the hero in the dream mating wolf tale, book number 8? In that book, I’ve moved him out of his comfort zone, and into the arms of a human woman that he falls for despite telling himself he can’t because she’s human. What makes it different from To Tempt the Wolf? In To Tempt the Wolf, Tessa is not exactly all human and Hunter’s trying to decide about turning her. But in Dreaming of the Wolf, the heroine is all human. But Jake doesn’t turn her like Hunter does Tessa, and…well, that’s the fun of the stories. Making each of them different.
Now, once our characters have certain characteristics, it means we can throw obstacles in their path and force them to change, to grow. But also, depending on who they’re with, they will act one way with one group of people and entirely differently with another. Yet, we have to keep them true to themselves in the story.
Another way that helps me to keep them fresh is to come up with a new area for the wolves to explore. Like in Maine (Legend of the White Wolf), or the Highlands (Heart of the Highland Hero) or the Grand Cayman Islands (Highland Wolf in Paradise). But also, by introducing Arctic wolves and werewolf hunters into the mix (Legend of the White Wolf). Or even a psychic (Wolf Fever, Destiny of the Wolf) or a ghost (Heart of the Highland Wolf) or an omega wolf (Seduced by the Wolf). By adding something different like that, it helps to make each story unique in another way.
Visiting Scotland and a wolf compound help me with visualizing the areas or animals better that I describe in my stories. I witnessed a bit of “fairy magic” while I was in Scotland and can’t wait to use it in a story! While watching the way a beta wolf was so beta at the wolf compound, it helps me to write about how one would act in real life. But of course, she was a captive wolf, so not exactly like a wild wolf, and my wolves are really werewolves, so not all wolf either.
~*~*~*~
WOLF FEVER
She may be his destiny, but she's not his first choice…
Hospital nurse and newly turned red werewolf Carol Woods is being pressured by her pack leader to find a mate, but he's the only guy in the pack who remotely attracts her… Why is he playing so hard to get?
The fate of the pack rests on his shoulders…
Gray pack leader Ryan McKinley doesn't want anything to do with Carol unless she's willing to embrace her wolf nature—no matter how beautiful she is.
But when a virus infects the local lupus garou pack, Ryan realizes just how wrong he's been not to seize the moment with the woman he's come to love. And now, it may be too late…Excerpt (publishers site, scroll to the box, click excerpt tab)
With almost 56,000 copies sold, Terry Spear is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. She received her MBA from Monmouth University. An eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal as well as writing historical and true-life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas.
For more information, please visit http://www.terryspear.com/
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