Off The Moon: Home – A Special Fit

A big Hello to Lindsay and all the Romantics. Is it me or does that sound like a music group?

I’m glad my blog tour, hosted by CRR Promotions, stopped here at the Pink Blog. Since I try to adapt my subjects to each blog as possible, I searched my mind for a “special” theme related to my new book, Off The Moon, and came up with Home. Not just any home, but the right home, the home where our characters find a special fit.

How many of you have moved homes more than once? More than that? According to TimePage.org, my generation is that of the nomad. We’re risk-takers. We came from “an unprotected background” and have a tendency to be alienated. Trying to fit somewhere when you have the natural tendency to be a nomad can be difficult. Look at the way so many of us are constantly on the move. Few of our parents, other than those with travel jobs, strayed far from their home base and families. If they needed more space, they built on. Moving was rare once a household was established. And yet, it’s hard to find many of us who have lived in fewer than three homes during our lives so far. I’ve lived in ten different dwellings, but fortunately am now settled until I’m too old to maintain the place. Of course, things change and you never know.

I’m one who believes a home chooses us as much as the other way around. It’s much more than a place. It’s a feeling. Of all of those places I’ve been, only two have been truly comfortable. Most were okay for temporary purposes. Two were near soul-killing. It was the place. I didn’t fit. Something inside when I was young told me the state where I grew up was not where I belonged. The east called out. As I settled in a place I chose, a place that felt comfortable, I made an incredible discovery: things that bothered me in those other places hardly have an effect here. My whole inner nature feels more at peace.

So how do we relate that to our characters?

Ryan, my POV character, was an Army brat and talks now and then about having to move. He especially mentions one place he felt at home. It still calls out to him even though he’s grown up and has chosen New York City as his residence. He likes NY, not only because his job is centered there, but also because it reminds him of nomads (which he is, also). Residents go about their own business, not connecting to each other and not noticing that he doesn’t connect. He fits and he doesn’t, and it’s a comfortable place to be. He visits his brother’s family in Vermont now and then and enjoys the visit but remains detached from the place. It may be his family’s home, but it’s not his. He is never fully at ease there (for reasons beyond place but we’ll stick with place for this post) and relaxes upon return to his NYC loft.

And then he finds Kaitlyn, an unwilling transport to the city. She’s homeless and even more disconnected than Ryan. The difference is that she doesn’t deal with it as well as he does. She needs connection. She needs Home. Ryan senses it in her. It draws him in and pushes him away. As other people become involved in the decision of where she should be, against her will, Ryan has to choose to give in or to fight.

“You can’t tell someone where their home is. Trust me, I know. I lived in lots of houses. Lots of towns. It’s only home if it feels like it to you, not because someone says it’s supposed to be. This one was her choice.”

By the end of my stories, my characters not only find their special mate, but they also find their special place: their true home. I suppose I do so because it has been such a deep issue personally.

How about your special place? I would love to hear Home stories!

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PREORDER Off The Moon now!

http://www.elucidatepublishing.net/books.html

free US shipping through Nov. 27, discounted outside US

Off The Moon website:

http://www.lkhunsaker.com/OffTheMoon/main.html

Also, be sure to check my blog for novel-related features. I have an interview with NYC drummer Gino Scalmato up, as well as an interview with singer/songwriter Vicki Blankenship. More to come! http://lkhunsaker.blogspot.com

Off The Moon

LK Hunsaker

"Riveting" Ryan Reynauld is immersed in a world of music, parties, and temporary companionship. Having risen to the top of the pop charts, his biggest concern is objecting to the way his music is produced. That is, until he finds a young woman standing on a window ledge. Against the advice of family and friends, and through media attacks and fan protests, Ryan determines to care for her himself, making a promise that threatens to destroy his career.

Convincing the skittish girl she can learn to trust again comes with a steep price. Sometimes the path to recovery begins by allowing your world to implode.

Elucidate Publishing
November 2009
Print ISBN 978-0-9825299-0-4
Ebook ISBN 978-0-9825299-1-1

Thanks for letting me chat here today, Lindsay!

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Next up: Pushing Boundaries with Trauma and Genre
hosted by Maryann Miller, Nov. 21
http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/

The full tour itinerary is available at http://www.classicromancerevival.com

Don't forget to leave your comments!  One person from each blog will be drawn to receive a signed, mailed copy of the short story LK has written as a bit of a prequel to Off The Moon, called Toward The Sky, plus there will be a signed print book drawing for anyone who comments on at least 8 blogs! Winners will be posted at http://www.classicromancerevival.com/blog/?p=1520
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Generational Heroines

Grandma was among the first women in America to earn a Master’s degree. Teaching for many years before then, beginning in a one room school house, marrying and moving to a three story school house teaching fifth grade, then again to the next town where she made an incredible mark as first grade teacher, she also raised four children, studying at night after their needs were met. She graduated with her Master’s in Education the same year her oldest child graduated with his Bachelor’s degree.

A strong woman, yes. Not many dared cross her. Yet she had the gentle fun artsy silly side that made her such a wonderful teacher. There is now a memorial tree and marker planted in her honor at her final school, also my grade school.

She has a son and three daughters. I grew surrounded by all of them and their spouses and children. It was a delightful time of noise, wide discussions, gift exchanges, birthday cakes, and little ones running around everywhere. Family was penultimate in my childhood. It was also highly inspirational.

I’m a people watcher. I always have been. I think it could be because there was just so MUCH variety to watch in one house where we all gathered each birthday and holiday. Think of an artist’s colony except with all ages, and you’ll have a feel for it.

The women in my family were always particularly fascinating and each was a heroine in her own right. The styles were different but whatever the style, things seemed to revolve around them individually, more so than with the men. No offense meant to the men but I come from a very long history of strong independent women. Kudos to the heroes who could deal with them long-term. ;-) We have gutsy women who will say whatever they think and those who will hardly admit any feelings; in charge types and followers; women who love to be out and about and on the go and those more like hermits; some have reached what they went after, others are still trying for it or content with what they did accomplish; some went to school to study and some to socialize. Whichever type(s) they are, they have one common characteristic: they  are strong women. Their strength may not be obvious to the casual observer. Sometimes you have to look deep and try to see it the way they do. And they’re family, part of a chain, intertwined.


My heroines always come with family connections, and the way their families affect them comes out in their individual choices and outlooks. They are always strong, but their strength is often quiet and supportive more than feisty and independent. They tend to have highly independent female friends or relatives they admire, and they grow throughout the book, learning to assert their own independence with age and experience.

My heroines stem from reality. We all know that older women are much more likely to appear stronger and more together and less worried about appearances and the shallow things of life. We do grow. So far, all of my heroines begin as young women at that age of emergence, so to speak. Their stories begin at the point they’re truly beginning to come into their own and the reader always sees how they do, what encourages it.

I go a step farther with the concept of growth and family and intertwining in my Rehearsal series. Beginning when Susie is barely twenty, it extends over four books to after she has fully grown and found herself and become comfortable with her place in the chain. It covers more than ten years. Her family is involved throughout, as is her hero’s family and her best friend’s family. Even the minor characters have familial involvement enough to see where they came from and where they’re heading. The sequel to the series is firmly in my head and checks in on the next generation, connecting the effects of Susie’s generation on her daughter’s. Susie is not a highly independent, outgoing type.  Her daughter, however, is fully both. Their stories will mesh, and continue. While Susie’s mother’s story is only touched on in the series, it will likely become its own.

Whether or not the heroine is the strongest and most vivacious character, she is always the center of my stories, even if she has no POV scenes. We don’t need to direct the stage to be pivotal or the main draw, after all. Sometimes it’s simply what we are that steals the show, and what we are is always affected not only by our parents but by the generations of our families.

Do you have a truly inspirational woman in your family who could be a heroine? I’d love to hear about her!

LK Hunsaker
  

Family paves the way

The first love that many of us are fortunate to know is that of family – our parents, siblings, and the immediate extended family of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Though this surely is a different type of love than the passionate romance novel genre concentrates on, it is often the basis for what we expect in life. Often the relationships, good or bad, that we had with our parents, the relationship we see between our mom and dad, and the friendships we shared with our siblings will mold us giving us expectations or wariness in all of our future affairs.


As a writer I have always enjoyed creating characters that were products of personal history, such as Paige in Bartlett’s Rule whose life of abuse led her to make poor decisions and suffer more pain. Or like Julie in Final Sin who had a loving but sheltered and nearly suffocating childhood and chose to rebel and live a little on “the wild side”. In Courage of the Heart, Davie seemed to have an eternal optimism and easy rapport with everyone she met because of the huge and very strong family she grew up with.


The greatest gratification I got was exploring the dynamics of the Hughes’ family and everyone involved with them in both Forgotten and Within the Law. Although Forgotten began as one stand-alone book with no intentions of continuing the characters, I fell in love with my characters – especially Tom Hughes; I had to give Tom his own happily-ever-after in Within the Law. So while the two books are really separate love stories, they are also a continuing saga connected by cousins Caitlyn Smythe and Tom Hughes.


In Forgotten we have a young woman who grew up in a loving environment and even though she lost her parents to a tragic car accident when she was only twelve; she became a member of her aunt, uncle and cousin’s home. We also have Brandon who grew up with his material needs well met and was starved for the emotional bonds he so wanted. Caitlyn can’t understand Brandon’s lack of desire to reconnect with his father, and Brandon has no concept of family and doesn’t understand Caitlyn’s need for trust and complete acceptance. When Caitlyn’s cousin/brother Tom counsels Brandon, we learn of Tom’s own love tragedy.


In Within the Law, Tom has finally come to grips with the past and sees a chance for a new beginning. Alli is filled with self doubts and doesn’t believe that she is the type of woman that family-minded Tom needs in his life. Brandon and Caitlyn are there for Tom and Brandon shows his true nature, his loyalty and love of family. Malcolm and Keisha, friends from Forgotten, also return as nearly adopted members of the family.


In both books, readers meet the family that created Tom and Caitlyn. Sylvia Hughes is a loving mom who meddles (with love) and is proud of her children. She considers Caitlyn to be her own daughter and comes to adore Brandon as well. Walter Hughes, Tom’s dad, is patient and tolerant of his wife and even a bit bemused by her meddling. He is a staunch supporter of both Tom and Caitlyn and I think he is a perfect example of stability.


The Hughes family represents love in every possible form. They are accepting and understanding, they sometimes fight, but they are always there for each other. The core of this family had a lot to do with the happy endings for their offspring.