Guest Post:
Greetings and salutations! I want to say thanks to Julia for having me on the blog today. Thanks, Julia!
So today, Julia asked me to talk a little bit about character evolution since I’m four books into my Elemental Assassin series.
In the first book, readers were introduced to Gin Blanco, aka the Spider, an assassin who is as cold and deadly as the Ice and Stone magic that she wields. Since then, readers have seen Gin go through a lot – the murder of her mentor, the realization that her younger sister is still alive, getting dumped by the straight-arrow cop she was having a steamy affair with, letting a sexy new guy into her life, finally declaring war on her lifelong enemy.
I wouldn’t say that Gin has gotten weaker as the series has progressed (although she and other characters often joke that she’s getting soft in her old age). Instead, I’d argue that Gin has slowly changed – that she’s come to realize that it’s okay to lower her defenses around and care about the people that really matter to her. But that doesn’t mean that Gin won’t pull out her silverstone knives on a moment’s notice and do what needs to be done if someone is a threat to her or the people she loves. I’m still writing about an assassin, after all. LOL.
I think it’s important for characters to change and evolve over the course of a series. As a reader, I get tired of characters who never get any smarter and never seem to learn from their past mistakes. I don’t want to read the exact same story over and over again – I want there to be consequences, just like there are in real life. I like to see characters change, to become stronger in their magic and more confident about themselves.
I think watching characters grow up is one of the things that can help keep a series fresh and entertaining. Plus, it’s a form of payoff for sticking with a character and series – you get to see a character become the strong, confident heroine that she was always meant to be from the very beginning.
To me, there’s nothing better than seeing a character I love finally come into her own. Hopefully, that sort of emotional payoff is what I’m doing with Gin and the Elemental Assassin books. Fingers crossed anyway. ;-)
What about you guys? Do you like it when characters change and grow? Or would you prefer them to stay the same? What are some of the characters you’ve enjoyed reading or watching over the years?
About the Author:
About the Author:
Jennifer writes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.
Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, and Venom. Tangled Threads, the fourth book, was published on April 26, while Spider’s Revenge, the fifth book, will be released in October.
Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.
The first book, Touch of Frost, will be out in August, while the second book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves in December. First Frost, a prequel e-short story to the series, will be out in July. Visit www.jenniferestep.com for excerpts and more.
Jennifer’s books have been featured in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, and a variety of other publications. You can follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter and find out more about Jennifer on her Author Bio page.
Read my reviews of VENOM, Elemental Assassin #3.
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