By Courtney Pierce
I require all of my male
characters to be vetted by the real deal—a manly man. My husband is a prolific reader, a writer, a
mountain man, a hunter, a lover, a protector, and happens to have a huge heart (not necessarily in that order). He's the man for the job. He calls B.S. on my prose, becauseI tend to feminize emotions. And that's not how real men think. I can't pretend to know what goes on in an alpha-man brain, so I take the suggested changes with open arms. After six books, criticism makes my work better.
The story magic of a compelling relationship isn’t made up out of thin air. We authors infuse a a goodly amount of emotional truth into the prose, both about ourselves and the partners we’ve had in our lives. How else could we pull off the creation of a relationship that’s believable? If it's real within the author, then it's real to the reader.
My husband is protective of his family to the point of hanging a 12-guage shot gun at the front door. He's ready for the "what if," and he'd fight to the death should there be a serious threat. Otherwise, he's a pretty mellow guy. I don't completely understand it, but I certainly feel protected and loved as a result.
In my next book, BIG SKY TALK, Aubrey Cenderon brings three layers of baggage to her introduction to Sheriff Russell Knowles: the death of her father, several years of being a single woman, and leaving behind a career to transition into retirement. Little does Aubrey know that her baggage will drive the direction of her future—with a little supernatural help.
The sheriff ignites the spark through his protectiveness of Aubrey. He
wants her safe from an injured grizzly bear in the neighborhood. The conflict and connection begin with a threat.
Russell Knowles sets off Aubrey’s healing process the minute he meets her. But he has a case to solve and Aubrey has the key. Something isn’t right here—or maybe it’s something quite right and new. His focus in his official capacity wavers in Aubrey’s presence. There’s something about her that awakens his six sense for the unexplained. The threat is of another world. Russell knows it, and so does Aubrey.
No two people of Boomer age create an intimate connection without a history. Past experiences drive reactions and future actions. It’s inevitable. Characters fight and conquer old demons in order to start fresh. They each learn something new about themselves and grow in the process.
When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting her too . . . for a different reason.
