Fresh Fiction Blog | Doranna Durgin | On Being the Evil Overlord

That's me. Evil Overlord of my characters.

It's kind of just like that.

Evil Overlord: Plans to interfere with his targets' lives.

Me: Plan to interfere with my characters' lives.

Evil Overlord: Is constantly thinking, "What can I do to cause trouble for these people?"

Me: "What can I do next to cause trouble for these characters?

Evil Overlord: "In fact, what can I do to tear them to shreds? "

Me: In fact, what can I do to make things as difficult as possible?

Evil Overlord: "HOW SHALL I KILL THEM?"

Me: HOW SHALL I--

No, no no. Wait a minute. Here's where we part ways.

For me, it's How will they get out of it?

What new depths of themselves will they plumb to climb out of this personal disaster I've created, possibly while also saving the world?

(Possibly.)

Because the thing is, as the author, I don't usually have any idea how they're going to get out of what I put them into. I'm so focused on getting them to the point of ultimate internal and external disaster (because, you know, that's just the way I am) that when I reach it, I often go…

Me: Uh, durrrr… NOW what are they gonna do?

The fun thing is how well it often works out. If you read STORM OF RECKONING, you'll reach a point shortly before the end where…well, where things happen. Go on, read it. You'll know where I mean. Well, confession: I didn't know that was coming until about two pages before I reached it. It was all, "Ahhhh! What's Garrie gonna do?! How's Trevarr going to get out of this one?!" Complete with melodramatic punctuation.

And yet oddly, looking back on it…I don't know how that scene could have turned out any other way. Or that I would have wanted it to.

(The very end? Well, I knew THAT was coming.)

It's not all just a random power trip, by the way. It's not doing unto for the sake of doing unto--

Evil Overlord: What are you talking about? Of course it is! And what a power trip it is! Mwah ha ha!

*stuffs Evil Overlord into a gunnysack*

It's NOT. By pushing my characters to the limit, I'm exploring who they really are…and in a way, I'm showing myself what can be done. Paving the way for that mindset, so when I reach my own roadblocks in life (an overly-profound phrase if I ever heard one), I don't buckle or fold. I don't exactly think, "What would Garrie/Trevarr do?"--that would maybe be kinda creepy. But I do fall back into the awareness that how I deal with difficulties--what I envision for myself--has a huge impact on the resolution of those difficulties.

Muffled Evil Overlord: You are full of crap! It's all about the POWER!

Yeah, yeah. Move over. My people have a world to save. Just don't ask me how.

Comment to win a copy of STORM OF RECKONING, published by Tor Paranormal.

STORM OF RECKONING by Doranna Durgin is now available from Tor Paranormal

Lisa "Garrie" McGarrity is young woman once mentored by a ghost who now leads a ghostbuster team--all of whom are recently entangled with Trevarr, a fiercely driven demon-hunter from a different dimension. After tumultuous adventures in San Jose, the team finds themselves much changed and struggling to adjust, while Trevarr returns to this world--and to Garrie--a battered exile.

But Garrie and her team don't head for home; Quinn Rossiter has a lady friend in Sedona who needs their help. There, in that area of power convergence, Garrie is astonished to find the ethereal breezes quiet, the earth's activity so diminished as to be nonexistent...if you don't count those oddball surges that don't taste like our world at all. Soon enough, Quinn's skeptical friend soon goes missing...soon enough, their efforts to contain the situation go amazingly awry.

With Trevarr wary and alert, his opinionated not-cat bond partner dropping dire hints of trouble on their trail, Sedona ghosts rising to act out against Garrie wherever she goes, and one living Keharian ethereal breeze detector gone completely amuck and on the loose, she has only just so much time to figure out what's going on before the power plays are too much even for this one-of-a-kind reckoner and her otherworldly partner.

A little about Doranna:

Doranna responded to all early injunctions to "put down that book/notebook and go outside to play" by climbing trees to read & write. Such quirkiness of spirit has led to an eclectic publishing journey, spanning genres over 30 novels to include mystery, SF/F, action-romance, paranormal, franchise, and a slew of essays and short stories.

But after all that, mostly she still prefers to hang around outside her New Mexico mountain home with the animals, riding dressage on her Lipizzan and training for performance sports with the dogs. She doesn't believe so much in mastering the beast within, but in channeling its power. For good or bad has yet to be decided...

For more about Doranna's books, you can catch up with her at her webstead, FaceBook, Twitter, or her blog. There are also free bookmarks to be had!

Comment to win a copy of STORM OF RECKONING from Tor Paranormal.

Comments

This book sounds interesting and I would enjoy trying it.
(June Manning 12:34pm February 19, 2011)

Love the Evil Overlord commentary. Sometimes I imagine conversations between the author and a certain character at key plot points in the book.
(Pam Howell 8:05am February 19, 2011)

Love your interaction with the Evil Overlord and the fact that you won!
(Joanne Reynolds 8:16am February 19, 2011)

So a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat??? Love it...I love a book that I can't put down...
(Dawn Staniszeski 9:48am February 19, 2011)

Hhhmmm!!! i have conversations whith characters in a book also! LOL! This sounds like a great read! Thanks.
(JoAnn White 10:31am February 19, 2011)

What a fun column. And your book sounds great, Ms. Evil Overlord!
(G S Moch 10:35am February 19, 2011)

Wow! I would love to read this book. E. Engelhardt
(Esther Engelhardt 11:16am February 19, 2011)

Thank you so much for sharing with us... I am looking forward to reading your book.
(Kelly Mueller 12:00pm February 19, 2011)

I love blogs like this one... they are so much fun to read!
(Colleen Conklin 12:35pm February 19, 2011)

love the books, love the characters, love the romance and the whole warrior and magic thing
(Anthonia Sharp 12:41pm February 19, 2011)

LOL! What a fun conversation! The book sounds great!
(Stacie Deramo 1:01pm February 19, 2011)

I love the comparison with the evil overlord. I never thought about how difficult it is to plot the problem compared to the solution.
(Carol Drummond 1:02pm February 19, 2011)

With all that goes into putting a story together, I guess that's one of the reasons I love reading them.
(Leni Kaye 1:51pm February 19, 2011)

Oh Doranna, you pulled this old gal into a new world of reading. I'm a suspense/mystery buff, but this genre of ghosts and demons offers all that and more. Love the southwest theme as the legends and lore are abundant.
(Rosemary Simm 1:53pm February 19, 2011)

I don't get the un-hairy chest craze these days. It is so unnatural!
(Kathy Ellenberger 2:09pm February 19, 2011)

Your blogs a hoot of fun or should I say, it makes you "paws" and think what would this animal do from his point of view. Your book sounds fun with all that thinking out loud and cutting to the crap amongst sinister simmering evil.
(Alyson Widen 2:51pm February 19, 2011)

The book sounds like it will make for an interesting read.
(Annetta Stolpmann 3:22pm February 19, 2011)

Evil Overlords can't kill *everyone* or there won't be anyone to lord over, evil or otherwise.

Do you have any episodes of cackling, bwahahahaha, aloud?

Love Paul Marron on the cover!
(S Tieh 3:32pm February 19, 2011)

If your books are half as fun as your blog posts, I'm in! :)
(Deborah Anderson 4:23pm February 19, 2011)

Sounds like an exciting book. Looking forward to reading it.
(Pam Hager 4:24pm February 19, 2011)

I am lookoing forward to this book! Cant wait to read it!
(Sue Nodes 4:30pm February 19, 2011)

No wonder you write so well, New Mexico mountains!
Blessings,
Marjorie
(Marjorie Carmony 4:41pm February 19, 2011)

This book looks like a good read. Thanks.
(Christine Arcidiacono 5:21pm February 19, 2011)

I always appreciate knowing the thought behind the writing. I often have wondered how you know when & how to move the 'chess pieces' around to a very satisfying conclusion.
(Mary Preston 5:22pm February 19, 2011)

I think that your characters got together and decided that the best thing for the plot would be for you to become the evil overlord. They then transmitted this to you via an upload when you rested your fingers on the keyboard. Got to watch those characters otherwise they will be telling you what to do in your stories.
(Heather Pearson 5:50pm February 19, 2011)

It sounds great! Look forward to reading it.
(Melissa Limoges 6:04pm February 19, 2011)

the book and cover are great count me in please i love to read to mu ch
(Desiree Reilly 6:29pm February 19, 2011)

Doranna, your blog was a lot of fun to read. Evil overlord... Bwahahahahahahaha! I also find myself talking to characters in books I read. It takes them a while to come over to my way of thinking, but they usually do. Lol!

If Storm of Reckoning is as good as your blog, I definitely want to read it.
(Cathy Phillips 6:39pm February 19, 2011)

The Book sounds interesting. Thanks for giving me a chance to win it.
(Linda Hall 7:03pm February 19, 2011)

Doranna, Wow! Enjoyed reading your blog.. So much energy and honesty. I look forward to reading Storm of Reckoning. It sounds like a great book.
(Christine Stack 7:07pm February 19, 2011)

Are we allowed to lick the cover of the book? Only kidding! THe story sounds great. I love books with a little fantasy in the fiction.
(Caroline Kolb 7:13pm February 19, 2011)

I can easily imagine you having conversations with various characters you write. It seems like a natural progression or maybe I am totally clueless and a little crazy! But that aside, I really enjoyed reading your blog and the book is on my "to buy" list if I don't win it here. I love paranormal fiction. Thank you for making it so very much fun to read!
(Angela Bartlett 7:36pm February 19, 2011)

I love your sense of humor - I always love a bit of humor in books, especially at the critical moment.
(Diane Sallans 7:53pm February 19, 2011)

This is quite the blog. Can't wait to read the book.
(Linda Skillen 8:24pm February 19, 2011)

Already on my TBR list. I have become a big fan!
(Katherine Ingram 9:14pm February 19, 2011)

LOL @ your climbing a tree to read a book. Sounds much like me when I was younger. My mother wanted me doing my chores. I learned early to be very fast and efficient and always carried a book with me to read whenever/wherever I could.
Good luck and happy writings!
(Tracie Travis 9:27pm February 19, 2011)

Sounds like a great read! Good interview.
(Brenda Rupp 9:50pm February 19, 2011)

It's the photo of the horse, a Lippizan no less, that has sold me. I love the sense of humor expressed in the blog. I look forward to reading this book.
(Debra Mowatt 9:57pm February 19, 2011)

You seem to have a totally different slant on the way you write books. I've never heard of an author that creates problems for their characters, then tries to figure out how to get them out of their problem to finish their book. I must confess I haven't heard about your books, but will definately give them a try. Thank you for a most enjoyable blog, and congratulations on your new book!!
(Peggy Roberson 9:58pm February 19, 2011)

There aren't many opportunities in life to control things. Being the evil overlord of your characters is probably the one time you can make things turn out just the way you want them. But those fictional beings are tricky. Turns out, they have their own destinies just waiting to emerge!
(Christine Zibas 10:53pm February 19, 2011)

Imagine how your book would turn out if you let the Evil Overlord write it. Scary thought.
(Ginger Hinson 11:07pm February 19, 2011)

Loved the first book so I want to know what happens next since the Evil Overloard did not write the sequel.
(Lindsey Ekland 3:07am February 20, 2011)

You are such a creative person! This post says that and more. Love your books
but I envy you your animals. How can you divide your time between the two? I
realize one enable you to have the other. I guess that I do something similar in
that I am an outdoor person but am constantly reading. Not as creative but a
pleasure just the same.
(Sandra Spilecki 11:52am February 20, 2011)

So glad you aren't a true Overlord - I would hate for your
characters to be killed off. I love your books and love reading your blog about Dart, Belle and Risa as well as all
the others too :D
(Ilona Fenton 1:28pm February 20, 2011)

Doranna--What is the title of the first book connected to STORM OF RECKONING? Your book sounds great, and thanks for the chance to win a new book. The conversation with the EVIL OVERLORD was great.
(Ann Garland 1:41pm February 20, 2011)

Thank goodness you didn't "put down that book/notebook and go
outside to play". If you were like me you simply snuck your
book to the woods or barn and then read to your hearts content.
(Lisa Richards 4:17pm February 20, 2011)

This book sounds really interesting. I like the humor in that you have your main persons talking with evil. I think we all do this at times weather it is with book charecter or just a thought in our mind. Would love to read this book
(Diane Castiglione 4:39pm February 20, 2011)

I guess every writer has to be the overlord or "overlady???" of her books. But I don't really like the "evil" ones. So I'd love to find out how your protagonists manage to get themselves out of the pickles you put them in. Have you sent out your newsletter for this book yet?
(Sigrun Schulz 6:32pm February 20, 2011)

I think it is funny that the evil overlord pushes the characters to their limits- hey, someone has to do it. Otherwise, they might sit on the sofa eating bonbons and watching tv all day.
[email protected]
(Debbie Penny 8:20am February 21, 2011)

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