Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Define Hawt… with Stacy Gail

So my buddy Stacy writes some of the hawtest characters I know, and I thought, here on the release of her latest novel, WOUNDED ANGEL, it would be fun to explore inside her brain a little to see what she likes, what inspires her and how exactly she goes about infusing hawtness…

Tart: So tell us about the first CELEBRITY you fell in love with and how he defined hawtness for you… or… was it foxiness back then?

Stacy: BACK THEN?!? What do you mean, BACK THEN??? *desperately covers gray hair* Though, yeah, I guess since Rob Lowe was the first dude to trip my girlish trigger (and he’s now looking like a mile of bad road), I think that’s a fair cop. ^_^ What about you, Your Tartness? Who was first to rev your motor, and does he fall into the hawtness era, or the foxiness era?


Tart: Erm... Shaun Cassidy. And no comments from the peanut gallery. But in my defense, he made a mighty fine Joe Hardy...

Say... were there early book heroes you fell for, too?

Stacy: Omigosh, I have SO MANY book-boyfriends! I think my first one ever was one of the main characters in the Trixie Belden series. Jim Frayne was a bad-boy-turned-good hero that made my grade-school heart melt. Strangely enough, though, the one that always stuck with me was Stu Redman, a hero in Stephen King’s “The Stand.” I know that Stephen King’s name doesn’t usually pop up when talking about book-boyfriends, but Stu was something else again. At least I didn’t say Tom Cullen. M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen ;)

Tart: Stu, huh? I wouldn't have pegged you for a Stu sort... or maybe that is me who he didn't quite work for. Probably because I had an actual Stu, or rather Stew, and I confounded the two... So have you analyzed a little? What are those special qualities that make your heart patter and your knees go weak?


Stacy: *snort* It’s funny how you expect me to analyze things. How long have you known me again??? But back to the question… The hottest thing in the world HAS to be the brain, since both Jim Frayne and Stu Redman used their wits when the heat was on. Sapiosexual – that’s me.

Mmmmmmmmmm, brainsssss. AMIRITE??? Sexiest organ the human body has. *nods*

Tart: Ah, yes... sexy brainy boys... I can go along with that... And how do you tap that when you’re writing characters?

Stacy: *struggles to keep straight face* Um… “tap that”, Your Tartness? Did you really just say… tap that??? 

Okay, okay, I’ll behave. :P

Before I officially start writing any book, I do character outlines, including names that almost always have a hidden meaning, to hair color (which has no meaning whatsoever *snort*), to multi-layered backstories. Example: the book that’s releasing this week, WOUNDED ANGEL, is the third in a four-book miniseries called The Earth Angels (published by Carina Press). Before I wrote one word of any of these books, I spent an entire night outlining the four sets of characters that would populate these books, as well as mapping out the story arc and what would happen in each book. If memory serves, I wrote over four-thousand words that night, but ultimately I had these wily, multi-faceted characters who have vital roles to play and mysteries to solve. At least in part, their collective intellect will help bring the world back from the brink of an apocalypse.

Annnnnd now you don’t have to read the series since I just let the cat out of the bag. *facepalm*


Tart: Okay, I walked into that...  At least it's a llama... Who’s your favorite character you’ve written and why?

Stacy: *moons The Tart* Which of your children is your favorite?

Tart: The one that loves me most, so there. But that changes regularly... So you're a visual person and I know you've kept a pinterest file of images for the last several books you've written. Would you mind sharing these images for your latest book and giving a little explainer as to how the images inspired you while you were writing?

Stacy: Sure!  When I put together a storyboard, I scour Teh Interwebz for the right look/feel of the characters. In WOUNDED ANGEL this was kind of tricky, since the heroine, Ella, had once been Gabriella Littlefield, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a naïve, "soft" look.  Ella had not only changed her looks after enduring a life-changing traumatic event, she also changed her name, location and even her attitude and aspects of her personality.  Eventually I stumbled upon some great Charlize Theron photos that best depicted this profound change. These photos proved to me anew that if given enough time and motivation, a person can change their appearance to the point where they're almost unrecognizable, and that helped me define Ella.






Tart:  Oh, nice--same woman, different look.


Stacy:  Now, if you want to talk about the photo depicting how Nate and Ella get to cooking in the kitchen... well, you know what they say--one picture is worth a thousand words. :D


 

Will that do?  Also, here's the link to my Wounded Angel Pinterest board:  



Tart:  *snort*

Wounded Angel Blurb: 

Book three of The Earth Angels
A descendant of the Angel of Vengeance, Nate da Luca was gifted with an uncanny ability to find things. It made his job as a detective a breeze—until he learned the hard way that some things should remain hidden. After that, his powers vanished, along with his belief in himself. Which is going to make tracking down Gabriella Littlefield for his latest client a challenge.

Personal trainer Ella Little paid a hefty price for her life—now all she wants is to live it in peace. Then a sexy hulk of a man turns up in her gym, reigniting desires she thought she'd left behind along with her real name and hair color.

Desires she can't deny even after she discovers Nate's no stranger to her dark past.
Before he can convince her the attraction is mutual, Nate's going to have to earn Ella's trust. But a demon is playing for keeps in the world of humans, using Ella as bait, and the last thing they have is time…
  
Stacy GailWebsite | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

12 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Oh, too funny. I liked Jim from the Trixie Belden series, too! :) And Shaun Cassidy as Joe Hardy, of course! I liked mysteries even as a kid, so I guess this was only natural. Great post, Stacy and Hart!

Sarah Ahiers said...

umm, Tween Sarah may have written a diary entry about Rob Lowe in The Stand. And she didn't even really keep a diary, so that's saying something

Alison DeLuca said...

Am I weird? I sorta have a little crush on Tom Cullen.

I like his decorating skills. :)


Awesome interview - so fun!

Arlee Bird said...

Sapiosexual? I can go with that one. I always like the smart girls with glasses who made the good grades. None of those ditzy girls for me---well, maybe sometimes. It's nice to have someone to discuss interesting things with.

Lee
Wrote By Rote

Stacy Gail said...

Elizabeth -- Hi, I haven't talked to you in forever! *waves from Texas* I'm so happy you remember Jim Frayne. :) Jim and Trixie's relationship was the fodder for my first forays into writing. I didn't like how those wonderful books ended without any kissy-kissy moments between them, so I'd rewrite them so that there was some kind of romance going on. Personally, I think I invented fanfic. :D :D

Sarah -- Oh. My. Goodness! How could I have forgotten Rob Lowe played Nick in the TV adaptation of The Stand? I probably blocked it out, since I cried for days when Nick was killed. You have excellent taste in fictional boyfriends, lady. *thumbs up*

Alison -- M-O-O-N, that spells mannequin! Heh, I adored Tom and his absolute purity. The only thing that ever wigged me out about Tom was when he was put under hypnosis, and an intelligent, otherworldly voice came from him--a voice that wasn't really Tom's. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it.

Thanks for dropping by, ladies! :)

Stacy Gail said...

Lee -- you snuck in, I didn't see you! :)

I think we're birds of a feather on this one. The outward appearance of a person is the first thing that attracts, but if it's a case of "the lights are on but nobody's home", interest quickly wanes. So yeah, I definitely fit the term "sapiosexual". :)

Thanks for commenting!

CA Heaven said...

Sapiosexuality, that's interesting. Then the ultimate turn on is Emmy Noether. In fact, I've admired her for 25 years >:)

Cold As Heaven

mshatch said...

Loved this interview - very fun ;)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Funny interview! That last picture gives me ideas...
Congratulations, Stacy.

Helena said...

A good, funny interview and some humor in the blurb too. I like the sound of this book so I'm adding it to my list.

Deniz Bevan said...

Great post! Love your cover, Stacey.
And ooh, Rob Lowe! It's so much fun when others have similar ideas of hotness :-)

Trisha said...

This was such a fun read. And yeah, I have heaps of book boyfriends as well, including at least a few from Dean Koontz books ;)