Guest Blogger: Author Amanda McIntyre

25 Blogs in 25 days...the TORTURED tour!"
TORTURED, erotic medieval, Harlequin Spice, August 2009, Amanda McIntyre


August 13, 2009, day eight of my blog tour:

"I'm not interested in psychotics. I'm interested in the person you don't expect to have a story. I like Everyman." ~John Hughes, director

This week marked the end of an era as far as I'm concerned with the passing of the brilliant director, John Hughes. Chances are, you 've seen at least one of his movies in your lifetime. (Pretty in Pink, Planes,Trains and Automobiles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, etc.)

He launched the careers of a number of the "brat pack" of actors-Anthony Michael Hall, John Cusack, Allie Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Mary Stuart Masterson, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and worked with the likes of Steve Martin, Matthew Broderick and John Candy to name a few. His films made us laugh at ourselves, see the humor, laughter, struggle and love in every day living. He was able to broach those painful, often awkward, subjects in life and make us realize that we weren't alone.

I've enjoyed his films, but it wasn't until this week that I read this quote and determined why I probably like his work so much. Not that am anywhere near the caliber of this man's talent, but I knew I liked him for some reason. Because it is very similar to my philosophy in my writing.

Now, I have written in many genres from contemporary to historical and about everything in between. I spearheaded and co-edited a non-fiction compilation called CRUMBS IN THE KEYBOARD-stories from writers on how they juggle life. The common denominator in nearly every story that I have written is that it is the ordinary person stepping up to the extraordinary circumstances in his/her life.

The "everyday" hero. Never was this brought home to me in such a real and poignant way as when we were on vacation this summer in Washington DC. Our hotel happened to be on the Virginia side of the Potomac. At one point in our attempt to find the entrance into Arlington National Cemetery, we wound up having to turn around in a parking lot on the backside. Across the road, surrounded by a tall chain link fence was a grove of small seedling trees-Japanese maple, I believe. I later discovered that this was where the plane on that fateful September morning went down at the Pentagon. The site, now a memorial, has this grove of trees, and each tree has an illuminated bench beside it, engraved with one of the persons killed that day-ages 3 to 71.

As we were taking the Arlington Tram tour later, chugging up one of the hills, we were directed to look at the top of a cluster of tall stately evergreens. Their tops had been sheared off, the guide said, by the plane that hit the Pentagon. They have left them as a reminder and memorial inside the hallowed grounds of the cemetery as a memorial to those passengers. It was a sobering moment. The "everyday" hero/heroine. And it further validated why I tend to gravitate toward this type of hero/heroine in my writing.

In my erotic historical romance, TORTURED, the setting is the Dark Ages. My heroine is a Celtic woman, daughter of a Druid Priestess, who is imprisoned and kept alive for the private purposes of a ruthless Saxon warlord. She is no alpha female, possesses no skills in swordplay, nor shifts into a panther at will. She is, for her day, the every day person placed in extraordinary circumstances. And she must choose to stay where she is or make the move to change her life, no matter the risk.

Mariah Carey made popular a few years back, a song called "Hero." If I could dedicate a song to my heroine, Sierra, this would be the song. I admire her tenacity and her will to survive her circumstances. And I hope that you will, too.

In celebration of the Everyday hero/heroine, I'd like to give away a copy of TORTURED today. There are many kinds of heroes/heroines, many character types that we fall in love with. What qualities do you find most appealing in the heroes/heroines in your books? I'll choose a winner at random from comments left here at RT Book Reviews.

August 14, next stop on the blog tour:
The Romance Studio - http://theromancestudio.blogspot.com

May the wind be at your back~

Amanda
www.amandamcintyre.net

(Note: Guest blog posts reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of RT Book Reviews.)