Guest Blogger & Giveaway - Dakota Cassidy

Hello, all! First, I’d like to introduce myself to those who have no clue who I am. And before I do, many thanks to Pam for inviting me to come and blog. She clearly deserves a medal for bravest blogger ever 

Anyhoodles, I’m Dakota Cassidy, and I write a humorous series involving women who are accidentally bitten and or turned by all the shapeshifters in the rainbow—vampires, werewolves, demons and anything that has a paranormal bent. But my tales aren’t just about turning into a demon or a werewolf. My books are about friendship and bonds in good or bad that’s eternal. Throw in some delish dude, a little woo to the hoo, and that’s what you’ll find between the pages of my books.

So the series goes like this—The Accidental Werewolf--Accidentally Dead--The Accidental Human--Accidentally Demonic (my recent release) and in May 2011 Accidentally Catty. Quite frankly, I’ll pretty much write anything you can tack on in a title after the word “accidental.” I’m almost certain I have an accidental dry cleaner in my future. Tee hee!

I was asked to write about the relationships between myself and my characters and how it affects my writing. Truth be told—I’m soooo not for everyone. My books are snarky, filled with slang and pop-culture references, evil comparisons to celebrity socialites, and one of my characters has the biggest potty mouth ever. In general, my heroines are similar (not the same, I swear) to the women who are some of my best friends. They talk the way we do, they’re there for each other the way we are, and above all, they totally get one another—just like we do.

Difference being, we’re not shapeshifters. Though, I’m not ruling something like that out…

Hence, I get these women I’ve created. They’re as easy to write for me as breathing. Though, I will admit, the relationship I share with my characters can sometimes be rocky. We have our sluggish moments—you know, those “middle of the book what the heck am I gonna do now?” moments. We have our celebratory moments, the happily ever after kind. We have our lowest of low moments, too. The kind that requires putting our heads together and resolving the conflict without having to pack our bags to prepare for the apocalypse.

And to some degree, my characters have traits that are similar to my own. I tend to pick and choose what works best at any given moment—I know. Go figure.

For instance, Marty in book one is a werewolf, and she loves clothes, shoes and makeup. Soooo me. I love pretty clothes, MAC makeup, and shoes, shoes, shoes!

Nina, a vampire in book two, says whateverthehell she’s thinking and it’s typically littered with words that require a strong constitution when reading. She’s sometimes opinionated to the point of rude, but she always tells it like it is. I’m much like Nina internally. I don’t say whatever I want to, but boy, do I think it, and I try to temper my opinions with lurve. Try. Hard… 

Wanda, whom I can’t tell you about because it’d be a big spoiler, in book three, is very diplomatic and took a couple of books to pick up her spine in a two-fer deal in Wal-Mart. It took me twenty or so years to find mine. Spines are hidden in the feminine protection aisle at Wal-Mart, in case you were wondering. Right behind the Massengil. 

And then, last, but certainly not least is Casey the demon in book four. She’s Wanda’s sister, and she’s very reserved, rather bookish and totally even-tempered. That is until a life-altering event changes her. I wasn’t necessarily quiet (hush, I know what you’re thinking. LOL), but I was never very good at saying what needed to be said or standing up for myself until I had my own life altering event. All of a sudden, I was all mouth, and had I the ability, I’m fairly sure fireballs would have slipped from my fingertips when I was tweaked, too.

Now on any given day, if my characters are stuck—this is where the affecting me part comes in. If I’m stuck on where to go next in a book, not only are they depressed because they need resolution, I get depressed due to lack of word count and finding a solution. Which means French fries and some cheesy Lifetime movie is in their futures. Nina most especially hates that. 

If things are going well, and my characters are developing the way I want them to, they’re happy and so am I because the words are hitting the computer screen like fastballs and all is well in Romancelandia.

To say I’m closely intertwined with these crazy broads is an understatement; yet, I don’t live and breathe them either. I know that probably sounds very non-writerly, but it’s the truth. I seriously don’t spend a lot of time wondering what they’re doing when I’m away from them, and I definitely don’t hear them in my head. I’m just shy of nuts, but not that nuts--not yet.

I definitely think up dialogue, but it’s my voice I hear. Lord knows, I couldn’t possibly have Casey and Nina all up in my brain fighting for very long before I checked off certifiable on my life list of things to achieve. I don’t set a place for them at my dinner table, and I don’t take them into consideration when I plan my vacations.

Which brings me to this—the affect my characters have on me is the affect I let them have on me. I view them as my pawns in this crazy game of accidental paranormalness that I’ve created, my minions to do my bidding, so to speak. Sometimes they surprise me. Sometimes they take a turn I can’t even believe I thunk up in my office at three in the morning. Sometimes they just plain remind me I am a little crazy.

In all of this, I try to remember, this is my full time job. I work hard at it, sometimes upwards to fourteen hours a day. I love my job. I love sitting in my office when everyone else is asleep and making outrageous, ridiculous situations up.

Love.

But I can tell you this, no way is one of my heroine’s ever going to affect me so much that I miss a deadline and paycheck. That much you can be sure of.

Especially not that mouthy, overly opinionated Nina. :)


~Dakota Cassidy 



********************GIVEAWAY*****************************

Leave a comment and we will randomly select a poster. Dakota is giving away the book of your choice from AMAZON

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