Final Stop on the WordCrafter “The Rock Star & The Outlaw” Book Blog Tour

It’s the final day of the WordCrafter The Rock Star & The Outlaw Book Blog Tour, and we’re finishing off with an introduction to the villan in my story, Juan Montoya. Over the coarse of the week, we met the two protagonists, Amaryllis Sanchez and LeRoy McAllister, and three of the supporting characters, the time-traveler from 2025, Nick; the shaman woman from 2025, Monique; and the saloon keeper from 1887, Maggie. Don’t worry if you missed a stop or two along the way. I’m posting the Tour Schedule with links for each stop at the end of the post. And don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the Giveaway at each one.

The Giveaway

Leave a comment below to enter the giveaway

for a chance at one of five digital copies of

The Rock Star & The Outlaw.

Writing the Villian

Writing the villian is difficult for me, because I strive so hard to create characters that are likeable, that creating a character I want people to hate seems to go against my natural grain. I think it’s hard for me to write from my shadow side and unveil the things that are hidden away there, because I was taught that those were things we didn’t talk about. But a villian has to be dark, and mean, and well… bad. Readers aren’t supposed to like the villian. I have trouble writing characters that I don’t like, and even now, I can’t say I truly succeeded with Juan. I still want to like him, just a little.

You really can’t have a character that is all bad. No one is pure evil, any more than anyone is pure goodness.People are naturally double sided, so just as a protagonist must have flaws to make them a well rounded character, every villian must have at least one or two likeable traits to balance things out. In Juan, I think I was successful in this respect. Sure, he’s a pompous ass who expects to get his way in all things, but he is angered by the mistreatment of Amaryllis by his men, so he can’t be all bad. Right?

The character of Juan Montoya

Juan Montoya started out the story as Wade Slade, a proud southern man with a hot southern temper. He sported long, wavey hair, and a handlebar mustache and goatee, which he kept waxed to sharp points. He had the peculiar habit of twisting the tips of the mustache, especially when he was angered. However, when doing my first run of editing, which I do aloud, there was something about the character that just didn’t feel right. I thought perhaps rhyming the first and last names might be the problem, so I changed his first name to Buck. It was easy to do un MS Word, with the find and replace feature. But, as I continued to read through it Buck Slade was missing the mark, as well. Buck didn’t sound like a southern name, for one thing. And the character didn’t seem very threatening for another. Something had to be done.

The story needed a bad dude, a mean bandito to lead a gang of outlaws on robbing and pillaging. A bandit up from the border in Nevada country in 1887 seemed like a good possibility. It needed to be someone you didn’t want to cross, and so Buck Slade became Juan Montoya. I went back in with ‘Find and Replace’ and replaced all the Bucks and all the Slades to Juans and Montoyas. You can imagine my surprise, when doing the next pass of edits, as I tried to figure out what a Juanle and a Juanet were. When I hit ‘Replace All’, I didn’t think about the possibility of having used words that had Buck in them like bucket and buckle. Gotta watch that.

Of course, changing a character is more than just changing a name. Juan lost the southern charm of Wade and Buck, and his features are much darker. He kept the hair, the mustache, and the goatee, as well as the annoying habit of twisting the mustache. In fact, I made the hair his best feature, although it gives him an effiminate look, but he’s so bad no one would dare to say that to his face. I changed some scenes to illustrate his temper better, and sacrificed a minor character to do so. The result is the Juan Montoya who appears in the final story.

About the Book

A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.

LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.

In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.

LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.

They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.

About the Author

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

That wraps up the WordCrafter The Rock Star & The Outlaw Book Blog TourThanks to all of you for joining me. I hope you enjoyed my posts, and maybe even learned something from them. I am pleased to have all of you here to help launch this book right. This story came from my heart and I a truly excited about it. Be sure and leave a comment at each stop for additional entries in the giveaway. Links are below if you miss one.

Tour Schedule

The Rock Star & The Outlaw, by Kaye Lynne Booth – September 18 – 22

Monday – Sept. 18 – Opening Day – “Amaryllis & The Pretty Reckless” – Writing to be Read

Tuesday – Sept. 19 –“Writing with music and LeRoy McAllister & Review” – Carla Loves to Read

Wednesday – Sept. 20 – “The characters of Nick and Monique” – Writing to be Read

Thursday – Sept.21 – “Prostitution in the American West and the character of Maggie” – Roberta Writes

Friday – Sept. 22 – Closing Post – “Writing the Villian & Juan Montoya” – Writing to be Read

That wraps up today’s stop and the tour. I want to thank you all for coming along on the ride, and I hope you’ll give the ride with Amaryllis and Leroy a go. It’s been a fun ride, from putting all the pieces together in my mind as the idea began to shape itself into a story in my mind, to writing each individual chapter and partnering it with a song, to running a successful Kickstarter to give the book a boost, to the publishing process and seeing the book listed through distributors, to sharing my characters with all of you on this tour. I know you will have a fun ride if you chose to read it, too.

If you missed a stop, you’ll find the links in the Tour Schedule above. Leave a comment at each stop for additional chances in the giveaway. I won’t get out the random drawing hat until tomorrow night, so there’s still time. I’m giving away five digital copies of The Rock Star & The Outlaw, and I will announce the winners in Monday’s “WordCrafter News”, here on Writing to be Read. Thanks for joining us.

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