Recasting a Hero by guest blogger Jennifer Colgan

I have to admit, Devil’s Due was the book that almost didn’t get written.

The idea for a story about a hero who buys souls for the Devil came to me a while back and floated around in my idea file for a long time before I sat down to start working on it. The concept started with one scene – the hero refusing to buy the heroine’s soul. I saw him clearly, dark-haired with piercing brown eyes that could set a woman’s soul on fire with just one look. The heroine would find him irresistible, and as much as she feared what he was, she’d fall in love with him.

But something just didn’t gel with the early drafts of the story. The rest of the characters fell into place and played their parts just as I’d envisioned, but Alex Quinn never seemed like he fit. The scenes I wrote with him and Ceara didn’t click.

I put the book aside for a long time, and it languished in my own personal slush pile until one day it hit me. I needed to go back to the ‘casting couch’ so to speak and find someone else to play Alex.

I’d made him too stereotypical. The tall, dark and handsome hero, my personal favorite combination, wasn’t exactly right for the part. Alex needed to break the mould. When I recast him as the guy with the boy-next-door good looks, the one nobody would ever suspect as dwelling just on the wrong side of the fine line separating good and evil, the story turned around.

The scenes with Alex and Ceara sizzled now and the rest of the story fell into place over the course of a few weeks of intensive writing.

It’s not easy to fire a hero. They look so forlorn slouching out of my office. I always promise to find a place for them in another book, but you know what they say. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Who would you sell your soul to save?

For Ceara Landon, the answer to that question is easy. She would do anything for her younger brother Kevin, even if saving his life means shattering his dreams.

On first glance it seems the skyrocketing success of Kevin’s band, Pillars of Stone, is a dream come true, but Ceara sees the truth. His increasing drug use will destroy him and ruin any chance he has for lasting happiness.

Ceara traces the source of Kevin’s dubious rise to fame back to night club owner Alexander Quinn. The gorgeous entrepreneur hides a terrible secret. He buys souls for the Devil, and he purchased Kevin’s in exchange for fame and fortune. In desperation, Ceara offers her own soul in exchange for Kevin’s, and for the first time in his lonely existence, Alex risks everything to refuse. He agrees to help Kevin sober up and guide his band to true success, but the price for Ceara is high. She’ll have to bargain with her heart to save her brother along with the man who wants to possess her body as well as her soul.

DEVIL’s DUE is available at Ellora’s Cave

Jennifer

www.jennifercolgan.com

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