L.M. Brown’s stopped by today to share a little insight into the characters of L.M. Brown’s latest release, Between Heaven & Hell.  Don’t forget to check out the blurb as well.

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Who’s in charge here?

by L. M. Brown

Does anyone else have a problem with characters who seem to have a mind of their own? I’m not talking about characters who are forthright, opinionated or dominating, though there are plenty of those flying around too.

What I’m talking about today is those characters who have no regard for my carefully outlined plots whatsoever. Characters like my merman, Kyle, who refused to pine away for the lover who betrayed him, and simply took a little time before moving on with his life.

Or, characters like those in my most recent release, who decided that no matter what I had planned for them, they were going to go their own way and I was going to just hang on for the ride.

The Heavenly Sins trilogy, as well as starting out as a short story – which is a whole other issue I have where the words won’t stop coming – was meant to be the story of a mortal man who finds himself torn between an angel and a demon, two powerful supernatural beings who are both determined to make him theirs.

Instead what I ended up with is a three part trilogy and an all male ménage.

So, who do I blame for that?

Well, first of all, let’s take a look at Tristan. The mortal third of the threesome is not someone who generally invites more than one man into his bed at a time. Yet he finds he has a bit of a greedy streak when a certain angel by the name of Mac suggests both he and Alastor, a demon, begin a relationship with him.

But perhaps he Tristan isn’t the one to blame, after all Mac is the one who suggested the idea in the first place. Angels spread love, but Mac takes it to a whole new level.

Then there’s Alastor, a demon with the power to manipulate the mind. If ever a character had power over an author, I think it would be this one. As soon as he stepped onto the page I had a feeling I was going to lose control of the story.

The spark between Mac and Alastor was there right from the start. With so much attraction simmering away for centuries, it was only a matter of time before they stopped fighting over Tristan and instead concentrated their efforts on fighting their growing feelings for each other. You can probably tell from the fact this is a ménage that they didn’t fight too hard.

My control over the story was lost the moment Mac and Alastor met. I just didn’t know it at the time.

Each scene I wrote took me a little farther away from the outline I had carefully crafted. Every glance between Alastor and Mac, every word spoken, and every touch sent them down their new path.

In a remarkably short space of time Mac and Alastor were breaking all the rules as they and Tristan cemented their relationship and became a fully functioning ménage.

No matter how much you try to plan, no matter how many notes you make, or outlines you labour over, as soon as you give a character voice you are in their hands.

I have learnt to give my characters free rein to do what they please. Forcing a character down a path they don’t want is much like herding cats, a rather pointless exercise.

I generally find working this way means I have a better (and in the case of the Heavenly Sins trilogy – a far hotter) story at the end compared to what I envisaged at the beginning of the journey. I hope you will agree.

Blurb for Between Heaven and Hell, book one in the Heavenly Sins trilogy:

When an angel and a demon fall for the same mortal man there is only one solution…share him.

Halloween night at the Inferno club always draws a crowd. When Tristan spots a stunningly gorgeous man dressed as a demon across the dance floor he sets out to draw his attention, little realising he has already gained the notice of another. The demon disappears into the throng of revellers, but with the heavenly handsome Machidiel in his arms, Tristan doesn’t mind.

Even though Mac warns him they can never have more than a one-night stand, Tristan longs to see the man who gave him the best sexual experience of his life again.

One year later, Tristan opens his door to find Alastor, the demon from the Inferno, who claims they have a date tonight.
Alastor may be the one man who can make Tristan forget Mac. Little does he realise Mac isn’t as far from his reach as he believes. When Mac reappears he has a proposition for Tristan and Alastor, one that means breaking rules and potentially getting him stripped of his wings.

A ménage formed between an angel, a demon, and a human means the sex is hotter than hell itself, but only time will tell if the relationship they have forged together is made in Heaven or Hell.

Like the sound of Between Heaven and Hell? Buy it here at Totally Bound!

Categories: m/m/m menage, supernatural, totally hot, totally bound.

 

About LM Brown:

I live in England, in a quaint little village that time doesn’t seem to have touched. No, wait a minute—that’s the retirement biography. Right now I am in England in a medium sized town that no one has ever heard of, so I won’t bore you with the details.

Keeping me company are numerous sexy men. I just wish that they weren’t all inside my head.

I love hearing from readers so don’t be shy.