Who is the protagonist of The Grove?

 

I always think its fun to see if I can create a character that the reader loves to hate. They must be sympathetic. They must be interesting. They must also have a need that must be met in the course of the story. But that isn’t necessarily what makes them a protagonist.

So how do you define protagonist.

The most common definition–especially for the lay person–is that the protagonist is the central character of a story.  And professionals agree: According to Literarydevices.com “A protagonist is the central character or leading figure in poetry,  narrative, novel or any other story.” However, then the definition goes on. Seriously its a whole page.

So lets first start with the central characters. For The Grove that’s Dayla Fisher and Jonah Leifson.

Jonah wants to save humanity from themselves. He believes waking a few bloodthirsty ancient Gods will do it. And he doesn’t care that he might have to sacrifice a few people to do it.

The Keeper of The Grove, Dayla will do anything to stop Jonah from waking the Gods.  She suffers over any loss of life though she eventually comes to realize she might have to take life to stop Jonah.

So who is the protagonist?

There are a couple basic elements for a protagonist:

• The protagonist is driving the action of the story and so the narrative revolves around him/her/them.

By this definition, that means my protagonist would be Jonah as he drives the story towards its conclusion.

• The protagonist may undergo some change within the course of the story.

Uh Oh, Jonah doesn’t go through much of a transformation, he is a true believer in what he is doing, so that might mean the protagonist is Dayla.

• The events occurring in a story often viewed from the perspective of the protagonist.

Well that could be both characters. As well as three other people: Dayla’s husband Oliver Hayes, Dayla’s best friend Samantha Miller and her one time rival, now charge, Galeno DeAdams.

• A well-constructed protagonist allows the audience to relate to themselves and the other characters.

This too could be either character. Do you want to save the world with Jonah? Or stop Jonah from sacrificing people with Dayla?

So who is the protagonist?

The truth is who is the protagonist is questionable. I wrote The Grove as a thriller. So in that sense, Jonah is driving the action, while Dayla is fighting for her life, her husband, her friends and lifestyle. Most people will see Dayla as the protagonist, because she isn’t using her magic to delude people into waking three ancient Gods. She is “the good-guy.”

However ultimately who is the protagonist is up to the reader!

Do you agree or disagree? Do you have a favorite book/series in which you question who is the protagonist?

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About The Grove:
Genre: Contemporary Dark Fantasy
340 Pages
Paperback ISBN: 9780980145908
Ebook: ISBN:9780980145922

Sitka’s Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping primordial gods. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet life with her husband, Oliver. That is, until the delusional, but charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon, children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he wakes the Three and brings about the end of the world.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Grove-Elizabeth-Guizzetti/dp/0980145902/
Barnes&Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-grove-elizabeth-guizzetti/1124461156?ean=2940156779864
IBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-grove/id1153788999?ls=1&mt=11
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-grove-9

Reviews for The Grove:
“Chaos, murder, sacrifice: it was a delicious read, and I devoured it all.” Dan Thompson, The Black Petal

“If you’re a fan of well-written, fast-paced, fantasy thrillers that trot into the neighborhood of horror, you’ll love it…” Fia Essen, Ariel

“Guizzetti’s delusional and magically gifted anti-hero is truly terrifying…” Janice Clark, Healer’s Apprentice Series

The novel fairy visited last night and now The Grove is here!!!

Full of anticipation I went to bed last night…and lo and behold… my next dark fantasy novel, The Grove is now live. The novel is available at Amazon for the Kindle and Paperback, Barnes&Noble for the Nook, Kobo, and IBooks.

“Chaos, murder, sacrifice: it was a delicious read, and I devoured it all.” Dan Thompson, The Black Petal

“If you’re a fan of well-written, fast-paced, fantasy thrillers that trot into the neighborhood of horror, you’ll love it…” Fia Essen, Ariel

“Guizzetti’s delusional and magically gifted anti-hero is truly terrifying…” Janice Clark, Healer’s Apprentice Series

“I was blown away…” Madison Keller, The Dragon Tax Saga

 

About The Grove:
Sitka’s Quay appears to be like every other coastal tourist town on Highway 101, but lurking below its southern grove of ancient spruce are three sleeping primordial gods. For an eon, their bloodthirsty dreams have radiated into the ground and restore anyone who walks within the Grove. The Keeper, Dayla Fischer, must remain in control of her magical abilities or fall into sickening madness, but lives a relatively quiet life with her husband, Oliver, their cat and garden gnome roommates.

That is, until the delusional, but charming Jonah Leifson comes to town with a plan to awaken the Three. Soon, children begin disappearing. With powerful suggestion spells and mind reading abilities, Jonah wins over other sorcerers, meth users, the police, and eventually even her husband. Though no one believes her and she doubts her own sanity, she must stop Jonah, before he wakes the Three and brings about the end of the world.

340 Pages, Published by ZB Publications (September 13, 2016)

E-Book ISBN: 978-0-9801459-2-2
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9801459-0-8

As I said above, the book is available at Amazon for the Kindle and Paperback, Barnes&Noble for the Nook, Kobo, and IBooks

Want to know more? Check out a preview at ZB Publications? Or watch this video of me reading the first scene!

Meet the Author Sonya Loveday of Casted on her Blog Tour

I am happy to welcome Sonya Loveday the author of the new novel Casted! It’s always a pleasure to be part of a debut author’s blog tour!

A little bit about Sonya, 

Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’.

The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author.

When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house.

You can find Sonya Loveday on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and WordPress.

Welcome Sonya and thank you for taking the time to answer a couple questions! Here we go, what have you learned as an author?

I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way and by watching others. To say what I’ve learned would probably sum it up best this way:

• Nobody’s perfect
• You will always have a mistake(s) in your novel
• Have thick skin
• Not everyone will be a fan
• People will either cheer you or put you down – it’s human nature.
• I can’t do 20 things at a time, no matter how bad I want to – I just can’t
• One day at a time ~ One chapter at a time

What inspired you to write Casted?

Believe it or not, all of my writing comes from in the form of either a day dream or an overactive imagination when I’m trying to go to sleep. Casted came to me one night when I closed my eyes and this is what I saw:

The train rumbled down the track along the rocky out crop of mountain I’ve precariously traveled along. It had been six long years of running for me and, well, I’ve gotten a little worn down by it all. Never the same town, never the same country, always moving to keep ahead of those who hunt me.

            The train whistle blew, its eerie sound calling to the darkness that’s permanently seated in my chest. After running for what seems most of my life, I was now able to look back and learn from my mistakes. All the near-misses and almost-endings have given me lessons in which they could never teach you in any class-room. I considered myself a self-graduate from the School of Hard Knocks and that last leg of my never-ending journey had finally come to a halt. I could only hope that I had found a hiding place.

This was at one point the opening of Casted. I pulled it from the story because it just didn’t feel right. It only served its purpose in showing me who Jade was and that she had a story to tell.

Who is your favorite character in Casted?

I’d have to say Jessa. She’s smart-assed, witty and takes no crap from anyone. She loves fiercely and would be a great person to have your back.

Was any character particularly challenging to write?

Hmm…No, not really. My characters – all of them- walked in and were very determined to show me who they were and how they fit into the story.

It was kind of like they invited me into their world instead of me inviting them into mine.

I struggled more with getting an action scene down the first time. Most every action scene was written, re-written, edited and then added to in order to get what I was seeing out of my head.

Do you find your own morals coming through your writing either intentionally or unintentionally?

In some cases yes, but then I have to stop and remember that every character is different, as is every person. I’m just here to tell their story the best I can.

I have many aspiring authors who read my blog. Any advice for them? 

Learn from your mistakes –they will only make you a stronger person and better writer.

Never give up on your dream, no matter how far out of reach it is.

You’re going to feel defeated, you’re going to ask yourself ‘what the hell was I thinking’ and ‘who am I kidding’, those questions are perfectly normal for any new author/writer.

Use beta readers and make sure you have an editor.

Use every available resource you can to get the word out about your upcoming novel, get people interested and wanting to read what you’re writing. Use that platform to promote yourself. Push past the fear – fear gets you nowhere!

Keep pushing on until the day comes when your finger is hovering over the publish button. That giddy sense of OMG will set in when you finally click it. Ride out the panicked feeling that makes you want to either laugh in insanity or vomit (okay…ew!). At that point you can sit back and relax for a moment knowing you just accomplished your dream…congrats!

Now go promote the hell out of it!

Want to know more about Casted?

“My mind absorbed everything in the spell book I clutched tightly to me. Pages ruffled inside of my head, urging me to remember things and then to forget them. Voices chanted with tempo rising at the breaking points of pain until the book vanished and words to an ancient spell scribed across my arms. Each stroke brought blood to the surface, imprinting words I could not read; words that would forever change who I was.”

Jade had spent the majority of her life running from the Triad. A powerful group, who would stop at nothing to obtain Jade and the missing spell book for leader, Lorenzo’s, nefarious plans. And now that she has absorbed the highly coveted magic contained inside the missing book, there is nowhere left for her to hide.

With the help of her friends, Jade steps out from the shadows and learns how to fight back. But no one is prepared for Elinor-the woman bound inside of the book that’s trapped in Jade’s mind. Now she not only needs to protect herself from the Triad, but from what’s hiding inside her mind as well.

Jade never expected the answer to it all would revolve around love.

Edge is dark, mysterious, and a sworn member of the Triad. He also hides a secret past that threatens the thin line he walks between good and evil. Lives are at stake when Jade and Edge’s two worlds collide. Can Jade learn to trust him when he says he is her pre-ordained and vows to do everything he can to protect her? But more importantly, can she trust herself and the woman in her mind?

Casted is available in e-book and paperback at Amazon & Barnes&Noble