Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Paranormals Tour and Giveaway- Jenny Pox by JL Bryan



Roxanne asked to me write about where the ideas behind The Paranormals series originated. (Thanks for hosting today, Roxanne!)

Really, I began by suddenly receiving the idea for a character: a girl with a deadly touch that spread a supernatural illness. I don’t where that idea came from, but I could see all the implications. She would have to avoid all contact with other people, so her social life would be nonexistent. I could see how her whole life would be shaped by this. She would be an outcast, and I didn’t do her any favors by making her poor, living way back in the woods outside her small town.

Then, after a lifetime of loneliness and isolation, she meets somebody she can touch, Seth. He would have the opposite power, a touch that healed. What would keep them apart? A third power would have to stand between them. Ashleigh, Seth’s girlfriend, who would be beautiful, manipulative, and intelligent. Her power would be one extremely useful to someone evil: the power to make people feel love, like Cupid. That gave a lot of nice contrasts: Jenny was a good person with an evil power, while Ashleigh was an evil person with a “good” power, one that enables her to manipulate everyone around her like puppets.

The second and third books unfolded from there. We needed to find Ashleigh’s opposite, Tommy. I took the opposite of love to be fear, so Tommy’s touch spreads fear.

Finally, Jenny would need a second love interest so that she could choose, rather than being forced to be with Seth because there’s nobody else in the world. Alexander isn’t just immune to the Jenny pox, he feeds on it—it actually makes his power stronger. And he’s kind of everything Seth isn’t—wherever Seth has a shortcoming, Alexander has a strength.

So that’s how the story really originated—the first inspiration came from nowhere in particular, and everything else was implied by a kind of emotional logic.

For me, the background of where they got the powers wasn’t very important, but I had to include something. It was more important to me that the characters themselves didn’t know, and that these powers were just a given thing in their lives that they’d each learned to cope with in their own way. The way they used their powers would reveal their characters.

In the case of both Jenny and Esmeralda, both ultimately try to avoid using their powers at all. Seth tries to use his in a way that will help others without drawing attention to himself. Ashleigh and Alexander are always finding new ways to use their powers. And Tommy—he just kind of grubs along, with the power to strike fear into anyone, but he only uses for low-level things like robbing convenience stores and mugging people, until Ashleigh gets her hands on him and starts directing him.




Jenny has a secret. Her touch spreads a supernatural plague.

She devotes her life to avoiding contact with people, until her senior year of high school, when she meets the one boy she can touch, and she falls in love.

But there’s a problem–he’s under the spell of his devious girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.

Now Jenny must learn to use the deadly “Jenny pox” she’s fought her entire life to hide, or be destroyed by Ashleigh’s ruthless plans.

Not recommended for readers under sixteen due to mature content.




J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on the English Renaissance and the Romantic period. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He enjoys remixing elements of paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, horror and science fiction into new kinds of stories. He is the author of The Paranormals trilogy (Jenny Pox, Tommy Nightmare, and Alexander Death). Fairy Metal Thunder is the first book in his new Songs of Magic series. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Christina, his son John, two dogs, and two cats.




The give-away is a Kindle Fire, skinned in the winner’s choice of Paranormals artwork and loaded with an AMAZING indie library! Simply fill out the form below (just once during the course of the tour) and you’re entered to win the latest and greatest from the biggest name in eReaders: an Amazon Kindle Fire! Open US/Canada. See full contest rules here.

Get THREE extra entries into the Kindle Fire give-away! All you need to do is leave a comment on this tour post and you will be automatically granted an extra THREE entries into the final tour give-away of a Kindle Fire!!


Visit More Stops during Jenny Pox week:
Monday, October 17th - Bewitched Bookworms
Tuesday, October 18th - Fangtastic Books
Wednesday,October 19th - Coffee Table Reviews
Thursday, October 20th - Splash Of Our Worlds
Friday, October 21st - The Unread Reader

31 comments:

Unabridged Bookshelf said...

I just loved Jenny Pox, and I am so excited to read Tommy Nightmare. Thank you for the extra entries

unabridgedbookshelf(st)gmail.com

Unknown said...

This is super cool. Where is the submit button after filling out the form?

Pabkins said...

I'm so glad to have stumbled across this blog tour - I hope you get lots of attention for this series - I've heard good things about it and look forward to starting it!
Pabkins @ Mission to Read

lag123 said...

I have heard many good reviews on Jenny Pox and would love to read it!

lag110 at mchsi dot com

Lindsay R. said...

This is such a great trilogy, it was hard to finish because I didn't want it to end. It sticks with you. You continue to think about the characters who are so beautifully written. I would love to see what they're next lives would be!

Andra Lyn said...

I seriously love this series! I haven't gotten to Alexander yet, but after how Seth behaved in Tommy Nightmare, I'm all for switching sides...I really love the idea of where the characters came from...I actually thought that finding out about their past lives was one of the best things about the 1st book...interesting that their origins weren't such a big deal to you though :) Great post!!

andralynn7 @ gmail DOT com

Anonymous said...

For some reason my work computer won't let me log into my blogger account...grr...but this is Katy Hensel by the way :)

Thanks for the post J.L!! I love seeing what an author's process is and that goes double for you because you're so freaking fantastic! This series deserves to be shouted from the mountains! <3 them!!!

hense1kk AT cmich DOT edu

Britany said...

Such an awesome series. I know I've said it before, but I'm still 90% Team Alexander and 10% Team Seth. :) You know us girls, we always like the dangerous and mysterious ones!

Hopefully the people who took advantage of the free Jenny Pox novel will become as hooked as all of us.

Thanks for the extra entries!

JL Bryan said...

@unabridged bookshelf and Linday - Thanks for your kind words about my books!

@Moirae - I think you have to click within the form and then scroll down. Good luck!

@Pabkisn and lag123 - I'm glad you've heard good things about Jenny Pox!

@Andra - No, I was kind of weirdly not at all focused on where their powers came from.

@Katy - Thanks! I'm glad you like them. Maybe you'll win another Kindle from me! :)

@Britany - I know you like 'em dark and mysterious! :D

Jill said...

I am loving the blog tour almost as much as I love the books :) Thanks for the extra entries, fingers crossed!

Na said...

When I first read the premise of your books, the deadly touch is definitely the trait that makes Jenny fascinating to me. I'm also interested in the implications, not just to other people but to her self. It sounds like a great story is in store.

Na S.
Cambonified (at) yahoo (dot) com

Scorpio1974 said...

This is just such an awesome giveaway! Thank you so much for the opportunity to enter!! =) Good luck to everyone who enters!!

Valerie Long (Scorpio1974 on GFC)
just.val.1974@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/just.val.1974
Jewelry Creations by V.S. Long - https://www.facebook.com/vsl1974

Pabkins said...

Turns out my sister picked up a copy on Amazon's buy 3 get the 4th free! So mine is coming in as well! Looking forward to starting it. Based on the other comments it sounds like this is a trilogy is that right?
Pabkins @ Mission to Read

Barbara said...

Wow, what a great giveaway! This sounds like an awesome series...and a chance to win a Kindle Fire too?!? Win/Win!!

barbbattaglia@yahoo.com

Jennie said...

This is a great post. I love reading about how characters are created. I can't wait to read about Alexander! :D

Unknown said...

Oh okay, thanks I feel really stupid now.

Ginny said...

Thanks for more insight into your process of creating the series! Great books!

vshanno1 (at) mail (dot) naz (dot) edu


:)

Steph from fangswandsandfairydust.com said...

Interesting. I tried to read the contest rules but they would not come up. <a href="http://fangswandsandfairydust.com”)> Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust</a>
@fangswandsfairy
steph@fangswandsandfairydust.com

Anne said...

I really enjoyed Jenny Pox and The Haunted. Looking forward to reading Tommy Nightmare.

Laura said...

Love this series...just finished the third book last weekend.

laura.troudt@cox.net

Erica said...

I love this series! I was so excited when a new choice came along for Jenny, but loved how it ended!

Vivien said...

Thanks so much for hosting a spot! I'm loving this tour so far.

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

wanda f said...

This is a new to me series I cant wait to read it .

flanagan@mebtel.net

JenM said...

Best wishes on the release of your books. I just picked up Jenny Pox and I'm looking forward to reading it. It sounds like a great premise.
jen at delux dot com

Julie S said...

This sounds like a really cool series. I like the premise and the titles. I'm looking forward to reading them.
juliecookies(at)gmail.com

JL Bryan said...

Jill - Thank you!

Na - I hope you enjoy them!

Scorpio - Good luck to you, too :)

Pabkins - Yep, it's a trilogy. How neat that your sister already ordered one!

Barbara - Yeah, I'm glad the Kindle Fire came out while we were plotting the tour!

Jennie - I hope you like the third book!

Jenny and Anne - Thank you!

Steph - I hope it works for you now...

Anne, Laura and Erica - I'm so glad you enjoyed reading the books!

Vivien - I'm enjoying it, too. Kismet made it easy for me!

Wanda and JenM - I hope you do like them when you get a chance to read them!

Ammy Belle said...

Hm .. I like this origin story - I like even more the actual premise of a girl who's superpower is spreading a deadly condition ... *drum roll* I really love this series! Great idea worked all the way through to its obvious great conclusion! Thanks so much for sharing! :)

Ammy Belle
apereiraorama @ gmail . com
http://lateintothenight.blogspot.com/

donnas said...

Great tour. I just got a copy of the first book and am looking forward to reading it.

bachus76 at myself dot com

Holly S. said...

I can't wait to start these.

I entered for the Kindle as Holly Storm. Thanks!

JaclynsMusings said...

I look forward to reading Jenny Pox. I now have it on my kindle app and its on my TBR list!
~Jaclyn~
www.jaclynsmusings.com

JaclynsMusings said...

jaclynsmusings*at*gmail*dot*com

 
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