Author Guest Post with Janie Emaus, The Time Travelling Matchmaker

Like every goal-oriented twenty-something, Jessica Singleton, an aspiring filmmaker, is obsessed with finding her future as quickly as possible.

Welcome to the August 10th stop on the blog tour for The Time Travelling Matchmaker by Janie Emaus with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts & interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

The Importance of a ‘Good’ bad guy- Janie Emaus

When I got into bed the other night, my husband was watching some crime/investigative/detective/thriller type show. As I tried to follow the plot, I asked him to tell me about the bad guy.

My question made me realize the importance of characters in our writing. And how every single story from a Romcom to a psychological thriller, has a good and a bad guy.

In order to create believable stories, the bad guy has to be a “good” bad guy. The audience has to understand why he is cheating on his wife (a drama), why she is pretending to have amnesia (Romcom) or why they are poisoning their spouse with evil thoughts (thriller). They have to be three-dimensional people with likes and dislikes and a past history as a foundation for who they are when they enter the page, be it a screenplay, novel or short story.

On the flip side, the good guy can’t be a “bad” good guy. If the character is poorly developed no one will care one way or the other.

As I continued watching with my husband, I started rooting for the bad guy. He was a drug dealer, an adulterer, performed money laundering. He had committed every crime except the one he was accused of: Murder. I wanted him to get away. I wanted him to survive.

The good guys were so blah and indistinguishable, their personalities all blending into each other. They even looked alike!

After watching, I had trouble falling asleep. My mind was consumed with thoughts about Natasha, the villain, in the rough draft of my time travel.

What pronoun does my Natasha use? What does she eat for breakfast? Where does she buy her underwear? How does she feel about her mother? What does she take in her coffee? What’s her favorite date night?  What made her turn bad?

As I pondered all these questions, I realized I knew my villain quite well. And I actually loved her.  The next day, I added a few more scenes. I knew she needed to be punished for her actions, but I wanted her to learn from her mistakes and become a better person.

And as I write this blog, it has dawned on me that I don’t want to leave her imprisoned in book one. I haven’t been sure about writing a sequel, but now I’m leaning toward opening a new word doc. With Natasha in my head, I’m off to a good start.   

About the Book

The Time Traveling Matchmaker
by Janie Emaus

Published 25 July 2022
Wild Rose Press

Genre: Time Travel Romance
Page Count: 252
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

In The Time Traveling Matchmaker, love takes on a new meaning when soul mates are brought together through time and space.

Like every goal-oriented twenty-something, Jessica Singleton, an aspiring filmmaker, is obsessed with finding her future as quickly as possible. What she doesn’t know is that the future is obsessed with finding her, too. Renn Porter, an agent with Time Traveling Matchmaker’s Inc, blasts back in time – and into her life- in order to transport Jessica to the soul mate who has paid for this service…in the future. But things turn dangerous when it’s revealed that Renn has been sent after his own soul mate.

Caught between two times, Jessica and Renn must struggle to stay alive. Falling in love is the biggest risk either of them has ever taken – because, as they are destined to learn, the very existence of Time Traveling Matchmakers, Inc. rests in Jessica’s hands.

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Excerpt

Ever was a word that didn’t do well alone. It goes much better with happily and after. The way my life used to be. The way I thought it never would be again after David, and then along came Renn. And the world opened up, even better than before.

His lips. His touch. His eyes. His voice. There wasn’t room in my mind for thoughts of anything else.

It didn’t matter that he claimed he came from the future. Maybe he did. So many things in this world defy logic. Especially love.

Please, God, bring him back to me.

My stomach growled. I opened the fridge again and picked up the healthiest looking apple, one without any bruises.

The apple tasted sour. I spit the skin into my hand and tossed the whole thing in the trash. The fabric in my pocket grew warm.

“Jessica.”

I spun around. Renn leaned against the wall, his trench coat open to expose a silky blue shirt. His lemony scent drifted into the room.

“It’s you,” I said, stating the obvious and feeling foolish for doing so.

His smile filled me with lightness.

“It’s me,” he said, as if he’d just returned from the store. In fact, he held a bag of donuts.

Donuts! He vanishes out of the bathroom and materializes out of thin air the next day with donuts?

A second later, the bag fell to the ground, and I was in his arms, kissing him. Putting the ever back into my life.

About the Author

Janie Emaus believes when the world is falling apart, we’re just one laugh away from putting it

together again. The Time Traveling Matchmaker is her debut adult novel. She is also the author of the blended holiday picture books, Latkes for Santa Claus, and the forthcoming Matzo Balls & Easter Eggs. Her essays, stories and articles have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and websites. In 2016 she won an honorary mention in the Erma Bombeck Writing competition. To learn more about Janie visit her at www.janieemaus.com. 

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Giveaway Alert!

Janie Emaus will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.