Author Guest Post with Phoenix Blackwood: The Family that Finds Us

Phee hides her secrets well, until they become too much to bear.

Welcome to the April 4th stop on the blog tour for The Family that Finds Us by Phoenix Blackwood with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

How to Make Your Characters Believable

There’s so many things that go into making your characters believable, some will make in depth character sheets listing everything from three flaws to their favorite food to the tiny scar they have on their right pinky from opening an avocado the wrong way. Sometimes they’re really fun to fill out, and sometimes they just feel tedious. They can be helpful to reference if you have a lot of characters and don’t want to get things mixed up, but the truth is, these things aren’t super important. There’s no set number of flaws a character has to have in order to make them believable. Sometimes, you just need one.

The most important thing to think about, is what is this character’s voice? What do they want? What do they need? How do they get there? What mistakes do they make on the way? There’s a million questions, but you get the idea. Everyone has a direction they’re trying to move in, even if it’s chaotic and nonlinear.

The point being, that everyone has a drive and desires, and flaws. The number of flaws isn’t important, it’s the depth of those flaws. One flaw that pierces through to the heart of the character is enough, as long as it affects them in a realistic way. Think of your friends, your family. What makes these people special? What imperfect things do you love about them? Let that drive you in creating your characters. Everyone’s complex in their own way, and it sounds silly, but if you think of your characters as real people, they’ll almost always be believable.

I’m very vibes based when I write. I get inside a character’s head and write from that perspective, that’s why I highly prefer writing in the first person. I like to see the world through the character’s eyes, and that’s something that really lets you demonstrate what drives their actions. Once you’re in that frame of mind, you’re unstoppable.

Let’s take Phee, the main character of my new release. Looking through her perspective – she’s been pushed into growing up too early, forced to become the parent in an abusive maternal relationship, denied who she really is for years, and her only way out is getting into a college that lets her leave her home life. Because of this, she’s going to value her grades. She’s going to value people who let her make mistakes without becoming angry. She’s going to be afraid of what happens when she accepts herself, she’s going to be afraid of repercussions at home. Fear will drive a lot of her decisions, and searching for a way out will fuel her actions. At the same time, she still holds love for her mother, the only family she’s ever known. This value will keep her coming back to the relationship, even if it hurts.

You can see all of this when you embrace her mindset. So go ahead, create that character you’ve always wanted, get inside their mind, and really explore what they want and why. Learn all the things you love about this character, and show everyone why you love them, even if they make awful decisions sometimes. Through the process, others will identify with these things, and they’ll come to love them too.

About the Book

The Family that Finds Us
by Phoenix Blackwood

Published 2 April 2024
Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC

Genre: LGBTQIA+ Coming of Age
Page Count: 282
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Phee hides her secrets well, until they become too much to bear. Her biggest secret is one she’s kept even from herself. Her longest-kept secret is one that hurts her every day. Her final secret is one that will set her free.

In a school that doesn’t accept them, Phee, Theo, and Alex fight for a community close to their hearts. The community desperately needs the trio to help the rest of them leave the shadows without fear of violence and discrimination. Through some heroic activism, the three push the school officials to their limits — forcing them to act — for better or worse.

For Phee, the fight for a place where she can be herself doesn’t stop when she gets home. The strain of taking care of her alcoholic and abusive mother threatens to break Phee away from her family bond forever. Her mother can go from a messy drunk to an angry one in an instant, turning Phee’s home life from an obligation to a war zone.

Theo’s house offers respite to Phee. With compassion scarce in her life, Alex and Theo are Phee’s light in the dark. They protect and cherish her. At Theo’s, Phee is free to be herself and explore her identity safely — her chosen family ready to catch her if she falls. That’s what family does, how family finds us when we feel lost and alone.

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Excerpt

“No!” I screamed, flailing against her as she pinned me down with one arm and cut with the other, lock after lock of black hair falling to the ground and into the sink.

Tears came next, as I fought the futile fight to get her to stop. I shrieked, begging for her to stop, but she just kept going, until there was nothing left. Just jagged tufts of hair sticking straight up from my scalp. She let go of me, throwing the scissors back into the drawer and slamming it shut without a word. She looked at me with the most haunting gaze I’d ever seen out of her, shook her head, and then walked into her room, slamming her door behind her. My knees grew weak, and I fell to the ground, clutching the discarded chunks of my hair that lay strewn about the floor. My wails could’ve been heard a block away. I’d found two things I liked about myself last night, and now one of them was gone.

Eventually, I dragged myself into my room, picking up my phone and texting Theo through my tears to come get me. Not even ten minutes later, there was a knock at the apartment door. I was still crying as I opened it to watch Theo’s face morph in horror as they caught sight of me.

“Oh my god, Phee, what did she do?”

I shook my head, staring down at the floor as tears fell from my face. Theo wrapped their arms around me, and I choked out, “She was sober.”

Theo rubbed my back for a minute, then guided me towards my room, “C’mon, get your stuff. You’re gonna stay at my house.” I grabbed the discarded makeup from my floor and stuffed it into a duffel bag, along with a couple changes of clothes. Then, I grabbed my backpack and solemnly followed Theo out the door, locking it behind me.

About the Author

Born and raised in New England, Phoenix has always been a creative – whether it’s painting or writing. From a very young age, Phoenix has envisioned and created characters, writing them into existence and exploring them through visual arts. Having graduated to first-time short story author, Phoenix is embarking on a journey towards novel writing as they finally bring characters they’ve known for years into the world. Phoenix is neurodiverse and intersex and hopes to bring more representation to both topics with their writing. They believe in creating relatable characters that people can find themselves in and empathize with.

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Giveaway Alert!

Phoenix Blackwood will be awarding a $10 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.