R.F. Gammon Author

BLOG TOUR: Dissociate and Dagger's Sleep! (Feat. interviews with TRICIA MINGERINK and SARAH ADDISON-FOX!!!)

by R.F. Gammon - May 25, 2018

SHIPPING IT: Aka my top 10 favorite couples in Films and Books

by R.F. Gammon - May 18, 2018

The Tags of Irony: Motherly Author Tag and Evil Author Tag

by R.F. Gammon - May 11, 2018

Hello, everyone! This week I come to you with some TAGS. Because tags are easy for me and wonderful for all of you. XD So here we go! Tags!

First up is the Motherly Author Tag, stolen from Blue.

Motherly Author Tag by Blue

How motherly are you to your characters? What sort of a mother? Strict but attentive? Spoiling and soft? Tender but cautious? Or perhaps you are one of those writer mothers who is not so motherly?
Oh, goodness. I am that mother who lets the kids do whatever they want and then yells at them when they don't do exactly what I want them to. xD

Do you fret about your characters’ fates? Their dates? Whether or not they get kids of their own?
Yesssss.....yes I do. And that's all I'm going to say about that. XD

Are you sad when your characters are hurt? How sad on a level from one to ten are you when one of your characters in injured physically or emotionally? Spiritually? What about if they die?
Let's just say that I've gotten over it when they get hurt. It's been a while since I killed a genuinely important character on paper (usually when that happens at this point, it's in my head.) But I do hate it when they get hurt. My family will attest to the fact that I get...well, pensive when I've been torturing my characters.

Are you aggressive or do you retaliate when someone insults or doesn’t like your characters/book? To what extent?
Well, I haven't had that happen yet...too much. But if it did, you better believe I'd come running out of my room with my pirate dagger (wooden, don't worry) and my authentic Scrooge hat and would start screaming bloody murder at them...

Don't I look terrifying?????

Or I'll just throw my Chick-fil-A at you. Doesn't that sound terrifying?

Honestly? Waste of perfectly good chick-fil-A. So no, I will not retaliate. (At least not physically...mwah ha ha...)

Which of your characters do you “baby” the most?
I was going to say Esma, the heroine of my Pentegreen series, but the more drafts of that book I've written, the less true it becomes. So we'll just go with Bryce from the Watched books. (Which I have a new plot bunny for and will probably be getting another full makeover! Oh boy oh smurf!) Bryce is a cutie (despite being sixteen) and likes mechanics and old music and watching YouTube. Nothing bad happens to him, at least not the way it happens to some of the other characters in that book.

I could never hurt him...

Which one of your characters do you let fend for themselves the most?
Kariana of the Pentegreen series has to take care of herself for the most part, which is good because she is ALWAYS getting into trouble. Claire of my upcoming super-secret-project that y'all know nothing of as of yet (but you will know, trust me, I'm super excited to share it with you before too long) is similar.

And my lead male tends to have to fight for himself more than the lead girl. Rishatta, Lucas, Ezra, Reuben...yerp. The boys take care of themselves. I shelter the girls. xD

Do you tend to cling more to your older children and stories, or your youngest ones?
Probably the older ones. (With the exception of afore-mentioned super-secret-project, which is quickly rising in my heart to third place or so.) The Pentegreens have existed in some form or fashion since I was about 8, so they're the oldest and the dearest. Watched in some form or fashion hasn't been around for too much less time, so that's in second.

Do your characters have any habits or styles that you disapprove of?
Well, some of them tend to curse when upset, and I'm not terribly proud of that. One of them drinks occasionally too, although he's of age and doesn't ever get drunk...I'm not fond of that anyway, but ya know. Only so much you can do.

Which of your characters are you most proud of?
Esma has matured a lot over the years. Rishatta's come a very long way, and he has still further to go, which makes him high in my esteem. So. Ya know, lots of them, but mostly those two. <3

How many of your main characters have actual mothers?
Well, Esma's mother is Bernathel, who's amazing and crazy and very much there for her daughter. I appreciate mothers who are present in fiction.
Rishatta's mother died when he was younger. So did Kariana's. Derek's is still alive, although he hasn't seen her in a few years because he moved away from their farm due to work. Torin was adopted by Esma's family.
That covers pretty much all the main Pentegreen characters (except for the spoilers.) In Watched, most of the characters have mothers, but...they're of varying degrees of goodness.

How many of your main characters are mothers?
Bernathel Pentegreen is (I think) the only main character who is also a mother in any of my books. The mothers in my other books all have to step back and let their kids grow up and move on.

Have you ever had pressure to kill off a character? Have you ever downright refused?
I have never downright refused to kill off a character. Who's doing the pressuring? The other characters or someone I know? One of my friends begged me to kill off one of my villains once. There's another character she's always telling me to slap, too...

How many of your characters are children?
Several. Torin in Pentegreens is 13 or 14, and while that's not REALLY a child, he's still way younger than a lot of others in the series. So.

And then in Watched Melinza has three younger siblings (Number subject to change): Winsome (age 9), Peace (age 5), and JoJo (age 2 1/2.)

In the super-secret project there's a six-year-old girl, but I can't tell you anything about her. :/

Are you loathe to kill characters? How much so?
Nope. I wouldn't say I LOVE doing it, but I do it when I have to, and sometimes when I don't. Making them die is one of the most powerful things I'm capable of in my stories. More on that in the other tag. :D

Are you biased for your own characters?
Absolutely.

How well do you care for your characters?
Ummmm...they usually get enough to eat. And sometimes they get a full night's sleep.

But it depends. And I have worse things planned for them. Don't tell them I said that.

And do you intend to be more motherly, or less motherly with your characters in the future?
Well...we're getting into the world of sequels, so probably LESS...

Evil Author Tag from Jenelle

1. How many characters do you typically kill per book? And how many people have you killed in real life, dear? Do you… feel any remorse about this? I’m concerned about you.
Hmm...I kill way more characters than you will ever be comfortable with, most likely.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that war movies/battles/all that good stuff should be a little closer to real life, so when I'm writing about something where there should be a high casualty rate, there will be. My characters don't get a get-out-of-jail-free pass just because they're important. When you read my books, dear readers, you will probably hate me forever and unfollow my blog quickly. Sorry. XD

2. Do you prefer to use weapons of mass destruction like explosions and famine and world war or more personal torture like killing family and friends and pets?
Personal, obviously. I used to do weapons of mass destruction, but I've found that it affects people more when I zoom in, so zoom in I do. And man, everyone is going to hate me for it...

3. Are you more like Loki, who perpetrates great evil with a creepy grin, or… Darth Vader, who secretly weeps inside his… fake head, whilst destroying the world?
Well...sometimes I get a creepy grin on my face. Sometimes I weep. It depends.

Most of the time I just apologize to my poor kids and tell them that they'll get enough to eat for dinner to make up for it. XD

4. What is the most dastardly crime you have ever committed as a writer?

Well...I once sliced a fan-favorite character's leg open and left her to crawl up a hill to get to safety. It was fun to write that, needless to say...*spits out the taste of gravel*

Oh, there was also the time when I had my main character's brother executed on public television...

But I promise most of the time I'm not SOOOOO evil!

*Current MC sticks her head in from the scene I'm writing right now, where she is being kidnapped and tortured*

Ummm...I'm not so bad!

5. What kind of chocolate do you most like to devour as you burn things? White, milk, semisweet, or dark? Bonus points if you are so evil you find unsweetened cacao palatable!

Milk, obviously. The best of the best only for me. Bonus if it has truffle on the inside, or that other stuff that's inside Three Musketeers. You know the stuff. I'm blanking on the name.

6. What is your villainous title? You may not have “Evil Overlord” because that one’s mine.

Aww, but I'm an evil overlord too!

How about we go with...Loki!

Yeah, no. That's a little...TOO...creepy.

I am THE TORMENTOR!!!

(Points if you get that reference)

7. Which of your characters would actually be a match for you if you were to duke it out one on one?

Ummm...I make all my MCs (if they're girls) wimps on purpose. But probably Melinza. Any of the others and I'd get my butt kicked.

8. Which character, in all the many books you have undoubtedly written, is most likely to be your Archnemesis?

Like hate me the most? Or simply go up against me?

Kariana Winslet, I think. She's the kind of person to hold a grudge for YEARS after the fact and she's kind of scary to get on the wrong side of.

9. Do you wear a cape? Face paint? A mask? Special underpants? Or do you hide in plain sight… like Moriarty? Give me details!

Eww! How dare you ask me about my underpants????

I hide in plain sight, but I go around under that "insane" guise. I'm the person who walks down your street muttering to herself and totally zones out in the middle of science lab to start jotting down ideas. I cackle evilly at the writer stuff on my Facebook. I AM INSANE.

10. How do you react when you have to kill off a character that is dear to you? Do you laugh evilly out loud? Do you chuckle under your breath and quickly glance around for your next victim? Do you go and weep in a corner for a month because you just lost a best friend? Or do you just shrug indifferently?

I mostly cry. Then I grit my teeth and GO. FOR. IT.

11. If you had to choose a fictional villain (from book, movies, etc.) to sum up your villainous style as an evil writer, who would it be? Why?

Thanos? Maybe? Not really, I actually don't knowwww.....

12. Do you believe in killing off main characters, or are they your smol precious babies whom you cannot even fathom laying a hand (or steel-tipped ax) upon? (#wimpyevilwriter)

I'm not crazy about doing it, and it depends on the story. But there's one story in my roster where the protagonist is definitely going to die at the end, and another where I wouldn't be opposed to that happening.

13. Have you ever chickened out of your evilness and tried to resurrect a fallen character whom you have already brutally murdered? Or do you–as they say–let the sleeping skeleton lie?

I rarely, if ever, resurrect a character who has already died. If they're dead, they're gonna have to stay dead. And I'm cool with that! I really am!

14. When murdering a character, do you often describe it in cringe-worthy detail, or do you prefer to say “SPLAT! He’s dead”, and be done with it? (Bonus Question: have you ever actually said “SPLAT! He’s dead” in one of your writing projects?)

I have never once in my life said "Splat, he's dead!"

I tend to do way too much detail. #Whoops

I'm not going to tag anyone for this post....but I hope you enjoyed reading it!!!!! Lots of fun to write about this and see how much of an evil and motherly author I am XD

Chat with me! What's your opinion of killing main characters? Are you a mother to your characters or an evil author? I want to know alllll the things.