Behind the Scenes with Tim O'Rourke: Vampire Shift GIVEAWAY

Greta: Burrr!!  Shut the door before something gets into our blog.

Darkfallen: What?

*Wooosh – *door slams

Greta:  Ahhh!! A hobbit!! Catch him!! He’s loose!!

Darkfallen: No no no! I invited him! And you shouldn’t call European people hobbits.

Greta: You invited a hobbit? I am APPALLED!

Darkfallen: No, you’re racist and overreacting.  Now sit down and let the man talk.

Greta: I will not be …. Wait…. What are you doing with that rope? Crap.

*sounds of a scuffle but we all know Darkfallen is kicking Greta’s ass*

Darkfallen: Ladies and gentleman, it brings me great pleasure to welcome Tim O’Rourke (author of the upcoming Kieara Hudson Trilogy) to the Wastelands. 

Tim O’Rourke

Firstly I want to say a massive thank-you to Darkfallen and Greta for inviting me to guest on their awesome blog Paranormal Wastelands. I must confess that this is my first guest blog and I wasn’t sure what to write about. Darkfallen suggested that perhaps I give a behind the scenes look at some of the characters from my books. So here goes!

I’m the author of four books. ‘Black Hill Farm’ books one and two which are a dark paranormal romance, ‘Zachary Black & The Doorways To Endra’ a fantasy/paranormal adventure with lashings of Vampires and werewolves and my most recent book ‘Vampire Shift (Book One) Kiera Hudson Trilogy’ - I think that one speaks for itself!

Greta: Hobbit!!!!!!!!!!

Darkfallen: How did you get untied?

As most of my characters are creatures of one kind or another, I find it helps me if I draw, paint and sculpt some of these characters before I start writing (I’ve even made-up some of my longsuffering friends and family members to look like the characters from my books). My son Tom usually gets lumbered but he’s pretty cool about it – but not so cool when I start sculpting over the top of his G.I Joe action figures! I know some authors write pages and pages of notes about their characters – but for me a visual aid works best.

This is how it works for me:

 Starts with a drawing of one of the characters

Then...

  My willing son Tom having the latex prosthetic that I made attached (Believe me he’s enjoying every second!).

And then...

The finished make-up with costume.

Greta and Darkfallen: Ahhhh!!!

Darkfallen: EEEKKKK! When I said how about a “behind the scenes look” I was thinking more like:

Kiera Hudson has a pair of pink fuzzy bunny slippers that she refuses to give up. And while it is true, being a vamp and all, she drinks blood to survive, but don’t get a girl wrong…Snickers are delish! And a life without Fruit Loops?!? HA! That’s no life at all….then again I AM dead already…ish

*Kiera winks*

But this takes behind the scenes to a whole new level!

Greta: *sings try to step to this I dare ya*

Darkfallen: DAMNIT!! How do you keep getting loose? That’s it I’m getting the cuffs and the gag this time…

Disclaimer: No Greta’s were harmed doing the making of this post…..well not too much anyways, but I assure you she likes it;)

Tim: *clears throat loudly*

Ummmm hey, HEY! Knock it off over there! Do you think I can get back to my post here?

Darkfallen get off Greta!

Greta wipe that grin off your face!!

Greta: *coughs hobbit coughs*

Tim: Okay, where was I again?

O, oh Yea!

This might seem like a lot of hard work just to visualise the characters that I’m writing about, but it’s more than that. The pictures are also good to place on my website from time to time, on my fb page, and I also believe it gives the reader a chance to see the characters come alive. 

A lot of my characters in my books have wings. I think most of us would love the ability to fly and I used this in my book ‘Vampire Shift’. The vampires in the book are in fact Vampire Bats, with huge black prehistoric looking wings. Again this gives me the opportunity to reach out to my readers and create some great visuals.

Darkfallen: Can I have black & smoke grey feathery wings with burnt and torn edges? Maybe even a few torn holes in them? Slightly bloody would be good!

Tim: Yes I’ll get right on that Darkfallen…now ssshhhhhh

This is a passage from ‘Vampire Shift’ when Kiera Hudson watches as her friend changes into a vampire:

"Shrinking back on my bed, I watched as Luke’s shoulder blades rippled beneath his pale skin. The tissue and muscles on his back shifted and stretched as what looked like a series of black bones grew from his back. Luke rocked forward as if in pain, the black-looking bones reaching up out of his ribcage and shoulders. A thin silky membrane hung beneath the bones and I could see that he was growing a pair of wings.

They reminded me of the pterodactyl dinosaurs my father had shown me in picture books as a girl. Each wing seemed to have a long bony shoulder and arm that was about six feet in length. Beneath this arm hung the wing, which was a see-through and stretchy looking membrane. At the end of each arm protruded a wrist and attached to these were three skeletal looking fingers."

That’s how I described the wings in the book and this is a picture of how I visualized them in my minds eye.

Tom again – this time with wings. The character in the book is older – mid-twenties – but Tom was the only person I could find (or agree to do it!)

GRETA: Omg! He threw his kid up in the air with wings on his back!

Darkfallen: NO! It’s probably nothing like that.

Greta: Are you sure? Look at him!! He’s got WINGS!

Darkfallen: Are you sure you’re not just jealous?

Greta: It’s possible….

Tim:

Just to prove it’s not only my son that I bully – pester – bribe with money to pose as the many characters from my books- here are some pictures of my friends:

Paul guest appearing as one of the Mechanical Men from ‘Zach Black’ book two.

 

James after a vampire has been at him!

AND...

Richard as Tamrus from the second book in the ‘Zach Black’ series.

‘Keep the make-up on Richard!’

Darkfallen: Yes YES, keep the makeup ON dude;)

Greta: *smacks Darkfallen* Now looks who’s being rude!!

Tim: *clutches his side laughing* Seriously what am I going to do with these two? If you guys don’t knock it off we are never going to make it through this blog post!

Ok its Tom again – but this time as William-the-wolf-Weaver from ‘Zach Black’

Greta: OMG! He can make were wolves!!

Darkfallen:  Looks like it.

Greta: Have you bought the hobbit a ticket to the states yet?

Darkfallen: And why would I do that?

Greta: Cuz you love me…..

Darkfallen: He is not making a wolf for you

Greta: *stomps foot*  Meany!!!

I don’t know if this is what Darkfallen and Greta had in mind, but I hope it has given you a behind the scenes look at how I go about creating the characters that I write about in my books. The times I enjoy the most when writing, are when the page opens up before me and I fall inside, trapped in the world with the characters that I’m writing about. Some are good, some bad, others heroic and some evil. But do ya know what? I love every single one ‘em!

Tim O’Rourke

Tim: *looks around for the exit* Hey how do I get out of here?

Darkfallen: *digs toe in carpet* ummmm did we forget to mention that once you step inside the wastelands, you don’t find your way out?

Greta: Oh yea that was in the fine print. You should really read that stuff ya know?

Darkfallen: *hums* welcome to the hotel Paranormal…such a lovely place…such a lovely place...

Tim: *starts biting nails* But didn’t I read something about a life vest in there?

Greta: CRAP he remembers the “life vest” clause. We were hoping you would forget about that one. We just like having you around;)

*throws Tim a life vest*

Tim: THANKS!! I’m not gonna lie…when Darkfallen started singing I got a little worried. But never fear, I leave a little present for you here in the wastelands….all you have to do if find it. *winks*

Darkfallen and Greta: *whines in unison* How do you expect us to do that?

Tim: FINE!! Just stop giving me that deranged puppy dog look.

Here ya go!

Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:
When twenty-year-old police recruit Kiera Hudson is posted to the remote town of The Ragged Cove, her life is changed forever. Investigating a series of horrific murders, grave desecrations and missing persons, with her unique ability of 'seeing', Kiera soon realises her life is in danger. But when Kiera falls in love with Police officer Luke Bishop, not only is her mind and her heart opened to a terrifying new world, she comes to suspect that Luke might be involved in the killings. In a race against time to unearth the truth, Kiera must discover the identity of who or what is behind the gruesome deaths on the 'Vampire Shift'.


One Lucky winner will win a signed copy of Vampire Shift!!
But WAIT!!! Theres more...

Thats right!! You will also win a one of a kind....
Tim O'Rourke hand made action figure!!!!

Rules Schumles:

1.) You must be wandering around the wastelands talking to yourself, somewhere.

(In other words you must be a follower)

2.) Remember momma always said that it's nice to share, and sharing is caring!

(Please tweet about this post for extra points!)

3.) This contest is open INTERNATIONALLY!!!
(come one, come all)

4.) And last but most important to enter you have to fill out the form HERE!!!

This contest will be open until Midnight on July 21!!

Until Next Time...