Blog Tour ~ "Daynight" by Megan Thomason (giveaway/review of "Clean Slate Complex":

On Tour with Prism Book Tours...

It's time to leave Earth and cross over to the other side... it's not as far away as you think!!

Guest Post: Kira, Ethan & Blake Character Backgrounds

daynight is told from three points of view. I didn’t set out with the goal of having a major love triangle. One of my biggest pet peeves is lopsided love triangles—the kind where one of the guys seems forced into the equation. So I definitely didn’t want one of those. Here I needed all three characters to fully tell the story. Kira’s entering the world of the SCI blind—she wants to escape bad memories at home and get a full ride college scholarship in the deal. Ethan’s been groomed his whole life to be an SCI ruler. And Blake grew up in unfathomable circumstances in Exile and wants revenge. Each perspective adds important pieces to the puzzle and as the characters collide there’s a few fireworks.

Developing characters

Importance of backstories: Every person has a million experiences that make them who they are. Characters need this, too—from the main characters to the most minor.

Physical characteristics: It’s important to be able to picture the characters—not only hair color, body type and eye color, but mannerisms as well.

Flaws: I love flawed characters and think every character needs flaws to be believable. Let’s face it, no one is perfect. So it’s tough to swallow when characters are presented as perfect characters. I intentionally gave Kira, Blake and Ethan major flaws. They’ve got to struggle with the rest of us. They need room to grow throughout the series. They need to make terrible mistakes and learn from them.

Voice: Each character needs a unique voice, particularly when writing in first person. It definitely challenged me to write from three different character’s first person POV. I had to write them separately and be in the head of one person at a time to make it work.

Naming: Everything in daynight is symbolic, names being no exception. Here the main characters’ names are all a combination of “light” and “dark” meanings.

Application: Kira

Overall goal: a girl who could be thrown into a tough situation and withstand it. She needed to be someone who could hide her emotions or the SCI wouldn’t put up with her for long.

Physical characteristics: Strawberry-blonde hair, light-green & gold eyes, 5’ 6”, fit

Flaws: Naive, loyal to a fault, buries her emotions

Strengths: Excellent poker face, logical, great at solving puzzles, optimistic

Voice: Touch of sarcasm, well-educated

Family/background: Lives in San Diego, California. Well off parents who travel a lot (leaving the kids behind). One brother a year younger (Jared). Cheerleader. Best friend: Briella. Boyfriend (of a year): Tristan.

Application: Ethan

Overall goal: I wanted Ethan to hate everything his parents stand for, but smart enough to know that if he stands up to them he’s a dead man. He’s damaged from a lifetime of emotional abuse from his parents. He doesn’t want to give into their plan for him, but then they dangle this really appealing girl in front of him. He takes the bait, but they don’t let him have her. He’s in this whole wait and see mode that makes him a little nuts. 

Physical characteristics: 6’ 1”, sapphire-blue eyes and dark curly eyelashes, disheveled dark brown hair (on the long side/slight wave), five o’clock shadow, muscular

Flaws: Inferiority complex due to having a heart defect, has a tough time standing up to his parents, more thought than action

Strengths: Sweet, romantic

Voice: Tentative, funny

Family/background: Grew up in a sterile hospital room. Parents more involved in SCI leadership than his life. Best friend: Jax Christo. Lives with his Uncle Henry on Earth while attending law school.

Application: Blake

Overall goal: Blake’s been groomed to hate the SCI and want to take them out. So I needed him to be rough around the edges and single minded. I wanted him to feel completely out of place when thrown into a situation where he’s got to depend on this girl to get through his mission. He’s at war with himself about whether to get close to her or work around her.

Physical characteristics: Slim runner’s build, dark straight hair with platinum highlights, emerald green eyes

Flaws: Impulsive, bitter, doesn’t trust, willing to do his daddy’s bidding, a bit socially inept, single-minded

Strengths: Tough, fights for what he believes in

Voice: Flippant, judgmental, calculating

Family/background: Grew up in Exile on Thera. Watched his mother slowly die after giving birth to his sister. Trained from an early age to infiltrate the SCI and help defeat them. Has intentionally been a loner the last couple years of high school.

My kids are very funny. When I asked what they thought Ethan and Blake’s strengths and weaknesses were, one daughter said: “Easy. Both their strengths: attractive to main character, able to hold their own in love triangle. Flaws: Blake—kinda an idiot sometimes. Shouldn’t listen to his pappy so much. Ethan—kinda an idiot sometimes. Shouldn’t listen to his pappy so much.” Completely made my day. Too true. Too true.

 My review of  "daynight".

Megan Thomason lives in paradise aka San Diego, CA with her husband and five children. A former software manager, Megan vastly prefers writing twisted tales to business, product, and marketing plans. When she isn't typing away on her laptop, she's reading books on her phone—over 600 in the last year—or attending to the needs of her family. Megan’s fluent in sarcasm, could potentially benefit from a 12-step program for road rage, struggles with a Hot Tamales addiction, loves world travel & fast cars and hates paperwork & being an insomniac. Daynight is Megan's first published novel, but fourth written one.

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daynight
by Megan Thomason
Paperback, 324 pages
Published November 26th 2012 by Creatspace

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.

Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.

Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.

Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.

Introducing...  the new Novella:  FREE for the Tour!
On Smashwords!

clean slate complex
by Megan Thomason

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Worldwide non-profit and do-gooder organization. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Life(TM). Reality: hidden behind every kind act is a dark agenda designed to gain control and force societal and moral extremes. Currently, the SCI’s pushing Project Liberate, a program to woo the poor and downtrodden into their Clean Slate Complexes—where “everything is provided” from jobs to food, shelter, clothing, and education. Unfortunately, as with all things that sound too good to be true, there’s a catch…

Meet Alexa Knight. Feisty, tough and currently homeless in Los Angeles, Alexa agrees to help the SCI in return for medical care for her sick mother. When she starts to suspect there’s more to the SCI than meets the eye will she believe Adam—the boy who saved her life and the SCI’s biggest champion, or Joshua—the attractive enigma who sings about conspiracy theories and pretends to be someone he’s not?

Full of action, humor, romance, twists and turns, clean slate complex is a companion story to the highly-praised dystopian novel, daynight. It can be enjoyed before or after readingdaynight.

LINK: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CFQY0JY

My REVIEW of Clean Slate Complex

Clean Slate Complex by Megan Thomason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a parallel story to the daynight story. This book takes a whole new and different look at the SCI and more sinister plots are revealed.

Megan Thomason is wonderful at creating a compelling story that leaves you wondering what could possibly happen next. I read "daynight" and thought I had a handle on the SCI and their role in society, but that was on Thera.

This book concentrates on what the SCI are doing on Earth. Their web is vast and intricate. They come across as a benign entity but their reach is far and corrupt.

Another great work form Megan Thomason.

daynight Second Chances Giveaway:

Choose what you enter to win wisely. Your stay on Thera may be extended indefinitely.

Highlighting a different giveaway every daynight of the Tour... International Winners will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate and US Winners may choose $25 GC in lieu of Prize Package.

US only. International winners will receive $25 Amazon gift certificate. US winners can opt to receive $25 Amazon gift certificate in lieu of any prize package.Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced on Rafflecopter and Grand Finale posts as well as emailed and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Burgandy Ice @ Colorimetry and Prism Book Tours and sponsored by Megan Thomason. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Become an SCI Recruit
The Second Chance Institute (daynight's Dystopia)

April   22 - Launch!
                - My Seryniti - Review
                - Little Library Muse
           23 - Tressa's Wishful Endings
                - Buckeye Girl Reads - Teaser
                - Marked by Books - Review
                - Red Headed Bookworm

Welcome to Thera!
Building Thera

           24 - Coffee Books and Me
                  Stressed Rach
                  Snuggling on the Sofa - Review
           25 - Christy's Cozy Corner - Teaser
                - All Fantasy Words - Review

Kira * Blake * Ethan
Character Backgrounds & Posters

           26 - Susie Q-Pons and Giveaways - Review
                - My Passion for Books - Review; Ethan
                - Paranormal opinion - Blake
                - The Cozy Reading Corner - Kira
                - Book, Books, the Magical Fruit - Teaser
                - Bookaroo-Ju - Teaser
           27 - Bookworm Lisa - The Characters
                - Getting Your Read On - Review

Cleaving
daynight's Controversy of "Cleaving"

           28 - Fantastical World of Wonders - Review
                - Pause Time
                - A Backwards Story
                - Beck Valley Books
           29 - I Am a Reader, Not a Writer - Teaser
                - Books Mystify - Review
                - Mel's Shelves - Review

Vacation on Earth!
Escapism

           30 - The Broke Book Bank - Review

                - Letters to the Cosmos - Review

                - Arriane Cruz 

                - Candace's Book Blog

May      1 - Life of a YA Girl - Review

                - Fuonlyknew - Teaser

                - Jack's Junk Drawer - Review

Risking Exile
Dystopian Survival 101

             2 - A Tiffyfit's Reading Corner - Review
                - Lovin' Los Libros - Review
                - Paulette's Papers
                - Becky's Barmy Book Blog 
             3 - Backing Books - Teaser
                - Book Snob - Review
             4 - Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
                - Living a Goddess Life - Review; Recipe

Clean Slate Complex

             5 - Mortality Bites
                - The Book Eater
                - Deco My Heart - Review
             6 - Passion and Life - Teaser
                - The Reading Diaries - Review
             7 - Grand Finale Blast!!