Blog Bash Day 23 with Joely Sue Burkhart + Giveaway
Sep 1, 2011
Hair Tribulations
Before Romance Trading Cards were popular, I'd planned to create some cards for my romantic fantasy series. This was literally years ago (The Rose of Shanhasson was published in 2008), but I was having a really hard finding my characters. I looked at thousands of pictures of smoking hot men, but none of them were right. In a word, what made this search so hard: hair.
All the warriors in that series had long (past their shoulders) hair. So even when I found a stockphoto that screamed the right personality and look for a character, I couldn't use it because it still wasn't right. I needed hair!
So I took a photoshop class, thinking I'd learn how to "paint" hair on a stock picture if I could find the right one, but alas, I have absolutely no talent in that regard. The few characters I'd managed to find the perfect picture for lingered in My Pictures, waiting for me to find a use for them again.
One of those pictures was this one:
This was supposed to be Rhaekhar, a barbarian warlord who'd never lost a challenge...until an outlander woman stood toe to toe with him and threatened to cut out his heart. Needless to say, he was instantly smitten. Even his clothing is almost right, because his people, the Sha'Kae al'Dan, wear short cloths about their hips. That smoldering look in his eyes: absolutely. The extremely muscular build... *drools* Spot on!
But his hair... *cries*
I'd forgotten about him, until I hired Book Graphics to create some website headers for me. Since one of my current projects is based on Maya mythology, I wanted to do an ancient pyramid, maybe a jaguar, and a really hot Mesoamerican-looking man.
Sigh. Here I go again, I thought. I'll spend weeks...months...looking for just the right picture...
And then I remembered Rhaekhar in my files. He's not exactly Mayan, but when Dawn put him up between the pyramid and the jaguar, he transformed in my mind into Tecun, the hero of my next Bloodgate book. If you'd like to see this header, stop by my website and flip through pages until you get one with a pyramid (the header changes dynamically). I absolutely love Tecun-Rhaekhar now, even without his hair.
And he does some very wicked things on that pyramid...
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18 Hottie Follwers Thoughts:
I think The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is already paranormalish, could be fleshed out into a great book.
Love the picture, we can all pretend that he has a pony tail that we can't see because his head is turned toward us.
Anne, that's a great legend! I loved the Johnny Depp version.
I hate when somebody says "Just make the photo, and if it is no ok, use Photoshop!" Well, maybe they are PS experts, but I can't do anything with it, so I understand your "hairy" problem ;)
Thanks for the international chance!
kasumigogo[at]gmail[dot]com
I am forever re-writing the story Hades and Persephone in my head. I can't help it! ;D
I have always been fascinated with ancient legeneds. I'm not sure if this is a legend, but The Fountain of Youth could be in interesting in a paranormal story.
Cambonified [at] yahoo [dot] com
I saw the header it is great!
I would like to see some Egyptian mythology.
beckerjo at verizon dot net
Kasumi, I tried so hard to add hair with PhotoShop, but it was impossible. I think my 3 year old (at the time) could have drawn better hair!
Oh, Julie, I'm guilty of that one too! Love Hades.
Na, you're right -- I don't think I've seen the fountain of youth done in a romance. Great idea!
JoAnna, thank you! Dawn did a great job on the pyramid header. I totally agree - I love Egyptian mythology too.
I have recently become intrigued with mythology and history outside of the standard Greek Pantheons and Scottish Highlands. I know, how could I? I would love to see books with Middle East or Far East mythology. Or middle European history. Thanks for the giveaway.
jepebATverizonDOTnet
I've always loved Greek Mythology, especially the story of Echo and Narcissus. Great post!
ruby95660[at]yahoo[dot]com
I love Greek mythology and for some reason Hades has always been one of my faves.
JenB - absolutely. There are so many wonderful Eastern myths/legends just waiting to be tapped!
Ruby and June, I guess I won't ever get tired of Greek mythology either. :-) So many great myths to pull from!
I also think Sleepy Hollow is a good idea. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
I know I'm late but...a modern day Hades and Persephone would be pretty cool!
I don't really know much about mythology, and am kind of fond of all the Greek stuff which is already pretty popular. Someone else thought of this but something Egyptian could be cool. Thanks for the giveaway!
jessicamariesutton(at)msn(dot)com
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