Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the action-packed movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” are a
husband and wife who don’t know each other are assassins. The movie opens with
these two sitting in front of a therapist, squirming with discomfort; we guess
this is as much from the possibility of having to bare their souls—something an
assassin can’t do—as from the idea of talking about a marriage that has
obviously been filled with lies. Either way, it’s going to be entertaining.
And, oh, yes, the therapist kicks off the session with a bang.
“How
often do you have sex?” he asks.
“I
don’t understand the question,” Angelina Jolie returns, dead-pan.
“Is
this on a scale of 1 to 10?” Brad puts in.
“So
is 1 very little,” Angelina continues, “or is 1 nothing? Because, technically
speaking…zero would be nothing.”
So
it seems that Bran and Angelina haven’t been having sex for a while.
We
can hardly believe it.
The
episode is funny, touching, and intriguing, which is exactly the tone of my
reader-focused website, The Character Couch (www.charactercouch.com),
where fans can suggest their favorite romance couple to be brought into a light
therapy session. I say “light” because even though this is therapy, these
sessions are anything but angst-ridden. They are written in the same spirit as
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” drawing us in to be a fly on the wall and peek at
something we normally wouldn’t be able to see.
Will
there be amusing bantering in these sessions, a sense of firm, quiet resolve,
poignancy? Sure. All of it. Every session is different, but always
attention-grabbing.
Today,
I share about my new, unique endeavor.
What could we expect to
see if you had “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” on The Character Couch?
LOL,
well, I think first you’d see the therapist secretly getting cow-eyed over Brad
Pitt! And could we blame her?
I
created therapist, Regan Malloy, to be someone who has her own imperfections
and foibles. If there’s ever any struggling to be done in a session, she should
endure her share, too. I think that makes for a more interesting dynamic.
Each
session, I also have Regan change guises to meet the needs of the represented
romance genre, and this has been a lot of fun, too. She’s already been a 1960’s
Paris expat, a diminutive bespectacled Brit, and this month, as she faces down
two vampires from Susannah Sandlin’s book, OMEGA, she’s a wizened,
smart-talking “witch.”
Wow, what was it like
having a couple of vampires on The Couch?
Oh,
man, so great. I loved being able to add a paranormal tone to the session, and
vampires are definitely near and dear to my heart. My own paranormal romance,
THE BLOODLINE WAR, book one in The Community Series, is about a brotherhood of
vampire-esc Vârcolac warriors. So I
was really excited to sink my teeth into (pun intended!) Susannah’s popular
Penton Legacy vamps.
I have to say, Susannah came up with a brilliant
marketing plan for using The Character Couch to her best advantage. She ran a
contest with her fans, encouraging them to vote for the couple from their
favorite Penton Legacy Series book—REDEMPTION, ABSOLUTION, or OMEGA—who they
most wanted to see go into session. Fans headed over to The Character Couch
website, clicked Submit A Book, and the novel which earned the most votes won a
stint on The Character Couch. I was thrilled when OMEGA emerged victorious. The
hero of that book, Will Ludlam, is a real smart-mouth, and I was able to write
some funny stuff with him.
Sounds like this site
can benefit authors as well as readers.
Absolutely.
Especially for authors who write books in a series, having characters on The
Couch for one novel will build buzz for the next. Susannah’s next book, ALLIEGANCE,
comes out in June, and now her fans are really talking about it.
The
site also provides the opportunity for an author to expand her ever-important
social networking reach. Lively debates occur on site through the comment
section, and I’ve also launched a FACEBOOK page specifically for The Character
Couch, where fans can go to get to know the spotlight author, and her book, a
little bit better.
All
in all, I think that author participation on The Character Couch opens the door
for gaining new readership by providing a richer taste of a story and
characters to prospective readers than a blurb might do. At the same time, The
Character Couch gives readers an interesting way to find new authors through
these free short stories. It’s a win-win situation for authors and readers
alike. I could keep going. The potential benefits are countless.
So how does a session
typically end?
There
isn’t a “typical” with these sessions; that’s another great part. Every month,
it’s a new journey. I try to write these like a courtroom drama; you may think
the problem revolves around one issue, but it’s really another. Like with this
month’s Will Ludlam and Randa Thomas, they are…well, never mind. You’ll just
have to read it! You might see
something you weren’t expecting.
Like
the ending to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
During
the course of the movie, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have discovered that each
other are assassins. With the truth out, there’s hope for their marriage now.
They end up in front of the therapist again, recapping, still spouting off to
each other, but in a way that makes us chuckle; we know they’re going to be
okay. The therapist seems to agree, talking about how marriage takes work, but—
Brad
interrupts to say, “Ask us the ‘how many times did you have sex this week?’
question again.”
“John,” Angelina Jolie scolds quietly, while
Brad Pitt proudly flashes ten fingers outside of Angelina’s sight lines.
Oh,
yes, expect fun surprises!
CONTEST
Go to www.CharacterCouch.Com
and SUBMIT your favorite paranormal romance to go up on The Character
Couch. Lucky Participants will earn a chance to win:
·
$10 Amazon gift certificate and Kindle
copy of 5-star paranormal romance THE BLOODLINE WAR
·
3 Kindle copies of THE BLOODLINE WAR
(separate winners)
·
The Character Couch swag pack (T-shirt,
scented sachet, bookmark)
·
Indy Book Fairy Swag Bag
**
Don’t forget to comment while you’re at
The Character Couch website!!**
THE CONTEST ENDS IN 2 DAYS!!
After earning a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, Tracy
Tappan enjoyed several years of doing clinical work before devoting herself
full time to writing. She is founder and creator of The Character Couch, and is a
multi-genre author of gritty romance, spanning
paranormal, historical, and military suspense. During nearly a quarter of a
century spent as a military wife, she lived all over the United States and in
Europe, enjoying seven years in the diplomatic community overseas, first in
Rome then in Madrid. She’s now settled back in sunny San Diego, California,
with her husband, a menagerie of pets, and two children who seem to think they
can come and go as they please.
Her
latest release in her dark paranormal series, THE BLOODLINE WAR, about an
endangered breed of human who are kidnapping genetically enhanced women to save
their race, is available now. http://amzn.to/18XDygs Check out her great reviews!
DON'T FORGET TO ENTER GIVEAWAY
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