Guest post by YA Mystery Author Gin Price: Characters Rock Out Too. “That’s My Fruit Preserves!”

One of the coolest aspects of writing a new book for me is deciding the tone of the story. I love figuring out who my characters are and because of who they are, where they will take their tale.
               Part of determining who they are, is determining who they dance in the shower to. Does the character secretly love show tunes, and screams out “One Day More” at the top of his or her lungs, or is the character more inclined to listen to death metal and scream into the spray of water until their throat burns. Or, creepy yet…does the character hate music? Does the character think anything that can affect the mood is manipulation of some sort?
               Usually when I’m writing, I hit random music on the playlist, a mix of all genres until I think…yeah, this is (insert character’s name here)’s song.
               Sometimes I will have an idea of the character already, and I’ll try and find an anthem for them.
               Back in my roleplaying days (yes I’m a proud dork) when you entered a chat room, you’d have a sound wave you could play that gave a short excerpt of music that represented your character. Of course you had to mail it to everyone who didn’t have it so they could hear it, but I always enjoyed knowing what music other role-players felt represented their characters.
               I think that kind of stuck.
               For each of my characters in the book On Edge, I had a song that I always thought of for them when they entered a scene.
My main character, LL, is a strong tough girl. Maybe a little too tough. For her, I like to listen to Esthero. That group has always signified strength for me. But her favorite band is Imagine Dragons, and she loves the song Radioactive, even though it has been grossly over-played in the past.
Haze, the graffiti artist LL falls in love with, has System of a Down on his Pandora.
Warp, LL’s hot-head brother—I swear every time I write him I am humming “Up In Here” by DMX.
Surge, one of LL’s two besties, is a massive Eminem fan, the older Shady stuff.
Liv, the other best friend, is a fan of Gwen Stefani…secretly. She’d never admit to having a high opinion of anyone.
For my next novel, I need to find new music for the surviving characters, and I think that’s going to be one of the more fun parts of plotting. Gotta have a playlist after all!
Anyone who has read my book, I’d love to know what music you think represents the characters as you’ve interpreted them.
I’d also like you to share some of your character’s theme songs. Or maybe even one for you personally. 
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Title:  ON EDGE
Genre:  Mystery/YA Mystery
Author: Gin Price
Publisher: Poisoned Pencil
Find out more on Amazon
About the Book: 
When a serial-killing graffiti artist starts painting your picture all over town…it puts a girl on edge.
Emanuella “LL” Harvey puts her gymnastic skills to good use as a member of her brother’s Parkour group. Freerunning, jumping, and climbing over their corner of the city like it’s an obstacle course gives them something to take pride in and keeps them out of trouble—sort of. But trouble finds LL when she runs into Haze, a talented graffiti artist whose sister Heather was murdered two years before. Freerunner and Writer promptly fall in love, but they decide to hide their relationship till they’re sure it’s the real thing—and until they can find a way to placate LL’s hotheaded brother, who has it in for Haze and his gang. But when portraits of LL—done in Haze’s distinctive style—start popping up on city walls, all hell breaks loose. LL’s brother threatens a gang war, which LL tries to avert by identifying the Writer who is really responsible for the paintings. But when another teen is murdered, it looks bad for Haze, especially when LL discovers that Heather’s killer and her portrait-painter are one and the same.
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About the Author: 
Using knowledge learned from her childhood environment, Gin Price’s writing is often steeped in street life, whether good or bad. Hoping to show support for art that is often misunderstood, she published her debut novel, On Edge, focusing on graffiti and parkour, two expressions dear to her heart. Currently, she is a resident in the Metro Detroit area, living with her loving biologist man, David, her two children, Shyla and Hayes, many reptiles and a troublesome cat named Wallace.
Connect with Gin Price on the web:


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