Years ago (and still applies today), the experts were telling fiction writers that in order to really know their main character, they must come up with a character profile sheet for them and definitely applies to all your characters as well. This is a good practice because once you know all the ins and outs of all your characters, the book flows better and allows the author to get inside the head of each of their characters.
We decided to ask authors if they would like to come up with a character sketch of their main character, throwing in a few unique questions to make it really fun!
Today we have CT Liotta stopping by on his blog tour with a character sketch of his main character, Ian. Enjoy!
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Learn more about Ian!
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Name of Character: Ian Racalmuto
Age: 15
Eye
Color: Brown
Hair
Color: Brown
Birthplace: Lamezia, Italy
Marital
Status: Single
Place
of Residence: Philadelphia, PA
Description
of Home: Ian lives in South Philadelphia
with his grandfather, Mario, in an 18 foot-wide two-story rowhome with a yellow
awning. His bedroom is barely large enough to hold a queen-sized bed, which
touches three of the four walls.
Dominant
Character Trait: Denial
Best
Friend: Will Xiang
Enemies
and Why: Soccer team captain Craig
Brooks, who beat up Will; Richard Fenzel, deputy chief of mission at the US
Embassy in Algiers, who wants to kill him and start a war with China over a
grain trade imbalance.
Temperament: Moody. Brooding. Effective.
Ambition: Wants to be a wine steward, but keeps getting sucked
into the world of espionage.
Educational
Background: Attended international
schools two years at a time throughout the world while following his mother’s
career as a diplomat; consigned to a troubled urban high school in Philadelphia
after surviving a coup d'état in Algiers.
Philosophy
of Life: “When they hit low, we hit
hard.”
Bad
Habits: Bites his knuckle when scheming.
Talents: Spycraft, pickpocketing and legerdemain.
Hobby
or Hobbies: Winemaking and wine tasting.
Why
is Character Likeable? Ian cares about
his friends despite his best efforts.
Favorite
Pig Out Food: Lasagna
Character
Mini-Interview:
Every
New Year’s I resolve to: Find a girl I
like.
Nobody
knows I am: Next question, please.
I
wish: The girl who likes Will would get
hit by a bus.
The
worst part of my life is: Watching Will
get along with the girl who I wish got hit by a bus. Also, having no space in
my house for my wine fermenter.
A
good time for me is: 7 PM. (Laughs). I’m
happiest with a short glass of pinot noir and NPR on the radio in the
kitchen.
The
worst advice my mother gave me is: How
to incapacitate someone with a tattoo gun. It’s never come in handy - not that
it won’t ever.
When
I feel sorry for myself I: Throw a
baseball at the wall. You might think I’d drink wine, but my hobby is a serious
endeavour, not a solution.
My
major accomplishment is: I survived an
embassy raid in Algiers and a subsequent explosion when I triggered a bomb that
took the building down. Does that count?
My
most humbling experience was: I
underestimated Daequon Griggs, a classmate of mine and a friend of Craig’s.
Sometimes your rivals know you better than your friends. I can respect that.
Your story was told by a fellow
Philadelphian, CT Liotta. How’d he do? CT
took some dramatic license. He messed up some of the Italian. He uses ora, while
I’m more likely to say adesso. I also curse a lot more than Ian in the
book. I think he painted an accurate picture of Rick Finzel and his security
stooges. They don’t know which end of a gun barks fire. But hey, that’s what
happens when you contract embassy security to the lowest bidder.
You know that at age 15?
I knew it at age 12. I confirmed
it at 15. Would you rather talk sports? Because I think the Pirates are going
to break .500 this year. I haven’t checked the point spread in Vegas, but last
I heard it was in the negatives. Exciting times to be alive, for sure!
Meet the Author
CT Liotta was born and raised in West Virginia before moving to Ohio for college, where he majored in Biology. He now uses Philadelphia as his base of operations. You can find him backpacking all over the world.
Liotta takes interest in writing, travel, personal finance, and sociology. He likes vintage airlines and aircraft, politics, news, foreign affairs, ’40s pulp and film noir. He doesn’t fear math or science, and is always up for Indian food. His favorite candy bar used to be Snickers, but lately it’s been 3 Musketeers. He isn’t sure why.
He is author of Relic of the Damned!, Death in the City of Dreams and Treason on the Barbary Coast!
No Good About Goodbye is his latest book.
Visit him on the web at https://www.ctliotta.com.
Sign up for Liotta’s newsletter at https://ctliotta.substack.com.
Inside the Book
Title: NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE
Fifteen-year-old Ian Racalmuto’s life is in ruins after an embassy raid in Algiers. His mother, a vodka-drunk spy, is dead. His brother, a diplomat, has vanished. And, he’s lost a cremation urn containing a smartphone that could destroy the world.
Forced to live with his cantankerous grandfather in Philadelphia, Ian has seven days to find his brother and secure the phone—all while adjusting to life in a troubled urban school and dodging assassins sent to kill him.
Ian finds an ally in William Xiang, an undocumented immigrant grappling with poverty, a strict family, and abusive classmates. They make a formidable team, but when Ian’s feelings toward Will grow, bombs, bullets and crazed bounty hunters don’t hold a candle to his fear of his friend finding out. Will it wreck their relationship, roll up their mission, and derail a heist they’ve planned at the State Department?
Like a dime store pulp adventure of the past, No Good About Goodbye is an incautious, funny, coming-of-age tale for mature teens and adult readers. 308p.
PRAISE
“So many treats are in store for the discerning reader of CT Liotta’s brilliant YA novel NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE. There’s a diverse array of multi-racial/cultural characters, organized criminals with complex political goals underway, and keystone-cop humor/blunders often sparking from the evergreen enchantment of a push-pull romance between two young people, neither of whom have yet decided to identify as ‘gay.’ Rich with often realistically crude boy lingo, NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE is an utterly charming teenage LGBTQ falling-in-love adventure while simultaneously rocking an international crime storyline.” – C.S. Holmes, IndieReader
★★★★★ “Sharply observed and sarcastic as hell, CT Liotta’s debut is the gay teenage spy thriller we have long needed.” -Matt Harry, author of Superkid and Sorcery for Beginners.
★★★★★ I found this YA spy novel to be an utter delight! Fast-paced and witty, we traverse the globe with Ian, who just lost his mother and is charged with stopping a war with China. All the while he’s 15, enrolled in a High School from hell in Philadelphia and struggling with his identity. The author offers his own particular take on the importance of friendship and found family. He also very cleverly features different viewpoints, so the reading experience never feels stale. Honestly, I did not know what to expect going into this story – I however finished it converted into a fan! – Thomas S., Netgalley