Blog Tour Stop: Guest Post by Jocelynn Drake Understanding a Males POV

Stepping into Gage’s Shoes:  Understanding a Man’s Point of View

By Jocelynn Drake

When I started writing novels from the first person point of view, there had been no question in my mind that my main character would be female.  As a woman, this was instantly the safest and wisest course of action.  I know that men and women see the world differently.  There’s a mountain of books that have been written on how the men and women view their environment differently.  I didn’t want to worry about sounding male when my main concern at first was sounding like a 600-year-old vampire (that’s hard enough!). 

But as I worked on the Dark Days series, I decided to stick a toe in the water in the fourth book (PRAY FOR DAWN) by telling the story from the vampire hunter Danaus’s point of view.  Not the easiest of tasks, but it was definitely fun and interesting.

When the Dark Days series came to an end last summer, I was presented with the opportunity to try something completely different.  The doors were thrown open to my imagination and the sky was the limit. It was thrilling and exciting!  I was back to playing god and the cosmos was spread before me, waiting for my unique brand of insanity.

One of the first things I decided was that I wanted to step away from the female point of view.  I loved working with my vampire Mira.  I loved her temper, her intense concern for her close friends, and the internal struggles that waged within her on nearly every page.  I loved her because she was so damaged and because she had to be the potential to become the villain as easily as she had the potential to be the heroine.

But with the Asylum Tales, I needed to stretch my skills and tackle some new terrain.  Gage was the perfect chance.  As the idea for the series started to form in my mind, the realization that my narrator was going to be male was one of my first decisions and I have never wavered from that.  I wanted to try to see the world through a guy’s point of view. 

With Gage, my first thought was that I had to watch the emotional baggage and turmoil.  Mira walked around unable to completely shed the demons from her past.  Gage has his own dark shadows, but he keeps them largely buried in the past.  The other thing that I’ve tried to keep in mind with Gage is that I’ve tried to rein in his emotional impulses.  When things go wrong, his first desire is to jump in and act, but unlike Mira, he’s been a little more careful, planning ahead in hopes of saving his own skin.

I think one of my favorite things is that I’ve turned off the little censor man when I’m writing as Gage.  Most people are gifted with a little man in their brain who is able to stop most of the stupid things that we think from coming out their mouths.  Gage’s censor man takes a lot of vacations and I’ve enjoyed just letting the first things that come to him exit his mouth.

Gage has been fun to work with because I think he represents all the male friends I’ve had during my life as well as both of my brothers.  While Mira tapped into my own personal dark side, Gage has been a great chance to stroll through some wonderful memories with old friends and family.   And like Mira, Gage has become a part of my private writing family along with Mira, Danaus, Tristan, Valerio, and Jabari from the Dark Days series.

 Prequel Novella available for Kindle or Nook
 Prequel Novella will be available September 4 2012


 Angel's Ink Book 1 in The Asylum Tales will be available October 16 2012

About the Author

Love comes in many varied forms.  There is the love of family, love of country,

 and love of chocolate.  But for Jocelynn Drake, one truly treasured love is the love of a good story.  

This Midwestern native spends the majority of her time lost in the strong embrace of a good book, whether she writing it or reading it doesn’t

 really matter.  When she’s not hammering away at her keyboard,

 frowning at her monitor, or curled up with a book, she can usually 

be found cuddling with her cats, Harley and Demona, walking her dog Max,

 or flinging curses at the TV while playing a video game.  

Outside of books, cats, and video games, she is completely enamored 

of Bruce Wayne, Ezio Auditore, travel, explosions, fast cars, tattoos,

 and Anthony Bourdain (but only when he’s feeling really cranky).

The New York Times bestselling author has completed the

 Dark Days series, with six books and two novellas, and is hard at

 work on her new series, The Asylum Tales, which will release two 

novellas and one novel in 2012.