(Stereotypes) Guest Post by Kate Hinderer - Emerald Isle Blog Tour

Hi everyone! Today, I’m going to let someone else run the blog for today (at least for a moment.) I asked Kate to write about character stereotypes.

Hey, I’m author Kate Hinderer and I’m lucky enough to be guest posting for the day as part of the blog book tour for The Emerald Isle. This book is part paranormal, part contemporary fiction and has adventure, romance, suspense, and a whole lot of sand.  (The book can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.)

(Left) Chris Pine as Tristan. Photo from bestof.provocateuse.com

(Middle) Nina Dobrev as Audyn. Photo from cdn04.cdnwp.celebuzz.com

(Right) Jake Abel as Levi. Photo from geektyrant.com

The Emerald Isle, and especially the guys in the book, play into stereotypes and turning them on their heads. Tristan is the dark-haired, tattooed, muscled brooding bad boy. When he first appears on the scene, Tristan terrifies Audyn with his mere presence. Levi, on the other hand, is the classic all-American boy next-door type. He’s got shaggy blonde hair and comes off as bashful and reserved. Audyn immediately falls for his quiet charm and shy demeanor. But in the end, things don’t turn out like they seem and stereotypes are turned on their sides.

I like playing with stereotypes and proving them wrong. We’ve got enough stupid stereotypes in the world why create one more with a story in which I can control the characters? I find, the books I like the most are ones that steer away from the typical football player dating the cheerleader surrounded by all the beautiful people in the world. I want my characters to have more dimension than that. I want them to be complex, like humanity really is. In a manner of speaking, I want my characters to live their own lives and be their own person, free from the expectations that the world or society places on them.

At the same time, I think stereotypes help to quickly create a mental picture and set the stage for what’s to come. Hopefully, readers are drawn into the fact that Levi seems like this adorable boy who could be your best friend or first love. Hopefully, too, they find Tristan to be dark and mysterious; someone with a haunting past and secret to hide. As an author I took advantage of the natural connotation that comes from a guy with a full arm-sleeve tattoo and then went and threw a curve ball into his character.

You’ll have to let me know if this ploy worked.

About Emerald Isle

To escape a bad break-up and fighting parents Audyn takes a job as a lifeguard at Fascination Island. The posh five-star resort lives up to its name in every way, including the strange rules the owner has about entering the water at night. Despite declaring it a boy-free summer, it isn’t long before the shy, endearing Levi and the mysterious, tattooed Tristan begin vying for her attention. When Levi tries to push his advantage and Tristan comes to the rescue, Audyn realizes there is more to both these boys and the island they inhabit. Suddenly, she’s forced to acknowledge a reality she’d never considered and to pick a side in the conflict that has been waging for decades.

About Kate:

Kate is a journalist by profession. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune special sections, The Milwaukee Business Journal, RelateMag, The SuperMelon, MercatorNet's Tiger Print blog, Sadie Magazine...

She started writing stories and novelettes in 7th grade. Her teachers thought she was copiously taking notes, but really she was penning stories about her classmates. That passion only increased in high school. The stories became longer and the passion for writing was deeply ingrained. As a junior she resurrected her school's student-run newspaper and opted to pursue a journalism career to harness her love for writing into a payable profession. Still the stories never stopped flowing.

Kate also writes a fashion and lifestyle blog called ModlyChic.  

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