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Danie Ford: Listening to your Characters
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018

Their marriage was supposed to be a business transaction. Only love wasn’t factored into the contract. And he never expected he would fall in love with his husband.


One of my favorite tropes is the marriage/relationship in trouble. I like to see people/characters fighting for their relationships and the love they share. Struggling with life circumstances but working their way back to each other. I think that is because I am a character-driven writer.

Characters come to me first.

The Marriage Contract started as a completely different story. But the characters would not cooperate. Over the years, I’ve learned not to argue with my characters.

It’s useless. So I let them guide the story. And more often than not, turns into a better story than I originally planned.

Grant Thornton and Tristan Castillo are the heroes of the story. And as far as characters go, Grant was more stubborn than Tristan. Tristan was just dark, broody and scared. And one night as I was watching television, Tristan popped into my head and this version of the story was born.

Then I started peeling back the layers. I looked at the character histories, their flaws and baggage and use that to plot the scenes and develop the story.

And then the puppies got involved. Not one puppy but two.

The Marriage Contract is about to flawed, vulnerable men who are afraid to take a chance on love. But also afraid not to try to love.

Thanks to Delilah for having me on her blog. As a bonus, here’s the reveal of the new cover for The Marriage Contract.

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Tristan Castillo wants to make his marriage work, but there’s one problem— his husband. Not only is Tristan coming home, he’s bringing a surprise, a puppy named Apollo. But when he arrives home, he gets a surprise of his own. Grant adopted a dog too. And when he hears Grant named his puppy, Zeus, he figures it for a sign that they are meant to be together.

Tech mogul and closet jazz musician, Grant Thornton needed a husband to get past the codicil in his grandfather’s will. It was supposed to be a simple business transaction. Only love wasn’t part of the bargain and Grant doesn’t know if he loves Tristan or the things he does to his body.

As a former Marine and Michigan State Trooper turned chocolatier, Tristan is used to going after and fighting for what he wants. Sure, love wasn’t in the contract but it’s not something you can put a value on either. He came back to win his husband and he’s going to pull out all the stops to get Grant to open up to the possibility of love and a happily ever after with him.

With the help of Zeus and Apollo, Tristan and Grant start their journey towards forever. But old demons and old habits threaten to keep this union a true marriage of convenience.

LINKS:
Apple/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1419339545
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-marriage-contract-42
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Danie_Ford_The_Marriage_Contract?id=PcFmDwAAQBAJ
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-marriage-contract-danie-ford/1127276066;jsessionid=D5133EF8ABBCDE31F3FFC3DF229DF32B.prodny_store01-atgap10?ean=2940155688273
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075GWY8VH