Mind over Mind by Karina Fabian book tour

It's the first time I'm hosting a book tour on Review Carnival. This is to promote Karina Fabian's hot new release- Mind Over Mind. Here's some important info for those of you who are intrigued by this new release. Title: Mind Over Mind Author: Karina Fabian ISBN: 978-1897942369 Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Karina-L-Fabian/dp/1897942362 Kindle Link: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-ebook/dp/B005D94LI0 Back Cover Blurb/summary: Deryl Stephen’s uncontrollable telepathic abilities have landed him in a mental health institution, where no one believes in his powers. But when Joshua Lawson, a student of neuro linguistic programming, takes part in a summer internship, he takes the unique step of accepting Deryl’s reality and teaches him to work with it. As Deryl learns control, he finds his next challenge is to face the aliens who have been contacting him psychically for years—aliens who would use him to further their cause in an interplanetary war. Karina has been very kind to do a post on What characters can't do. This is a great post for those looking to be authors or wanting to write something themselves. Here are tips from a master!

What Can't Your Character Do? By Karina Fabian The comment sighed at me from the sidebar: Is there anything this guy can't do? This guy is too perfect; give him some flaws. All Joshua was doing was making eggs. Really nice, fluffy scrambled eggs, sure, but that's actually the one meal he can do well. But, on top of the good looks, the talent, the intelligence, and the chivalrous attitude, fluffy eggs pushed my editor over the edge--and rightly so. We were a third of the way through Mind Over Mind, and Joshua hadn't done anything badly yet. Where were the flaws? It's easy to fall in love with our character and to want to show him in the best light--or even to set him up as Mr. Fabulous before showing the chinks in the armor. Sometimes, the other characters need to see him that way--but not the readers. Readers don't sympathize with a Mary Sue--they just get annoyed by him, as my editor was during what should have been a romantic breakfast. In order to prevent that, we need to make sure we know what they can't do--and introduce the flaws early on that the character is approachable as well as wonderful. It doesn't have to be drastic, either. In Joshua's case, I brought in some of his arrogance and immaturity. I also got rid of the expansive description of the eggs. (If he'd cooked something else badly elsewhere in the book, I could have kept that, but it never came up again, so better to leave it more "normal.") The next time you read about your character and think about how wonderful he is, stop yourself and ask--is there anything your character can't do? Be sure he's got his tarnish as well as his polish. It makes him all the more loveable.