Character Interview with Jordan from Sea Breeze

On May 27th, I published a romance entitled Sea Breeze. Jordan, my FMC, just stopped by for a quick chat. 

Jennifer: “Jordan, thank you for joining me today and congratulations on the new release of Sea Breeze. Tell me, what made you decide to take a cruise?”

Jordan: “That’s harder to answer than you’d think. I’ve lived in Vegas my entire life. This was the first opportunity I’ve had to leave. When my coworker, Kim, told me her “boyfriend” wasn’t going with her, I offered to buy the ticket. I needed it. Desperately.”

Jennifer: “Wow, so you’ve never left the city of Las Vegas. I can understand how that could be suffocating. I could use a vacation myself.” Where did you go? What did you see?”

Jordan: “Right.”

She squirms in her seat indicating I may have hit a nerve.

Jennifer: “Where did you go? What did you see?”

Jordan: “The plane ride was long, but once I arrived in Miami and glimpsed the ocean, my sore back was quickly forgotten. Fourteen days in the Caribbean. This ship was the size of a small city. I live in Vegas, so I’m used to large casinos and all that, but I never imaged something that big would be able to float on the water. And so much to do on board. San Juan, Puerto Rico is vibrant. So much to see and not nearly enough time. The food— my goodness. I tried so many different dishes in Puerto Rico. And the music was… intoxicating. Ocho Ríos, Jamaica was the closest thing to paradise I had ever imagined. Natural springs. Waterfalls. Rivers. Beaches. We spent most of our time in the water.”

Jennifer: “You and Kim?”

Jordan blushes.

Jordan: “No. Actually I didn’t really see Kim for most of the trip. She spent the majority of her time catching up with old friends. They had planned the vacation as a reunion of sorts. Her friends were nice, but I felt like a third wheel around them.”

Jennifer: “So who was with you in Jamaica?”

Jordan: “Eric. He’s a bartender on the ship which, initially, had me running in the opposite direction. I know what bartenders are like. But we hit it off.  He was… unexpected.”

Jennifer: “And?”

Jordan: “I wasn’t looking to meet anyone on this cruise. I took the trip for other reasons, but he’s interesting, sexy, and adventurous which really appeals to me. Eric really helped me open my eyes to the world and all its possibilities.”

Jennifer: “What would you like to say to our audience?”

Jordan: “Life is short. There’s a whole world out there to see. Don’t miss it.”

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Here's the blurb for Sea Breeze, a contemporary romance novella:

Jordan has never been in love, or been anywhere. Trapped in Vegas, she schleps drinks and dodges losers, while suffering under a burden only she can shoulder. Her life is an endless stretch of blah with no escape.

Until now.

Instead of looking back, she’s sailing forward.

Eric has left his family and friends in San Francisco to travel the world, tending bar on a cruise ship to fund his adventures. He can charm any coed who comes aboard, but Jordan sees right through him.

On the blue cobblestone streets of San Juan, everything changes. Food. Music. Exotic locations. Possibilities. Setting out to discover the world, will Jordan discover herself?

Sometimes, adventure can set you free…

If your interested in reading more, Sea Breeze is now available on Amazon and is free with Kindle Unlimited.

You can find me, my social links, and all my books on my website at www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

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Character Development- The Personality Test

This weekend I worked on an outline for a new series. Originally, it was just going to be a short, but the story has grown into more than just one book. So now, in order for me to write the short, I need to plan out the series. Yeah. It's a bit of a project. Not one I was planning, but I'm very excited about it. 

Which is why I need to do it right. I may only be writing a short for now, but if I want this to be the beginning of a series, then I have to know everything about my characters. What are their secrets? What are their habits; good and bad. What is their history? What is their motivation? I already know what the characters look like, how they interact with each other. But, in order for my story, and ultimately my series to be consistent, I need to know what makes each of them tick.

So I took a personality test as my FMC and MMC, separately, to find out their personality types. The results were consistent with what I had imagined for each character, but none the less, fascinating. It's too early to go into too much detail about the story or series, but I will reveal the results of the personality tests.

My heroine came back with a INTJ, also known as The Architect or The Mastermind. According to http://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality, "People with the INTJ personality type are imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, amazingly curious, but they do not squander their energy." According to http://www.truity.com/personality-type/intj, "Although INTJs aren’t usually warm or particularly gregarious, they tend to have a self-assured manner with people based on their own security in their intelligence. They relate their ideas with confidence, and once they have arrived at a conclusion they fully expect others to see the wisdom in their perceptions. They are typically perfectionists and appreciate an environment of intellectual challenge." Yep, that is her.

My hero came back with ENTP, also known as The Visionary or The Debater. According to http://www.16personalities.com/entp-personality, "Taking a certain pleasure in being the underdog, ENTPs enjoy the mental exercise found in questioning the prevailing mode of thought, making them irreplaceable in reworking existing systems or shaking things up and pushing them in clever new directions." According to http://www.truity.com/personality-type/ENTP, "ENTPs are typically friendly and often charming. They usually want to be seen as clever and may try to impress others with their quick wit and incisive humor. They are curious about the world around them, and want to know how things work. However, for the ENTP, the rules of the universe are made to be broken." I can't wait to write him.

I love it. These tests tell me what I know, but also what I haven't even thought of yet. They give me a chance to round out the characters. This is the first time I have taken a personality test as one of my characters, but it won't be the last.
This project is where my love of history and researching locations will come in to play. It will also test my organizational skills. But that's a different blog post.

Have you ever taken a personality test for yourself? Have you ever used one to assist in your character development? Did the results surprise you?

Come find me online at www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com