Carly Phillips on dressing her characters for success

Carly Phillips, author of Dare to Rock, book seven in her Dare to Love series, had some fun dressing up her latest heroine (and did some shopping of her own at the same time).

Carly: As a writer there are times that writing can be extremely difficult. Sometimes just getting words on a page is the hardest part. Then there are the other times when writing turns into something really, really fun. As an author, my goal is to try to have the most fun possible with my characters while I'm crafting their story.

For instance in my latest release, Dare to Rock, the main character, Avery Dare, is a fashion and makeup blogger. While Avery was coming alive in my mind and I could see her personality starting to form, knowing what her backstory was, I knew deciding on her occupation was the absolute best decision I could make for her.

Especially when I was able to spend a whole lot of time at Sephora (online and offline) finding new products she could mention in the book. Like, seriously, there's a blush called Orgasm — how could I NOT use that in Dare to Rock? As a woman, I must admit that I have a serious makeup addiction. Luckily, my husband doesn't put up much of a fuss when I find something that I just HAVE to have. So doing my "research" for Avery's profession was really fun!

There's a serious side to Avery, though. She went through some things as a kid dealing with her father, who surprised her family by having another illegitimate family (with several children!). One of those children is Sienna, who needed a bone marrow transplant to stay alive. Avery ended up donating and saving Sienna's life. But as a result of her father's lies, she always felt that she was second best to Sienna in his eyes. As you can imagine Avery has issues with insecurity.

To overcome those I felt she really needed to have her own style and especially have a way to boost her self-confidence. We all know that outside appearances can make your self-confidence soar. You look good, you feel good. And in some instances you may even fake it to make it.

Dressing Avery, picking out her clothing and giving brief descriptions was really fun — I spent some time online looking at clothes (and may even have bought some for myself) and picked out clothing that was Avery. Plus, there's always the question of what characters would be wearing for easy access in certain … shall we say, intimate scenes?

That's not all, though — Avery also uses her skills in fashion and makeup to not only make herself look good, but to help others around her. Without giving away anything, let's just say Avery's heart lies in giving back to children who have experienced illness firsthand, and she does it in such a fun, encouraging and outgoing way.

On the other side, there's Grey Kingston. He's a rock star retiring to go back home hoping to win back the girl of his dreams. That girl just so happens to be Avery. Dressing him for "success" was super easy — rock star equals jeans, T-shirts — items of clothing that he can, well, rock out in when the time is right. He's a ROCK STAR, and as a writer you don't really have to give many details on clothing to make those guys hot. All I'm saying — he's a rock star for a reason.

About the book:

Avery Dare lives a quiet life in Miami as an online fashion/makeup video blogger. She has good friends, a close, large family and if her love life is lacking, she likes it that way. But when she receives an invitation to one of her ex's concerts along with an invitation to meet him back stage, she decides to take the risk… and comes face to face with the reality of his rock star lifestyle - the press, the crowds, and the half-naked groupies.

At eighteen, Grey Kingston left everything he knew and loved behind to seek fame and fortune as a rock star, and he found it as the lead guitarist and singer for the band, Tangled Royal. Fans adore him, women throw themselves at him, and he can afford everything he couldn't growing up. Yet at the height of his career, he's ready to walk away and return home to a simpler life… and the woman he left behind, if he can convince her to give him another chance.

Except moving on isn't as easy as Grey would like. When Avery is threatened by a stalker, it becomes evident Grey's fans not only don't want him to retire, they don't want Avery in his life either. And Avery isn't sure she wants the pressures that are part of Grey's life… but she doesn't want to lose him again, either. Can their recently renewed love survive the fallout?

Find out more about Carly and her books at www.carlyphillips.com.