Cast a Hero; Win a Book

Filed in: Contest Stuff | Writing
Tags: Field of Danger

Ray Taylor, former Marine and Memphis PD detective, is the sheriff of Tennessee’s rural (and fictional) Bell County. He’s a secondary character in my December book, Field of Danger—one who tried desperately to take over the tale. Obviously, he needed his own story.

Which he gets in a proposal I’m sending to Steeple Hill, working title The Murder Next Door.

I wasn’t really surprised that Ray tried to take charge of the first book. That’s the kind of guy he is—smart, people savvy, and probably the most alpha male I’ve ever created. Even the way he moves is precise, not an ounce of wasted energy.

What did surprise me is how fast I started to crush on him. THIS is a necessary element for me to complete any romantic story. For one thing, if SH buys it, it’ll make the book much easier, and faster, to write. I am already “hungry” for the next scene with him.

Now…to cast him. Ray is late 30s/early 40s. His look and actions still reveal that he was once a Marine, although he hasn’t been in the service for about 10 years. Short hair, dark to salt-and-pepper. Think a much younger Mark Harmon as NCIS’s Gibbs.

For some reason, WordPress no longer lets me post photos, so you can go here to see three ideas that I had—but I cheated on one, in that he’s a “morph”—a combination of two actors. The others are actors Campbell Scott and Jeffrey Donovan.

But I’m open to suggestions. If you were casting him, who would you pick?

There’s a reward involved here. Post or email me your ideas before July 6th, and I’ll send five folks (drawn at random) a signed copy of Field of Danger.

So . . . who would be your ideal Ray?

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