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I've had a lot of questions over the past few years about how I came up with the idea of Wraith and the Zoë Universe. My standard pulling-it-out-of-my-backside wasn't cutting it anymore, so I figured I'd spill the beans here.

 My secret?

 Shakespeare.

Yep, old Bill is responsible for about ¾ of what's come out of this series. And the other ¼?

My dad.

How? What? Are you high? No. It all came from this quote:

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." ~William Shakespeare.

My dad gave me that quote during one of our numerous metaphysical conversations growing up.  He was a devout believer in the unknown-and that's how I'd describe him. He never really believed that all angels were good, and all devils were evil, but that circumstances drove them in moments that made them more than heroes, and less than Gods.

My dad believed that all things were flawed, and all things were possible.

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In the last post, I began a calm tirade about characters making the story.

That opinion hasn't changed.

Never will.

What I would like to talk about in this post (before I go into any Zoë details and ask for questions) is one method that can be used in learning characterization-in other words-how I build characters.

Anyone that knows me knows it's no secret that I'm a Gamer.

Not so much the stereotypical gamer-locked in a room or a house for hours with my hands melded into the controller, joining the ranks of the unwashed masses and a stack of pizza-boxes moldering in the kitchen garbage.

No, I'm talking more along the lines of table-top gaming, or affectionately known as Role Playing Games, or RPG.

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Donald Fauntelroy Duck turns 75 this year.

Wow.

That feathered treasure from my youth has aged a lot better then myself. Looking at the picture that graces the inside back cover of my books-I realize I'm out of date.

But Donald isn't.

What attracted me most to Donald in my younger years were two things: his voice (oh how I wished as a child I could mimic that voice!) and his differences to Mickey Mouse.

It's not that I didn't like Mickey-I just didn't like Mickey.

His voice caused my spine to cringe on many occasions-sounding more like the adolescent squeak of a child to a man during those cautionary pubescent years. And Mickey never seemed to get angry.

Whereas Donald? He had-and has-a temper and a personality all to his own.

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Phaedra Weldon is our guest blogger during the week of June 8th. If you have any questions for Phaedra Weldon, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on Phantasm:

The newest in a series that's "part paranormal whodunit, part urban fantasy" (Publishers Weekly) by the author of Wraith and Spectre.

Just when Zoë Martinique, formerly ordinary twenty-something, was getting used to the idea that she was possessed of extraordinary powers, she lost them. Without cause or warning. And at the worst possible time.

Now, unless she can figure out how to go Wraith again, she won't be able to rescue her mother, whose soul is trapped on the Abysmal plane.

Her only hope is to join forces with an old enemy, who has his own dark reasons for helping her. From him she learns that only a traumatic experience can bring the Wraith back. To get out-of-body, Zoë will have to look for big, dangerous trouble-and fast.

For there is a deadly and powerful being within the Abysmal that wishes Zoë never existed...and it's coming for her.

Read an excerpt from Phantasm.