David Bond – Fictional Romantic Interview – Part 2 of 3

Shannon here: Inspirational author, David Bond shares insight into his fictional characters’ romance from his latest release, A Time to Build. Comment on any post dated June 11 – 15 for a chance to win your choice of The Attache or A Time to Build e-books. Deadline: June 23, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s David:

• Is there an event or pivotal moment when your hero recognizes some special quality in the heroine?

 Brian (hero) knew Hallie (heroine) years ago. When she unexpectedly shows up in town after many years, igniting old memories of a past event Brian would like to forget, he at first tries to distance himself. He slowly begins to realize his attraction to Hallie all those years ago has not lessoned, and as they interact as mature adults, he sees numerous fine qualities in Hallie which ultimately draw her to him, again. 

• Is there an event or pivotal moment when your heroine recognizes some special quality in the hero?

Hallie doesn’t remember Brian. He looks different than he did 13 years earlier. While she has significant things to deal with, one of them wasn’t falling in love. Brian proves to be a good friend, even though he is keeping his distance, or trying to. The moment she realizes she loves him comes after months of being Brian’s friend, and after she opens up to Brian about her own troubled past. 

• How soon after meeting the heroine did the hero know she was the one?

Brian spends a lot of time denying his attraction to Hallie. Once he sees the futility in this, he longs for her, but a past event haunts him and he believes he is unworthy, and that Hallie will run from him as fast as possible if he confesses.

•  How soon after meeting the hero did the heroine know he was the one?

Hallie’s preoccupation with running her new café and rebuilding her life leave little time for her to contemplate the future possibilities of a mate. She too doesn’t come to understand she and Brian are meant for each other until she finally begins to understand herself, and more importantly, how God is working in their developing relationship. 

• Who said, “I love you” first, your hero or your heroine?

Sure you want to know? His initial is “B!”

• Does the hero or heroine “close” the door on the relationship at some point?

They both keep the door on the relationship closed, but for different reasons. Brian strives to remain detached out of shame, and Hallie insists she can not be in a relationship with a non-Christian.

• Are either the hero or heroine, or both, involved in a plot twist in the story?

There are a couple of surprises near the end. Both Brian and Hallie reveal something about themselves the other didn’t know.

• If your hero and heroine end up married, where will they go on their honeymoon?

Well, since this is a romance, I guess it’s a given they get married. The timeline of the marriage, as with the honeymoon, are beyone the end of the novel. Based on the time of the year they get married and they’re circumstances, they’d probably get away for a week and they’d probably take advantage of some good prices in either Mexico or the Caribbean. 
About David: David Bond is blind. He lost his eyesight due to diabetic complications in 1988, less than two years after getting married. He was previously involved in different areas of the construction industry, from manual labor, to project management. One of his jobs involved drafting, in the days before CAD. He graduated from Reading Area Community College with an AS in Technical Illustration, and later, after losing his sight, graduated from Lancaster Bible College with a BS in Bible and a minor in Biblical Counseling. He was the Program Director for a ministry to victims of crime for five years until 2000.
David has been involved in writing since the early 2000’s. He was first published in an anthology, but began learning the craft of fiction following that. Authors like Gilbert Morris, and Richard Paul Evans, and a wide variety of authors have helped shape his style over the years.
David’s Christian faith is an important component in his writing. His stories involve characters who struggle with real-life issues, and who ultimately realize the God of the Bible is able to help them.
His stories are not meant to preach, but to model. Christians, or people unsure about Christianity, will find entertainment, emotional conflict, and resolution in his books. But always, Biblical principles and Godly character are demonstrated in the lives of his characters.
David lives near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, along with his wife and teenage son. They have a beagle who loves peanut butter, and can chew up any toy on the planet!
About the book: Brian Marshall lives a quiet, serious life. At age thirty-three, he’s content and reasonably prosperous. When a new client steps inside his office one July morning, and he recognizes her strikingly beautiful face, his thoughts are thrown back in time thirteen years, to a time when he committed perhaps the greatest mistake of his life.
Hallie Grover has come a long way in thirteen years. When she left central Pennsylvania as a dispirited seventeen-year old to live with her divorced mother in California, she couldn’t have imagined the path her life was to take. Will she be able to handle her new life, owning and managing a small café in McCane, Pennsylvania? And will she be able to rebuild a relationship with her sister, and a thirteen-year old girl she’s never had the chance to know?
Brian fears Hallie will one day remember him. He knows he needs to keep his distance, but it’s impossible.
Hallie blossoms, but is she ready to embrace a relationship she wasn’t expecting?
Come back June 15th for an excerpt from A Time To Build.