****
I Said I'd Never… Werewolves, Vampires & Paranormal Romances
By Jaime McDougall
When the Twilight books came out (and other series like True Blood became even hotter) and werewolves and vampires were the 'big thing', I swore one thing:
I will never write about werewolves or vampires.
It's not that I dislike(d) supernatural creatures. Quite the opposite. I love pretty much anything and everything paranormal. But I never wanted to write characters for the sake of a supernatural attribute. I didn't want to decide on writing a pixie and then figure out the character and story. I just don't operate that way. So, given that I'd never written werewolves or vampires before, I swore I'd never given into that kind of writing because I felt I had nothing to add to them.
Last year, a few weeks before NaNoWriMo 2010 when I was contemplating what I would be writing, Phoebe crashed into my mind. I'd just gotten into bed and not even turned off the lamp yet, and a clear picture of her running down a flight of stairs came into my mind.
I laid there for a while, watching this scene (that would later become the first chapter of Echo Falls) play in my mind as the woman ran outside the apartment building and got caught by a wolf who had been a man moments before.
I sighed and thought, Werewolves? I could just imagine her nodding to confirm.
Lo and behold, one of the subjects I had sworn not to write about became my first published novel. Not only that, I had a wonderful time researching werewolf behavior and hunting tactics. I spent a lot of time watching National Geographic, which I love to do anyway.
About nine months and many drafts later, I ended up with Echo Falls. Plus, I am participating in NaNoWriMo again this year to write the sequel.
Do I think I have cracked open an entirely new approach to writing werewolves? No. But I am happy in that I approached writing Echo Falls as writing a group of characters who happen to be werewolves instead of saying, "I'm going to write about werewolves; what will they do?"
Now, if any vampires come storming into my head some night as I'm getting ready to go to bed…
***
Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi, kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction authors.She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles. So You Want to Write a Guest Post: An Author’s Guide to Promoting with Guest Blogging is her most recent non-fiction ebook. She has also enjoyed writing a column called ‘The New Australian’ in local newspapers as well as various articles online.
Echo Falls is her first paranormal romance novel. You can buy it now at:
Amazon ( Kindle ) | Barnes and Noble ( Nook ) | Smashwords ( Multiformat )
Amazon ( Print ) | Barnes and Noble ( Print )
You can visit her website at InkyBlots.com
I loved this! I have Echo Falls and haven't been able to get to it yet, but what a neat thing to read about its beginnings. You always wonder how an author comes up with an idea for a book and there's a sequel! Good luck to you Jaime and can't wait for the sequel!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by - and thank you to Inside of a Dog for hosting me! I had a lot of fun writing this guest post and admitting to how weak my will is against my characters. ;)
ReplyDelete