Lena did it. Go read her version of this first, ya hear me?
I know, I already posted today about the uber-agent rejection, but I have leisure to post again and I hardly ever have time these days to sit and just be, so deal.
And I’m actually gonna be serious. This time. Don’t get used to it.
Putting Faces to Characters ~AKA~ The Next Big Thing
What is your working title of your book?
An Ordinary World/Ordinary World. It’s part of a planned series, tentatively, The Luce Series. Luce means ‘light’, but I was told is also means truth and understanding, or a window into such, and I’ve always found that an amusing concept for the name of a secret club for vampires and other supernaturals that have to hide who they are from the real world. I’m weird. Don’t judge.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
To be honest, the story itself is older than dirt. I had the one character, Esteban Marquez, already in my head when I visited New Orleans for the first time. Then I saw this cool-ass building on the corner of Royal and St. Louis and he proclaimed it home. When I got back to Georgia (boo), the idea for the other main took on life because of my cat. This series consists of the untold–to anyone but my writing partner, and even she doesn’t know everything–story of what happened when they first met.
The whole idea, though, is that these guys have such relatively mundane lives. I mean, I wrote the two mains for so many years that they just went on with day-to-day things and grew and changed, and it was just… the way it was. Sure, one is a vampire that has to do some really vicious stuff, but he still has to place liquor orders for the bar. Sure, the other is a leopard shifter, but he still wants to go to college. So, while we see them as supernatural and, yeah, they get into real paranormal shit-storms, it’s “normal” and “ordinary” for them. Lien, a sixteen-year-old leopard shifter, at the start of the story, would rather ignore the fact that he can change into a melanistic leopard anytime he wants. He meets Esteban, a vampire, who he’s supposed to stay away from, and well, he just can’t stay away. Along the way, in books to come, he figures out that life with Esteban becomes “ordinary”. It might not be what Lien wanted at first, but there it is. It’s his life. It’s not awful–though in book one, it was horrible–it’s not strange for them. It’s just… different.
Isn’t that the way it is with everyone? Everyone has a different definition of “ordinary”, no matter how fucked up that “ordinary” may be. Some things aren’t black and white, and sometimes all it takes is one person–pun intended, as you will see–to make it “ordinary”. And perfect. For them.
What genre does your book fall under?
Urban Fantasy. Maybe Dark Urban Fantasy, I’m not sure. One of my mains is only sixteen, but it’s not YA by any stretch.
~
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Esteban Marquez is easy. For me Vincent Perez always has been and always will be Esteban. Granted, Este would never in a million years allow his goatee to become so unkempt as in that picture. Este is a five-hundred-plus year old vampire, who, depending on his mood, will say he was twenty-five or thirty when he was made. He’s from Merida, Spain (which really doesn’t exist that I know of-there’s a city in Mexico called Merida, though) and has a permanent set of non-retreating fangs that brush his lips when he speaks.
I know, right? *whew*
A long time ago I had the perfect pictures of Vincent that fit so well. Lemme look. Ok, here you go. This is the only one I can find. Not perfect, but we have his velvet jacket and all …
Lien is harder. How can you find a pic of someone with hair like spun rubies and the face of an angel. Or would that be the face of a half-fae leopard-shifter (shh-that’s a plot secret)? I’d like the reader to choose how they see Lien based on the book, where Vincent as Este is a no-brainer. He looks just like him. How about Esteban’s wife, Nita, instead? That’s an old pic of Sophie Marceau and its always worked well.
~
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
I suck at pitches. Next question. LOL!
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’m old-school. I believe in agents and Big Six (Five? Four?) publishing, and yet see the wisdom of smaller press, too. *shrug* I’m hopeful, but in the end we’ll see.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The one I just finished took six-nine solid months for a first draft. It took another six-plus for revisions/edits because I have a day-job from Hell, which made the final project look nothing like the first draft. And I do mean NOTHING. Book two is currently sitting at 3k after a couple of weeks. Just because I’ve written for twenty years doesn’t mean I knew how to write a novel. It was a bitch, yo? I spent a lot of that first book learning–like everyone should–so I’m hoping this one will go faster.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Adrian Phoenix and her Maker’s Song series. I don’t write in first-person and neither does she, and we both also have multiple POV. When I found her work it was such a rush. (no pun intended this time–if you get the pun)
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
That’s tough to answer because I don’t think it was any one thing. I’ve always wanted to move to novel length, but I think you have to reach a point in your life where you’re ready to do something like this, because this shit ain’t no joke. I was ready, and finally said, “Ok. Let’s do this. Out of the hundreds of people who live in your head, who do you love the most?” And the answer was my Luce-verse. I eat, sleep, and will die, New Orleans. The choice was easy.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The mains are male and most of the characters in general are either gay or bi-sexual and they make no excuses for the fact. Neither will I. They’ve often told me they have enough to worry about–like staying alive–than the gender of the person they love. (And there isn’t really much smut involved in my writing. There’s a fairly graphic rape scene in one book and a bit of the *bow-chica*, but no *wow-wow*.) Mostly, I think readers might like how real they are in spite of being supernatural creatures. They’re idiots and funny sometimes, but they’re also smart cookies. Some can kill with a glance, but they love with all their hearts.
And it made one beta reader cry. *fist-pump*
How about I just show you this?
AN ORDINARY WORLD takes place in New Orleans. Esteban Marquez, having dispatched the former Master of the City, now rules with the tenuous approval of the Vampire Council. However, all is not going as well as he planned. Someone wants to take what the five-hundred year-old vampire has won and the hub of his newfound power, the supernatural consortium, Luce–bound to him through preternatural power and blood– is recovering from an attack. Esteban is wounded and searching for answers while dealing with the mundane chores of his authority. Luce is healing, but not quickly enough to go unnoticed.
Lien, the wayward sixteen-year-old son of a leopard shifter king, is hell-bent on having a normal life in spite of his father’s stance on tradition. He wants college, parties, friends, maybe even a boyfriend; his father just wants him to stay home. The one word about vampires in the pard handbook says “NO” and Lien is good with that… until he wanders beneath Luce’s balcony and becomes the final, irresistible push that upsets Esteban’s precarious balance of power.
Something that could heal Luce and Esteban’s damaged strength is something–someone–he does not have; a One–one shifter meant for one vampire. Esteban may have found him in Lien. If only he had faith and his wife would stop interfering. If only Lien would believe that a One is not just another faerie tale. Lien’s decisions will save Esteban’s life, and cost Lien the lives of everyone dear to him.
~
Ok, serious-time is over. Ain’tcha’ glad? I’m not good at this stuff. I write. I don’t know anything about platforms or branding or anything else. It hurts my brain to think about it. So, here’s to spreading the misery.
Lisa Kessler – because I have always loved to torment her.
El Farris – because I hear she’s working on a new project.
Sinead MacDughlas – because I can.
Anthony Richer – because I like to torment Yoda, too.
~
Hop to it.
Namaste.
Oh you’re mean! LOL
But your book sounds great!!! 🙂
I’ve already done this for the book I’m finishing up now, so when I finish it and go back to finish Night Child, I’ll post one for that book…
Lisa
Yeah, yeah, Big-Shot, Lisa. Already done it.
😉
(I really do love Lisa, it’s just been my mission in life to give her hell since the day I met her.)
This just sounds so awesome. I want it to get published already so I can get a copy!
>So, while we see them as supernatural and, yeah, they get into real paranormal shit-storms, it’s “normal” and “ordinary” for them.
>Everyone has a different definition of “ordinary”, no matter how fucked up that “ordinary” may be.
I just love the way you say this. it’s amazing what can become ordinary. Stuff that regular folks would gape at is simply the daily grind for these type of characters.
Exactly. I just have no filter and have to drop f-bombs. Can you imagine if I ever did a video interview? They’d have a ten second delay and an intern with a finger on the *beep* button the whole time.
You can always volunteer to give me a crit….
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