When Old Ideas Turn Into New Books

For once, I'm able to contribute to this month's theme! The book I'm finalizing at the moment - Tales of the Were: Grif - started off as an idea way back in 2005 or so. I wrote a good portion of it - probably somewhere around 30,000 words or more - and then let it sit while I did other things.

Maybe I got "stuck". Maybe I just got busy with dragons or aliens or whatever. I can't really recall anymore. Suffice to say, the book sat. And sat. And SAT. Unloved. Unfinished. Unfortunate.

But always in the back of my mind, there were these characters and this situation. A werecougar Alpha who had just sustained terrible loss in his family, and his little sister, both seeking the solace of the mountains to try to heal. And a woman. A human who knew about shapeshifters, who had a debt of family honor to settle.

I wrote about them in other books. I used members of the werecougar family in other stories, all the while knowing there was this older brother out there and all this tragedy in the family's past. I knew these people. I wanted so badly to finish their story, but after so much time had passed, I really wasn't sure how to go about it.

Then, last Christmas, I started self-publishing some of my paranormal stories. The first was Tales of the Were: Rocky, a novella I had written for an anthology call years before. The story was ultimately turned down and my editor at the time wanted me to expand it into a novel. I never quite got around to it before that editor left and I had this great story sitting on my hard drive for years.

I finally polished it up and added to it. I turned it into the story I had really wanted to write originally, but was constrained by the terms of the anthology call to change. I gave Rocky new life and sent him out there, into the world, to see what people might think of my werebear creation.

The response was like nothing I ever expected.

I had figured on just self-publishing the story for my own enjoyment. And maybe for those few, die-hard fans who might like to know where Rocky - a character who had a bit of a cameo role in my book Lords of the Were - had come from and what had happened to him after we first meet him in Lords.

Rocky's book led to a new character. A mysterious shifter named Slade. I was enchanted by him and wanted to know more about him. I sat down and wrote his story in January and February, then published it in March of this year as Tales of the Were: Slade. He was an entirely new character who had come from that "old" book about Rocky.

And then I started to realize how I might circle back around to Griffon Redstone - the werecougar Alpha I had started to write about so many years ago. I finally understood how and where his story fit in among the others I had been writing all this time. Not only that, but I realized where his brothers' stories fit as well.

And now I've started work on a 5-book sub-series of werecougar tales revolving around the Redstone Clan of cougar shifters. The first story - the one I started work on all those years ago - will be out later this month and is called Tales of the Were: Grif (Redstone Clan #1). I know that's a bit of a mouthful, but I'm not sure how else to clarify that this story fits firmly under the Tales of the Were series, but is part of its own little sub-series of 5 stories - one for each brother in the Redstone family.

The first book is, of course, about Grif, the eldest of the five brothers. It is the same story I began so long ago, but I finally know how to end it! There will be other books, later this year, for Mag and his vampire mate, Steve, Bobcat, and the ever-popular Matt, who was also featured in my book Sweeter Than Wine.

It's been a long time coming, but I feel like I'm finally on the track to fulfilling the promise of that story I began writing so long ago. The old idea is new and the "new" ideas that helped me finally finish this story have made it blossom into something I never really expected. I hope you'll enjoy the ride as much as I will!

Tales of the Were: Grif will be releasing in ebook in late May on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. It will release in print in June. Look for it to arrive on iTunes, Kobo, and other fine ebook and print retail sites mid-June. For more information, please visit www.biancadarc.com.

Mixing Things Up...

Dragons are perhaps my favorite characters to write. Why? They're playful, smart, strong and sort of mysterious. At least my dragons are. Then there are the dragon shapeshifters. My dragon princes are half human/half dragon. They've got all the cunning and power of the dragon and Alpha maleness to the Nth degree. Hubba hubba. ;-)

As it happens, I had a new dragon book come out earlier this month. It's called DRAGON STORM and it's not only a fantastical visit to my dragon world, but it's also a dimension-travel tale that brings twin dragon princes to our modern world where they meet their destined mate (yes, it's a very naughty menage!) and bring her back to their medieval-ish world. Yes, I'm really mixing it up in this book! It's out now in ebook and will be in print sometime next year.

But I've got something even more daring coming at the end of next month. Zombies. Yep, I said zombies! Not a word you'd normally associate with romance, but like I said, I really like to mix things up. ;-) I'll post more about it next time, but keep an eye out for a duology called HALF PAST DEAD from Kensington Brava. It's my first-ever release from a big "NY" publisher and it contains the novella that will launch a series of military paranormal romances I'm calling Guardians of the Dark.

The first novel in the series will release in March, titled ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD. The heroes in the series are all special ops military dudes and their task is to fight the zombies alongside some cool women who come into their lives. The heroine of the first novella is a Navy doctor. The heroine of the first novel is a county cop. There will be at least three more of these stories - one more novella that will release later in 2010 and two more novels.

Zombies may not sound sexy, but believe me, the men who fight them are super hot. *fanning self* When I was asked to write about zombies, my first thought was "Huh?" But then I thought about it a bit and I realized it was the next logical step for the paranormal genre. It pushes the boundaries, which is something I'm used to doing and it was definitely a challenge. Hopefully you'll like the mix of menacing zombies and heroic protagonists who are tasked with saving us all. I wouldn't call these books "horror" but they definitely have some suspenseful moments here and there, in between a whole lotta romance.

I can't wait to hear what you all think of not only the zombies, but my latest dragon adventure. Have I gone too far mixing things up yet? LOL.

A RAW Weekend

Checking in from the road, I just wanted to talk a little about the weekend I just spent signing books and meeting readers and authors at Lora Leigh's Reader Appreciation Weekend (RAW). It was absolutely fantastic and I was flattered to be included in such a great roster of writers.

I roomed with Sylvia Day, who was on deadline and had to try to write during the event, as did Shelley Bradley (aka Shayla Black). Now that's dedication! I had breakfast yesterday morning with Lorie O'Clare and Lora Leigh - two of my favorite authors! It was so cool to meet them and chat. I also got to talk with Christine Feehan, my pal Jacquelyn Frank, Lucy Monroe, Veronica Chadwick, Mary Wine, and a bunch of others.

The readers were absolutely terrific! I met so many people and had such a great time chatting with everyone. I love these kinds of events where I get to talk with all kinds of people and learn new things. I had a really great time!

In other news, Wings of Change is doing very well. (Thanks to everyone who's read it already!) And things are on track for my next paranormal release, Sweeter Than Wine. Lots of folks were asking me about it this weekend and I'm happy to say the manuscript has been turned into my editor and we'll be working through edits in the next few weeks.

Sweeter Than Wine will bring together my vampires and werecreatures in a very tangeble way. ;) They were always inhabiting the same contemporary paranormal world, but up 'til this book, I don't think it was completely clear. Though this book is not a direct sequel to Lords of the Were, some of those characters do make a cameo appearance in Sweeter Than Wine and the over-arching story about the Altor Custodis (a secret society of watchers) and the evil Venifucus is advanced. This story paves the way for the more direct sequel to Lords of the Were, which I've tentatively titled Inferno because it's Dante's story. ;)

I'll be recovering from RAW for the next few days as I extend my trip a bit. When I get back home, be sure to check my official blog for a contest where I'll be giving away a RAW T-shirt and some of the goodies I picked up over the weekend!

How Can You Read That Stuff?

Ghost lovers
Seductive Vampires
Lustful Daemons
Passion-ridden Shifters
Fiery-blooded Fey

The paranormal by its very nature seems to illicit the erotic in us. The idea of ghostly hands gliding over our bodies, or nocturnal lovers kissing along a vein, now induces shivers and longing, the way it once brought terror and recoil.

We once feared the monsters just as we once feared sex. Is it any coincidence that as we began to embrace our sexuality and sexual fantasies, so too did we embrace the legendary monsters?

As we began to accept our desires and the otherness represented within them, we also began to accept the archetypes that we once foisted those repressed feelings upon. Thus, in truth, when we opened the door to the Vampire, it was ourselves we were inviting into the light. It was our beasts we set free beneath the shifting moon and our own lust we raised in graven circles. It was the ghost of our desires denied that we summoned to us in the night, and with whom we danced on the solstice to pan pipes beneath darkened skies.

Our wants and impulses ceased to be monstrous and became the heroes of our stories. Often alone or misunderstood, they are just as often unashamed and unmoved by anything save love, and we refuse to let them go no matter how many variations we see. (Or how many times we see the same one).

I believe that the paranormal found its way into romance and then further into romantic erotica because we hungered and in turn we called to the creatures that had always hungered. We stripped from them the façade of evil and gave them hopes and dreams and fears, because as always, we needed them to carry what we could only partially claim. We own our sexuality, but we still falter at our taboos.

When we flay away the humanity of a hero, (male and female alike), we leave them bare to the things that rarely survive the crush of social conditioning in our mundane lives. We open them to everything we must turn from and protect against in order to be accepted by those around us. Whether submission or dominance, forbidden passion with one, or multi-partnered lovemaking for days, be it top, bottom, side or diagonal, we can have it all. We can have everything that even standard contemporary romance would pale to touch.

We embrace the paranormal because within us live desires and yearnings that are more than normal, that are beyond the normal of those who do not understand. We pair it with romance because as we love those characters, so too do we get to love the deepest parts of ourselves. We pull in the erotic because we wish that love freed to be explored in unapologetic bliss and unashamed splendor.

I ask you…What could be better?

So the next time someone judgmentally confronts you with, how can you read that stuff, smile sadly and shake your head in sympathy as you ask, How can you, not?.

I’m Xakara, it was a pleasure to meet you all for a short ramble through the gothic mansion of my mind.

Erotic Paranormal Romance Ramble Done

~X