As a writer, I get asked how I came up with my stories A LOT. I wish there was some epic process behind what I write, but in truth, I sprout so many ideas on a daily basis that sometimes it drives me nuts because I can't keep up. Some ideas are good and they stick. Others are just...really bad.
A little background: I was never the kid in home videos screaming and playing with other kids. No, I was the kid you saw in a corner when the camera panned half a mile to the left. I was the one with her doll singing to herself for a good ten minutes before realizing my mom was filming me. I have always been in my own world, writing stories since before I could spell. Really...I have a giant box of my stories and if you can learn to read like an eight-year-old, you might be able to make out what they are about.
Anyways, growing up, I was quiet. I still am as a 33 year old woman. I tend to stare out car windows daydreaming. Socializing for too long makes me grumpy because all I can think about is how much time I am wasting AWAY from my ideas. I love going to bed and closing my eyes, but not sleeping. There are a million worlds in my head and I visit them all every day. Now, about Beyond the Merillian.
About fifteen years ago, I was doing my daydreamy thing, as I do, and I thought "hey...what if there was a giant wall and on one side was one kingdom and on the other was another kingdom and they hated each other and never talked to each other, but one day, a princess got caught on the wrong side and met a bad boy prince dude and they fell in love?" Well, I guess something in me still liked that idea all these years later because after braving the publishing process a few times, I decided to finally put this idea to paper and BOOM. A series was born.
I really didn't think I'd stick with it for more than a book or two. I thought maybe I just needed to get some creative brain juice out of my head and move on. As a reader, I stick mostly to alien romance and some darker romance. As a writer, I'm clearly more into fantasy. I didn't choose it. It chose me. It's just ingrained in me like a tattoo on my soul! Too dramatic? Ok, I'm 2 energy drinks in today. Give me a break. I actually have a lot of scifi in the works and a lot of scifi written that has never seen the light of day, but when it comes to committing to a story, the fantasy genre tends to keep my interest. And I thought, there's not much ELVEN romance out there. Fae? Sure. Orcs? LOTS. But elves? I haven't found much. That and I wanted to make elves big, menacing, badass, and...well...hot as hell. So then came the big story behind the series. Elves and humans were at war. Humans built a wall when they figured out they couldn't win. Bada bing bada boom.
Ok, it took a little more thought than that, but you get the point. Now, about 2 years after the release of book 1, I have a folder of about six other book covers I've already designed for novellas I have already planned or partly written. The world is growing. Every character sings to me in a different way and I hope to continue the universe and even have ideas for a spin-off series focusing more on the trolls that appear briefly in the world. Yeah...trolls. There are tons of orc romances, but where are the trolls? Am I the only one wondering this? Yeah? Just me? Cool...
While I have my ASOF series still running and Genesis 2 in the works and even another installment in my vampire series a third of the way finished as well as a deep, horror romance outlined and my first alien romance nearly done, Beyond the Merillian has become my safe place where I de stress and leave my adult anxiety behind. So while there is no epic story behind how I came up with the world, it's still such a joy to write and create. As a child, fantasy was what I ate for breakfast and what I breathed all day and night, so it's nice to revisit my roots.
There is MUCH more to come! If you enjoy hot elven men and fantasy, read the series! Find your elven BF.
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