I guess that’s really a no-brainer. As much as I love a good spin cycle, starting off on the journey of discovery with a group of characters has to be one of the greatest thrills in life. Sure, there will be rough spots along the way as the story unfolds, but that’s just part of the process.

Right now I’m playing with that all important opening scene, trying to set the right tone in order to draw the reader into the story. I can see it all so clearly—the hero setting off on his journey, one that will bring him pain and hopefully joy. For now, the heroine remains blissfully unaware that change is coming her way that will turn her world upside down.

I’m also considering which secondary characters will be necessary for the story. I tend to write large ensemble casts, and I often bring back characters from earlier books in the series. Even so, each book has its own requirements. This one may have some feisty, little old ladies—just what a big, tough Paladin needs to keep him on his toes, right? But a few familiar faces will be crucial to the story development.

I love getting to know my characters through the unfolding of their story. I always know some things about them going in—like this hero drinks tea, not coffee—but I don’t really KNOW them until I’m well into the book. Sometimes that means taking a few unexpected left turns while writing the book. Luckily, I like surprises.

So, I’m off to start another load in my shiny, new washer. But while I’m adding detergent and pushing all those cool buttons, my mind will be elsewhere—following my hero and seeing where the adventure takes us both.

Interestingly enough, these two stories have a lot in common–at least on the surface. The heroines are both half-breeds. In Keri Arthur’s book, the heroine is half vampire and half werewolf. Jeaniene Frost’s heroine is half human and half vampire. Both work for agencies who police renegade vamps and other nonhuman species. Both women have loved and lost someone.

Despite the similarities, these two authors have taken a common mythology–vampires–and made it uniquely their own. The world building in both cases is rich and dynamic, pulling the readers in and holding them hostage until the last page is turned. Amazing, simply amazing. One of the many things I love about paranormal romances and urban fantasies is all the creative energy writers put into building the worlds that serve as the backdrop for the stories.

I love vampire stories–always have and don’t see that changing anytime soon. I’m sure this fascination with all things fangy is in large part due to the alpha male heroes and equally kickass heroines that populate the stories. But as a writer, I also love to see what each author does to make their characters come alive on the page, if that’s not an oxymoron considering we’re talking about the undead here. Think of all the vampire stories you’ve read and how different they all are.

That’s one reason I’d never written a vampire story myself. I’d yet to come up with a new twist on the old themes, something that would make my vamp world different from all the others. I think I finally did that with the short story I have coming out in August in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE. Writing a short story was a new experience in and of itself, but the real challenge was creating my own vampire world and making it distinctive. I think I succeeded, but only time will tell.

What’s the guilty secret you ask? Okay, I’ll share—GARGOYLES. I don’t know if anyone else watched this dark, wonderfully intelligent cartoon series, but I loved it. Tragic dark heroes, condemned to live as stone, betrayed and cursed. What’s not to love???

In a completely different vein, I ordered a DVD of another old favorite for my brother for his birthday. Have you ever seen EVIL ROY SLADE, starring John Astin? OMG, it is a hoot of a western parody filled with bad one-liners, puns, and some just plain funny jokes. For example: The school marm is trying to educate Evil Roy (who was raised by wolves, I think). She asks him, “If you have six apples and your neighbor takes three, what do you have?” His answer: “A dead neighbor and all six apples.” A groaner, I know, but I did warn you he was evil.

I love the movie SOLDIER with Kurt Russell. Granted, I love almost any movie with Kurt Russell, but this one really appeals to the romance writer in me. Talk about your tortured alpha hero. All he knows is duty and the obligation of a soldier to fight, but he learns so much more. I love dark heroes who are the big bad, but that children instinctively trust.

Finally, I just added the DVD of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL to my collection. I had it in VHS, but worried about only having a copy in the old technology. The movie came out in the early 1950’s starring Michael Renny and Patricia Neal. By today’s standards, the special effects are more than a bit hokey, but the message still rings true today.

So there’s my confession for the day. Anyone else have some guilty favorites they want to ‘fess up to? I still have room on my shelf for a few more.

The effect of DJ blogging has been twofold. Fans of the series are enjoying the extra glimpse into the lives of their favorite Paladins during the long wait between books. But almost more importantly, it’s been an excercise in character development for me. I’ve had to learn to think of my characters beyond the pages of the books, reminding myself that their lives go on, they grow, they have experiences. Time passes between the inciting incidents that generate the books in the series, and my characters need to reflect those ongoing lives.

DJ has even interviewed characters from other peoples books–a demon, a vamp, and the ghost from a haunted bordello. Again, those interviews were great fun to do. But entertainment value aside, as my friends and I wrote those interviews, we all saw our characters through new eyes and gained new perspective.

The icing on the cake for me came this last week when the nice ladies over at Simply Romance Reviews invited DJ to guest blog. He and three of my other guys showed up bright and early last Friday and carried on very entertaining conversations with each other and the people who left comments for them. It was fun watching the boys hassle each other, again revealing new sides to their characters.

Am I recommending that everyone set up an official blog for their characters. No, I don’t think that’s necessary. However, putting on my reader hat here for a minute, I personally love the character interviews I’ve read done by such authors as Suzanne Brockmann, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and JR Ward. But whether or not you decide to publish such interviews to share with readers, I do think taking the time to write out conversations for continuing characters set in different environments can be a great learning tool.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I keep a spiral notebook at my desk where I keep track of release dates for books by favorite authors. I’m pretty compulsive about hitting the bookstore on the Tuesday if a book is supposed to be on the shelf. I’ve been known to ask the clerks to go root through the new deliveries to find a copy for me. >:-D

One I had been waiting for came out recently and I immediately rushed out to scoop it up. The title is MAGIC BURNS, it’s the sequel to MAGIC BITES, by Ilona Andrews. If you love urban fantasies as much as I do, you might want to give this series a try. I love the heroine—Kate Daniels is strong and doesn’t take anything off anybody. Not even the leader of the shapeshifters, Curran can intimate her and he’s pretty darn intimidating! I love the energy between them. The world Ilona has created is very different—Atlanta where technology only works between waves of paranormal energy.

My other bit of news is that my Paladin D.J. Clayborne will be guest blogging at http://simplyromancereviews.blogspot.com this Friday. D.J. has his own blog on my website, and he’s been invited to take his show on the road! How cool is that? He has promised to bring along a couple of the other Paladins to answer questions, too, so it should be fun. Stop by and say hi!

1. Write the best story possible at that point in their writing career.
2. Get published.
3. Stay published.

But I digress because I was talking about the relationship between writers and readers. Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to a readers’ group in Tacoma, WA. This group of wonderful ladies have been meeting regularly for years to talk about books, to share new authors they’ve discovered, and to listen to local writers talk about their craft. What an amazing way to spend an afternoon—getting together with friends to share a common passion.

This was my second time to visit with them. A friend of mine, Marianne Stillings, was also a guest author yesterday and we had a great time talking to the group about what we were working on and answering questions about the writer’s life. We laughed a lot, had some great discussions about titles, covers, and story ideas.

I know that my books sell out there in the real world. After all, I see the numbers when I get my royalty statements, and I obsess over my rankings at online bookstores with the best of them. But there is nothing like meeting people in person who have read my stories and loved them. It is such an honor to talk to someone who loves the characters who live in my head almost as much as I do and can’t wait until the next Paladin or Talion gets his story told.

But not I’m not only a writer, but a dedicated reader, too. I also love talking to other readers about authors I love and whose characters haunt my mind. One woman and I had a brief, but intense, Zsadist-fest yesterday. Gosh, that felt good.

I came home energized and ready to delve back into my current WIP. After all, someone is out there, counting the days until they can hold the finished book in their hands and get lost in my world. Honestly, is there anything cooler than that in this business? And another example of how much a reader can affect an author, a fan of mine did some graphics of two of my characters and gave me permission to post them to share. The first one is of DJ, one my Paladins who has his own blog on my website. The other picture is of Lusahn, the heroine in the fourth Paladin book. If you click on the pictures, they should take you to a separate screen so you can see them full-sized. (And thanks, Delilah, for your wonderful present to me!)

But I have found that there is another component to my writing life that has been with me from the beginning and has only strengthened in importance over the years: a sense of being connected to the greater world of writing. There are so many people who have contributed to my career in such a wide variety of ways. Without them, this would be a lonely business indeed.

First of all, there are my personal friends who are also writers. They have shared my ups and downs with me, and I’d like to think I’ve been there for them when they’ve needed me. Sometimes it seems it is easier to find people who offer their sympathy when it’s needed than it is to find people to really celebrate the high points. On the whole I’ve been very lucky in that department. I have good friends who have been there for me, no matter what. They are there with a handy shoulder, a high five, or time away from their own writing when I’ve hit a brick wall and need help working out the details of my WIP or a new idea.

Then there are my friends who are not now and never will be writers. However, they are most patient when all I want to talk about is the story that’s burning up most of my energy and focus at the moment. They put up with trips to the office supply store to see if there are any new colors of Post-it notes or 2” notebooks—both necessary to my creative process. And even if they don’t get my fascination with the whole paranormal genre and liked it better when I wrote westerns, they’ve hung in there for me.

I love my various loops. Knowing that there are all these cyber friends at my fingertips who will not only offer their support , but their experience and expertise with their fellow writers. Need to know a good source of information on any topic? All you need to do is ask. Have questions about agents and editors? Again, someone will reach out a helping hand. How great is that?

And finally, the industry professionals who have take my best efforts and made them better. The booksellers who support my books. My agent who understands me and my goals. She works so hard to help me attain them. I’ve also been lucky with the editors I’ve worked with over the years. My current editor truly loves my Paladins and my Talions. Her editing has brought out the best in my writing and I’ve learned so much from her. Then there all those behind the scenes folks that are part of the publishing process who design my wonderful covers, copyedit my manuscripts, and market my books. What an amazing job they all do!

So when I sit at my computer and work, I’m never really alone. I couldn’t do it without all those folks. But I’m also very conscious that it’s a two-way street.

I celebrate with or console my friends (several of whom have had some really great news lately! Way to go, ladies!) as situation requires, knowing their needs as important as my own.

I share my non-writing friends other interests and try not to make them watch me stare in awe at all the new colors of file folders too often.

If a writer asks for advice or information, I reach out if I can help. I’ve been giving more workshops these past couple of years as a way to give back to the writing community at large.

And I remember that my writing is a business and treat it is as such. I make sure my manuscript is as clean as I can make it ; I turn things in on time; and I keep my agent and my editor in the loop, especially when life is interfering with my ability to work.

So here is my advice for the week: seek out those all too important connections in your own life and nurture them. You’ll be a better writer for making the effort.

I’ve been buried in major revisions for the past three weeks or so. I am pleased (and relieved) to say that I finished them and sent them off to my editor on Tuesday. And, bless her heart, she immediately read the first chapter and emailed me back that same day to tell me how much she loved it. Another reason to smile.

So right now I’m hovering in that delicious tension that comes right before I dive into writing the next book. As I’ve said before, I can’t face a blank screen on the computer until I’ve figured out that all important first paragraph in one of my many spiral notebooks. I buy a huge stack of them every summer when school supplies go on sale. After numerous attempts to find the right opening words, a non-writing friend pointed out that I already had them—they were right there in the character description of the heroine in my synopsis I had been telling her about. I grinned for an hour after that.

I’m going to be away from my computer for at least the next week, but I’ll be back ASAP. So for today and the week to come, I hope all of you find a reason to smile. Those moments are something we should all treasure.

And to post my info–my website has all my books listed, including the upcoming releases. I recently posted the back blurb on DARK WARRIOR UNLEASHED and will soon add a excerpt from it as well as the vampire short story that is coming out in August.

If you like to keep in touch with my Paladins, D.J. blogs on Mondays, although sometimes one of the other guys shows up to add his two cents worth. D.J. also likes to interview the characters from other books, and those always fun. His blog can be found on my website, www.alexismorgan.com

Take care,
Alexis