Patrice Michelle | Ideas pulled from the air...

The other day I received a question from a reader who'd already read my latest release Scions:Revelation (December 1st) and the last book in my Scions trilogy. She asked if the prophecy--that has been an underlying thread through all three of the books in the Scions trilogy--was something I planned from the very beginning, or if the outcome of the prophecy had come to me as I wrote the books.

The answer is actually somewhere in between. :)

The idea for the first book in my Scions series came straight from a dream. I'd dreamed about a woman who was kidnapped by a vampire and they were being chased by gunmen. Lots of running, leaping across building rooftops and gunshots ensued. The scene in my dream was right out of an adventure novel and too surreal not to write once I woke up. But once I started jotting down notes, I then had to figure out how to turn that "one scene" into a novel. Hmmm...I ask the question: Why the vampire might want to kidnap the human woman and why the gunmen were chasing them....and all the reasons in between....and that's how the first five chapters in the first book in my Scions trilogy (Scions:Resurrection) was created. Once I'd completed those chapters, my agent read them and said, "This is more than one book, right?" I pondered some more and came to the conclusion...Of course there would be more than one book! and there's even a prophecy, which I promptly detailed out as part of the proposal to pitch to potential publishers.

In the summer of 2006, I'd written five chapters of Scions book one, a synopsis detailing the rest of that book and a one-page overview of the other two books in the Scions trilogy (including the prophecy). As I was writing the overview, the actual prophecy itself came to me easily, yet I wasn't "set" in how that prophecy would play out in the stories.

Ultimately, even when wearing my author "hat" I'm still a reader at heart--I want to be surprised and I discover the twists and turns in the stories as I they unfold before me. ;) I didn't know who would uncover each of the pieces of the prophecy, how the layers would all tie together, who would be responsible for the biggest reveal or how each of the characters would be impacted by all the revelations. All those unknowns were very exciting to unearth as each story was written and each of the main characters played out their respective parts.

So I guess the answer to the question is that the prophecy came to me in...equal parts intuition, guess-work and good old fashioned...jigsaw puzzling. It never ceases to amaze me how the muse works in inexplicable ways!

If you're interested in reading an action-adventure paranormal story where a suspenseful mystery is woven along-side a sexy romance, then I hope you'll give my Scions books a try.

Note: Each of the Scions books are written to be read as stand alone stories, but if you'd like to read the adventures of each of the main characters in order, then they are as follows: Scions:Resurrection, Scions:Insurrection and Scions: Revelation.

Patrice Michelle
www.patricemichelle.net

Patrice Michelle | Always evolving…

The great thing about being an author is that the learning curve on your job is limitless. You’re probably wondering why I think that’s a good thing. LOL! I think it’s great because in my mind, I’m always learning. When I look at the books I wrote five years ago and the books I’m writing today, I can see how much I’ve grown as a writer; how my style and my approach to writing stories has changed.

I’ve always loved a good story alongside my romance, but somewhere along the line, I wanted more. So I delved headlong into the vast paranormal genre. But even writing a straight paranormal romance wasn’t enough, and I began to add subplots, which evolved into suspenseful plot twists, which turned into more surprises in the story than even I had expected.

Layering emotional romance over complicated plotlines with mystery elements forced another transition in my writing—moving from being a pantser writer (write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants), with no planning at all, to morphing into a hybrid style author where I wrote a high-level outline as to how the story would play out to the end. Would I follow it? Not necessarily (hence the reason I’m a hybrid writer *g*), but it gave me a loose roadmap to follow.

Along the way, I began to add more action scenes to my stories: from fight scenes to chase scenes. I loved them. But the writing style for an action scene verses a love scene is very different in tone and structure, and yet another facet learned and tucked away in my writer's tool box.

Throughout all these transitions, there’s one aspect I’ve had to keep in mind with my stories. Blending fast paced and complicated plotlines with main characters that are just as deep, just as complex and just as intriguing is a delicate balance, one that leaves me challenged, energized and…always evolving.

Patrice Michelle

http://www.patricemichelle.net/

Patrice's latest release Scions: Resurrection, the first book in her SCIONS trilogy is out on the shelves now!

Patrice Michelle - Turning Readers On!

I’ve been an avid reader since I was ten years old. Blame it on the elementary school’s reading program (re: read twenty books in a month and win a prize!). I wanted that prize, so I read the twenty books. Along the way, I discovered…I LOVED reading. Since then, I’ve always had my nose stuck in a book, much to my childhood best friend’s annoyance.

When I was in tenth grade and my older sister was in twelfth, she brought home an assigned reading book. The fiction book sat in the exact same spot she’d dumped it—on the chair next to the stairs—for days. After a week of passing by this book, I picked it up and read the blurb on the back. A mystery to solve and a love story…hmmm, it didn’t sound too bad. I sat down that night and read the entire book and I loved it! I was so excited about the story that I told my sister all about it, hoping I could get her excited enough to read it herself. While I blabbed on and on, my sister nodded and uh huh’d and smiled. The next day she wrote the book report and turned it in. Got a B, too. *rolling eyes* :-) So much for trying to get my sister interested in reading.

But that author had hooked me and I went on to read her entire backlist. I told other friends about her books, turning them onto this author’s work. To this day, I believe the best advertising an author can do is write the best story she can. Give her readers a great plot with interesting twists, main characters to empathize and fall in love with, and deeply emotional, heart-wrenching moments that will pull the reader into the story, making them feel like a participant as the tale unfolds.

When I sit down to write my own books, I keep in mind all the things about the books that I adored. From suspenseful plots to stories that make your heart twist, I try my best to create heroes and heroines who readers consider their friends. My goal is always to create a compelling story with engaging characters. If the readers close the book with a smile and wonder what’ll happen next in the main characters’ lives, then that’s the highest compliment in my mind, because that’s the standard I use as a reader that “hooks” me on books.

Do you remember what books/authors have hooked you such that you had to go out and tell everyone, from family to friends to YES, even strangers you meet in line at the bookstore, “You HAVE to read these books? They’re fantastic!” What was it about those books that really drew you in?

Patrice Michelle currently has three series available in print:

1) Scions (vampire, werewolf, paranormal)– Coming January 2008

2) Kendrian (vampire) – Available now

3) Bad in Boots (contemporary western)

– Available now For excerpts, blurbs and reviews of all Patrice's books, visit her website at http://www.patricemichelle.net/.