Cait London | The Aislings/Psychic Triplets

Since my lucky number is three for many reasons (including I have 3 daughters), a trilogy with three sisters was a natural choice. I understood the relationships, the family order, and the mother’s reaction. (Yes, their mother, a powerful psychic is included in all three books.)

A STRANGER’S TOUCH is the 2nd of the Aisling Psychic Triplets and features Tempest Storm, the middle-born. AT THE EDGE was the first and sets the trilogy in motion with Claire, the empath and gentle. FOR HER EYES ONLY 10/08 ends the trilogy with Leona, the precognitive and the most fierce. The trilogy is based on the contemporary descendents of an ancient Celtic seer and a Viking chieftain. The triplets have inherited the seer, Aisling’s gifts—and they don’t want them. They want to be like normal women.

That’s understandable, isn’t it? The very gifted, haunted by senses that are not reality, images and thoughts that aren’t their own suddenly flashing in their minds could be a little disturbing. Because these adult sisters are birth and psychically connected, they cannot live close to each other. This is especially true when a sexy hunk comes into the picture, such as when Marcus Greystone re-enters Tempest’s life. He’s the dark and brooding, steel-hard corporate man who really didn’t appreciate her leaving the morning-after without a good-bye. Of course, Tempest wasn’t looking for a relationship that night; she was only set to celebrate her successful showing, to top off the night in bed with a gorgeous man. She wore gloves to protect her psychic hands—she’s a psychometrist, who can tell the history of an object by holding it, or the person’s emotions/personality who held it.

In A STRANGER’S TOUCH Marcus hasn’t forgotten those gloves on his body, and he wants her naked hands on him. He also wants something else…

I understood Tempest, the restless, the creative, the sculptress on the run from her past, something so dark she didn’t want to share it with her sisters. Since I am an artist, and you can find my paintings at my website Studio, I understood how Tempest would visualize artistically.

She’s also a very athletic, physical woman who takes what she wants. She reveals her emotions more readily than her sisters. Tempest is a busy girl. She’s on the run from a dark and haunting past; she’s also hunting an ancient brooch which could save her family. (Claire has just been attacked and the clairvoyants are certain dark forces are at work.) Because the origins of the Aislings date back to that Celtic seer, I was influenced by my own interests and personal items. The earrings and the Runes are mine.

Marcus sets a trap and Tempest is caught. If she takes up his offer to seek clues to a cold-case murder, she’ll be basically living with him for the duration. But guess who has the ancient relic she seeks? Marcus.

Tempest must play ball with Marcus to get what she seeks. As writers, we tend to label stories. Tempest’s story would be “A Captured Bride.” But her ancestor seer was also a captured bride. However, Tempest’s traits are different from her sisters; she may lean more toward her Viking ancestor: ready to take challenges and restless. And Marcus looks like a real challenge. I love Vikings and researched brooches/swords, etc. heavily. This trilogy is heavily researched.

The name of Port Salem, the fictional town on Lake Michigan, should be enough to scare any psychic. (If I write about it, I’ve been there.) While Claire’s setting was rural Montana, without major bodies of water, Tempest is where she and her sisters should NOT be, near the universal portal of psychics, a major lake.

Danger is never far away and Marcus stays close. Tempest isn’t used to having a “Protector”, but that’s exactly what she has in Marcus. He’s determined to keep her safe. I was delighted with Marcus. He gradually transforms from a stone-cold man with a grudge (he’s had a hard childhood) to a man entranced with Tempest.

A murderer who doesn’t want Tempest’s psychic hands uncovering his identity is determined to kill her. Her touch reveals startling secrets about Marcus’s own dark past, but will he hate her, if she tells him?

Then someone from Tempest’s dark past is circling her, and danger prowls around her entire family. This girl moves fast, but does she move fast enough?

Tempest’s personality is different from her sisters, and her story is unique to her. And to me. I hope you’re enjoying this trilogy, and you can find more about the Aislings at my website and blog. I’m guest blogging heavily with A STRANGER’S TOUCH, and my schedule is posted at my website.

*Watch for FOR HER EYES ONLY, Leona’s story, set in Lexington, KY.

Cait

Cait London | PSYCHIC OR PARANORMAL, WHICH IS IT?

The Aisling psychic triplets trilogy was a departure for me. I'd always had a little of the Gothic in my books, a little suspense, and layers of characters and their interactions. But while writing the sisters' books, I was struck by how much of the material, resource, and research already dwelled within me.

Writers often speak of where they get their research, and share with others. To some extent, writing is a share and hand-me-down craft. The rest of the writing experience rests on the individual's investment of time and energy. Some people are just natural storytellers, and stories bubble out of them. But structuring them, and putting them into book form, takes editing and control.

I spent a great deal of time setting up this trilogy. Due to the logistics of business and contracts, I wrote SILENCE THE WHISPERS (a favorite story) prior to beginning this trilogy; the psychic triplets had to sit on the back burner for a while. The basic trilogy idea contains a story arc, where the threads of the story run through each book, and end in the third. I'd written several other series, including the TALLCHIEFS (9 books), and understood how to build a series from the start, not just adding book after book. I usually lay down all three story ideas at one time, rather than adding on one at a time, which may be more usual. (I happen to like building proposals and series.)

As for this trilogy, I wanted Celtic names for the contemporary sisters, who are in order: Claire, Tempest and Leona. I have a great number of baby namer books and used the definition of the names to suit the characters. In a series, in this case a trilogy, it is really important to keep a character list and to balance the names of all concerned. For instance, Claire in AT THE EDGE is an empath and more gentle and reserved (until Neil comes into her life). Tempest's name says everything (A STRANGER'S TOUCH 4/08). And Leona (FOR HER EYES ONLY 10/08), the oldest of the triplets by three minutes is a lioness, when defending her family. Greer, the world-famous psychic mother of the triplets has red hair and a pale complexion, just as they do. Greer's coloring and her gifts are inherited from her ancestor, Aisling, the captive bride of a Viking chieftain.

Greer is a widow with very unusual children, and one profitable gift in her pocket: she's a powerful psychic. As a single mother, with three daughters, born three years apart, I understood much of the family dynamics. To some measure, this trilogy mirrors my own life and interests. That research was already built into me, stacked up and ready to be used. It's true then, a writer sells pieces of their family off, a few at a time. I understood the relationship and interaction of the sisters, and somewhat how the mother would feel/react in certain instances. I'm also very interested in Viking history, and elements of the Celts. You can read much of this at my website and blog, how I used my own earrings and other elements dear to me, such as beach stones and handcrafted in artistic items, within my stories. I like to keep a variety of objects around me; each seems to have a story lurking within.

I also visit every location of every book, but fictionalize the names. AT THE EDGE is set in Montana, a state I love very much and have set several books there. A STRANGER'S TOUCH is set on the shores of Lake Michigan, where I spent a creative retreat. I thought Port Salem was an excellent choice for a fictional town, considering what happened to psychics in another Salem. FOR HER EYES ONLY is set in Lexington, Kentucky, where I visit often.

Here is where regimentation and control of the writer come into play. With everything built into me already, and my extensive interests, it was important to center into the threads of the story, running through all three books. Yet it was imperitive to give each book, each sister, an individual suspense/dangerous story. This trilogy is a crossover between psychic and romantic suspense, because there is individual danger included, and there is an overall family danger. For those unfamiliar with romantic suspense, it can be light or loaded with forensics and bullets. The Aisling trilogy is loaded with tension and danger and suspense, but also saturated with family relations. It is also loaded with sensuality and romance, as the sisters deal with their different and unwanted psychic gifts. That is the key to the trilogy: these women want to live like every woman, yet they cannot. They cannot even live close together, for fear of their sibling and psychic connections interfering with each other.

If you are a reader who prefers a light, comical read, this trilogy may not be for you. These stories are layered with intrigue and relationship and very dangerous threads. I very much enjoyed writing the individual suspense stories, and building the threads running through these books. I hope readers enjoy them, too.

As for the psychic elements, I researched much of that and interviewed psychics. But I kept the elements away from what I consider paranormal, like ghosts or vampires. In each book, the sisters relay that they are not shapeshifters or mediums for the dead, which is a psychic element. To me there is a distinct difference between paranormal and true psychic.

Do I have any interest in psychic or intuitive ability? Yes, definitely, and I feel bits of it reside within my family. (BTW, I have my own set of runes, which I understand better than Tarot cards.) I really enjoyed writing this trilogy, and hope you enjoy it too. A newsletter is available at my website, if you wish to keep up with the progress of this trilogy and my other upcoming books. Bookmarks and newsletters are also available for SASE.

http://caitlondon.com/

http://caitlondon.blogspot.com/

Cait London | Psychic Triplets

How do writers get their stories? Much of our research is built into us, and we just need to find a story line in which to place it. I get my story ideas from everywhere: from my title or databases, from anything I see in the news/television, anything I see driving along the side of the road, a photograph, a drawing, or by just generally observing people.

I've just finished the third story in the psychic triplets’ contemporary trilogy. The first story concerns Claire, the empath and the youngest, in AT THE EDGE. The second is Tempest's story, A STRANGER'S TOUCH (4/08); she uses her hands to determine the history of an object. Leona's story (11/08), the one I've just finished is as yet untitled, and concerns her abilities as a precognitive, or “precog”.

Where did I get the idea for this trilogy? Since I am the mother of three daughters, I had some idea of their interaction. Their birth order also determines some of their personality traits. Claire, our empath, is basically in seclusion, in a cottage-type situation and she is a handcrafter, creating designer handbags. Since I am also an artist and have done handcrafting, including sewing, I understood Claire's occupation. Many of the objects in Claire's home, are similar to those within my own home. I surround myself with objects that please me in color and style, but also those odd ones that I think may hold an idea for a future story.

Claire’s Celtic jewelry, created by her sister, Tempest, is based from a few pieces someone gifted to me. Claire’s decorative Hummingbird which hangs from her kitchen window is a tidbit I picked up from my sister, who feeds them. Neil Olafson/hero is a workman, also an occupation in my family; I've seen the blue smoke from a chainsaw, such as what Neil uses.

If you take the connection well noted between twins, and expand it to triplets, add an ancient Celtic seer’s abilities that have descended to those triplets, you have Cait London’s Aislings. My own interests lean toward the Vikings, another element, but much of the material in my books is based on my experiences and interests.

IMHO, a writer needs to get out from behind his/her desk to enrich stories. There are lots of ideas floating around, and all a writer has to do is tap into them. While some of them may be universal ideas, each writer places their own unique style/experience into the stories.

Watch for A STRANGER'S TOUCH, coming in April 2008. But next on my publishing schedule is EVERY GIRL'S GUIDE TO..., a re-issue in September 2007.


Cait London
http://www.caitlondon.com/