Character Flaws
When I start brainstorming a series, that can look different every time. For Crossed Souls, it started with the characters—Willa specifically. I saw her initially as a sort of cupid-like character who was destined to help people find love while also being a person who couldn’t find it herself. She’d never known what being in love felt like, and was a really lonely person.
Meet the Harem: Crossed Souls
I’ve been a big fan of reading reverse harem for a while now. At this point, it makes up about 98% of what I read in my free time, so because it’s my favorite, I wanted to try my hand at writing a series. I’ve had a lot of ideas about what my first RH series should be, but Twisted Soul Magic wouldn’t leave me alone, so it’s first up (and for the record I have about five other series’ in the works for the future that I can’t wait to get to.
Progress Update
I thought it’d be fun to update you along the journey of writing my current books. So, what am I actively writing?
Two-Timing
Well, it’s official: I’ve lost my mind.
Yup, I’m about to dive into writing two books at the same time.
Plotting... to Take Over the World?
…cue maniacal laughter.
I’ve probably talked about it before, but there are two types of writers (and potentially more in the form of hybrids of the two types but we’ll ignore them for now): Plotters and Pantsers.
Now, “Pantsers” are the type of people who fly by the seat of their pants. Get it? Ha. Ha.
What Captive Taught Me
This whole writing journey started for me with a song and an idea to explore what it would be like to be a rock star and also finding love. At the start of my writing career, I had no idea about HOW to actually write. I mean, sure, you can sit down to your computer and just start typing, and a lot of authors make that work for them.
I am not one of those people.
My Creative Brain
Heeyyyy, lovely reader! The first book in my all-new Hollywood Guardians series, Captive (Connor's story) is still underway and on top of that, I've been working on something top secret, too... But right now I want to do something I'm not great at and let y'all in a bit.
When I'm Stuck
Typically when I write a book, I aim to get a chapter done every day. Now, there are plenty of times that it doesn’t happen or that I do more than one in a day (more often, it not happening is what’s going down rather than me writing more, but it does happen from time to time).
Bonus Content
I’ve been keeping a list of scenes and chapters and novella ideas that I can expand on from the Shadow Phoenix series book just for fun, but I’m torn on what to write first. There are so many possibilities. Here are some ideas I’ve had for scenes that would be fun to write and share with you. Let me know in the comments what you’d like to see first.
British Heroes
So, right before I started writing Tempting Harrison, I was seriously kicking myself because what the hell was I thinking making him British? What do I know about writing a character who’s not even from my own country?
Taming Griffin's LIVE! Behind the Scenes Q&A
Phew, what a journey! Taming Griffin is now live on Amazon (READ) and it was probably the most challenging book I’ve written so far. Up until now, every heroine had a tiny bit of me in them that made them relatable in my mind. Something I could latch onto to understand where they were coming from. For Kennedy, it was her anxiety and panic attacks, Amara’s was her love of waffles, Ryan was being a tomboy, and Moon’s was her free spirit.
Get to Know: Magnolia
Taming Griffin is upon us (eek, just 13 more days!) and now seems like a great time to introduce you to Magnolia Dawson, Griffin’s other (better!) half.
Magnolia’s fresh out of college, so she’s young like Griffin, and she’s already had a pretty rocky life. This book explores some dark subjects like domestic abuse, but I wouldn’t call the book itself dark. It’s more a redemption, a story of a girl finding herself and her happily ever after despite the circumstances she’s been through.
Sorry For the Delay
I know, I know. It’s been a hot minute since I wrote anything on this blog, but there’s a good reason—promise! I’ve been hard at work writing Griffin. This book… it’s testing me, y’all. I’ve had to do so much research to try and get everything just right.
The Shadow Phoenix crew is going on tour in Griffin’s book, and while it’s not a huge tour, I want you to feel like you’re experiencing some of the places they go right there along with Magnolia and Griffin (and, of course, some of the other guys and girls from the group).
What Am I Thinking?
My mind was blown about two years ago when I discovered Lauren Landish and read a few of her books. They were so different than all the other romance novels I’d read in the past and I loved them so much. They were like a breath of fresh air.
I Have No Idea What I'm Doing
Almost right off the bat with this book, I knew I wanted to tackle the issue of domestic violence with Magnolia. When I decided the band was going on tour in Taming Griffin, I wanted to figure out Magnolia’s motivation for wanting so badly to keep her job. The answer came to me pretty quickly—she was afraid if she stopped moving, her past would catch up to her.
On Repeat
When I wrote Finding Zen, the thing that inspired me most of all was a song. I’ve talked about it before but The Hills by the Weeknd was the song that originally inspired that book. I didn’t have the same instant song inspiration with True. My book inspiration comes from all over the place. Sometimes it’s a song, a random idea that will just pop into my head, a trope I’m fascinated by… it could really be anything.
What I'm Working On
With the release of Playing Jericho, I haven’t been great about blogging. On the one hand, I was busy rushing to get it done on time. On the other hand, I’m fairly lazy when it comes to keeping up with my social media. Or anything, really, but that’s for another day (procrastination is another one of my many, many talents lol).
Alpha-Holes? Yes, Please
I’d never heard the term “alpha-hole” before I started reading dark romance, but whoever invented it is a fucking genius because it so perfectly describes the kind of heroes (or anti-heroes) that star in those books.
Why Reviews are Awesome (and Why They Also Suck)
As a writer, reviews are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they tell you how people feel about your writing and (hopefully) encourage people to read your books. On the other hand, when they’re not positive, they make you question your already tenuous confidence and belief in your ability to write and tell a story.