Shawna writes paranormal and fantasy novels for the YA (young adult) and new adult reader. That can be a bit of a misnomer, however, as I'm in my early 50s and I love her series.
Today we're taking a look at Shawna's Speak of the Devil series, which just wrapped up this past February with THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.
I'm a massive fan of her first two books in the series, and I'm currently checking my mailbox because I recently ordered a paperback copy of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW for my keeper shelf, as I'm more of a page-turning kind of gal, rather than a swipe, swipe kind of ereader.
This series has a cast of Midwestern high schoolers who thought their biggest problems had to do with losing their friends in a fatal car accident -- which, granted, is way up there on the coping scale.
However, the human characters are only part of the crowd, which include hunky, broody angels, the ancient female powerhouse Lilith and of course, the Devil himself.
Book 1 lets loose an earth-bound battle between heaven and hell, while Book 2 takes us straight to the original Dark Side.
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW brings main character Lily's living on borrowed time thing back to the table as she battles to save her warrior angel boyfriend Luc before that pesky Devil decides to renovate God's earthly handiwork and wipe out all of humanity.
If you need the stakes to be higher than whether Lily's senior prom dress is the same exact one as the homecoming queen's, Shawna's Speak of the Devil series is just what you've been waiting for. If you find yourself wondering why you find a character like the Devil so irresistible, just remind yourself that he's the King of Seduction and go with it.
My friend Shawna Romkey's final book in her Speak of the Devil series released this week. To celebrate, here are five songs that give a nod to the devil.
After battling her way back from Hell only to discover Luc didn't make it out, Lily must rally the angels to descend back into the Devil's domain. Now she has thirty days to rescue her angelic warrior boyfriend and break the curse to free God before Lucifer and his demon army destroy all of humanity on Earth. Forget passing the eleventh grade. Lily must face the ultimate final exam to give the Devil his due and save the world before the reapers catch up and deliver the death she cheated from them a year ago." -- Shawna Romkey
1 - Devil Inside - INXS
2 - Sympathy For the Devil - The Rolling Stones
3 - Running With the Devil - Van Halen
4 - Highway to Hell - AC/DC
5 - The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
If you'd like to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
Welcome to my stop on the Worldwide Writing Process Blog Tour. I was invited aboard by epic speculative fantasy author C. D. Sutherland, author of The Dragoneers series. Thanks, Charles!
I'm currently working on Book 2 and 3 simultaneously for my Dragonsfyre series.
Book 1 -- Bound by Dragonsfyre -- was the result of an online serialized fiction project where I posted a new chapter every week here on my blog A Piece of My Mind for a two-year run, beginning in April of 2010 and ending just before the book's official publication in May of 2012.
The good news is: it's taking me half the amount of time to get the next two books finished, but it would feel quite long if you're the reader waiting to see what's going on with Scorpius. Both traditional publishers and self-published authors have listened to readers who find it incredibly hard to wait a full year before finding out what happens next to their favorite characters in a series. So I'm completing this section of the series before releasing Book 2 -- because Book 3 will release very soon afterwards. I say 'this section' because I really enjoy writing about the characters inhabiting the Eighth Dominion. There are twelve dominions in this realm, and I'm now planning a sweeping series following developments in each of the numbered kingdoms. How does my work differ from others of its genre? Until recently, I would say that my work differed by its tendency towards very dark and violent tones. Also, that it didn't exactly fit certain genre conventions. However, my Dragonsfyre series has released at a time when Game of Thrones has killed off almost an entire family line at the Red Wedding -- and on television. I hadn't categorized my dark fantasy series as YA, even though Book 1 is a coming-of-age story, because once we head into Scorpius' adulthood, things take a drastic turn for him. Yet Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series contains just as much violence as my Dragonsfyre world, so I'm re-evaluating how I've been marketing it and finding readers. As for my Brotherhood of Blood vampire series -- at first I resisted marketing it as paranormal romance. It follows the convention of not tying up the story arc until the conclusion of the entire series, in the manner of the fantasy genre, as opposed to each title having its own conclusion even when part of a series, in the manner of the romance genre. Also, it retains my tendency towards a very dark tone, so I was actually marketing it as horror.
However, the plot is driven by a love story. Darker paranormal romance series have built a readership tolerance for unresolved endings while waiting for the series to wrap up. The challenging part of having a truly fresh take on things is: how do you describe these genre-defying books to readers? I'm still refining this for myself.
Why do I write what I do?
The quick-and-dirty answer is that I have always been a square peg in a round-hole world. I write hard-to-define stories because that's what I love to read and watch.
My TV viewing habits definitely reflect what I'm attracted to as far as genre: Supernatural, True Blood, Once Upon a Time, Agents of SHIELD (all technically contemporary but with the all-important addition of the supernatural or the fantastic,) Game of Thrones, Vikings, Downton Abbey. Aside from these series, my husband and I are big fans of TV series produced in other countries, such as Bednaya Nastya (Poor Anastasia) from Russia, Riget (The Kingdom) from Denmark, and The Great Queen Seondeok from South Korea. We always discover these series through serendipity, and then watch them either through an online service such as viki.com, or by ordering the DVD.
For the most part, as long as there are swords involved, with horses not cars, corsets not cell phones, and so on -- I'm attracted to it. There could be a storyline about a turf war, but if it was a contemporary story set in the lap of luxury between drug lords, I would probably pass it up. However, if it was basically the same turf war set during the Crusades between a Knight Templar and a disinherited Saxon lord, with a love triangle thrown in for good measure, I am all in. Believe me, I find this amusing about myself, but there you go.
Of course, there are exceptions. Tarantino's Kill Bill films are on my Top Ten list -- nothing of the fantastic involved in those (although you could argue some magical realism.) I do love science fiction. Straightforward historical is always a great idea (yet the closer the time period gets to present-day, the less I'm engaged.)
If I describe my Brotherhood of Blood vampire novel as a Dark Ages vampire superhero origin story, you'll see how my muse has gone for a giant mash-up between all of my favorite genres. The fact that a few reviewers have mentioned things like "Puts the monster back into vampire," and "[her] vampires are dark and dangerous" are why I was shying away from steering the book towards paranormal romance readers. Yet the entire story revolves around two lovers and their driving need to be together. I may be attracted to darker subject matter, but I'm definitely a romantic. A gothic romantic of course, but still...
How does my writing process work? Well, I
would say that my initial exposure to other stories from the genres I love is
really the first part of my writing process. For me this is more of a
visual-and-auditory thing than reading other books in my genre.
I just soak
it all in – the atmosphere, the lighting, the location, the costumes, the music,
and especially the emotions from my favorite scenes. I’ll include my passion
for ballet here, because many of the story ballets qualify as fantasy genre. Immersing
myself in full-length ballets never fails to inspire my creative muse.
Eventually
scenes will start playing through my head as though I have my own personal
story channel in there somewhere. They just play out as though fully formed,
but I have to pay attention and figure out what’s going on. Who is that? Why
are they doing that to him?
I write out
the initial scenes, and then I have to do some mental unravelling of the story
threads until things start to make sense. This is usually done while I’m
walking by myself, or when I’m on the bus.
At this
point I used to start writing without trying to plot. Now that I’m working on
two series, I have trained myself to make a Save-the-Cat sketch of the
storyline before heading into my natural pantser mode (writing by the seat of
my pants.) I suppose I should mention here that I always write at my desk with headphones on and music playing. Unless I'm out somewhere, in which case I write longhand in an old school notebook.
I’m also a
veteran of five NaNoWriMo marathons, which I’ve discovered is key to unlocking
the heart of my story. NaNoWriMo forces me to write for word count, which
pressurizes my creative process well past my comfort zone. I keep writing
within a scene for longer than I would normally stay there, purely for word count
purposes – and this always leads to discovering things about my characters that
would have remained hidden if I wasn’t doing NaNo.
This in turn
requires weaving together two manuscript files – the regular one I’d been
working on before NaNo, and the NaNo version. I find this part of my process
very draining mentally, yet the shining-jewel scenes I get from this way of
working is absolutely worth it.
Once I weld
these together, I do an initial revision to make sure nothing’s missing and
that it all makes sense. Then I give the manuscript over to several readers for
initial feedback.
I do a
second revision based on that, and then I hand the manuscript over to a
professional editor. I do a third set of revisions based on her
recommendations. At that point, the book is ready to go to the formatter’s
before uploading to the various retail platforms.
Thanks for
joining me for this Writing Process Blog Tour.
At this
point I’m supposed to hand the baton over to three more authors. However, there
is a good-news-bad-news thing about this sort of blog tour.
I asked
quite a few authors to take part. The good news: all of the writers I know are
currently writing to deadlines and didn’t have an opening in their schedules to
take part in the tour.
Or – the writers
I know had already taken part in this tour.
So to wrap
up this Writing Process Blog Tour, I’ll introduce you to three of my author
friends who have already posted about their writing processes:
I'm a big fan of taking part in author events. I love meeting readers and chatting with you at in person book signings or presenting an author panel at conventions like Hal-Con.
I also like to meet up with the other writers and artists at events like these. It's very nourishing for my creative soul.
If you're a reader, do you like attending book fairs or going to book signings? What do you like best about them?
My next Thursday Thirteen will be my 300th listing of thirteen things. A big milestone for A Piece of My Mind!
Because I won't be able to get ready for that by next week--I'll need to recover somewhat from NaNoWriMo and my choir concert this Friday--my retrospective of Thursday Thirteens from 200 to 300 will be posted sometime in January. See you then!
For a final week, Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
After today, Travis is retiring his four-year-old musical meme which immediately became the highlight of my week and remained so since February of 2010. Putting together my sets each week gives me joy, retaining the sense of play I need in my creative life.
Travis invited the regular 5-on-Friday-ers to carry on without him if we wished, and it appears that Jamie, Mike and I will continue to spin the tunes that we love.
But I just want to let Travis know that in coming up with his Friday musical feature, he has given me hours and hours and hours of happiness. Sending you love and ((hugs)) today as we bid farewell to an amazing run.
Well, we did it. Last Saturday, Shawna Romkey and I gave our first convention panel on Heroes and Villains during Hal-Con 2013.
Thanks to everyone who attended our panel. You asked great questions!
Last week I spun four superhero tunes plus one super villain tune. This week -- since I was giving the villains part of the panel -- here are five tunes that come to us from the villain's point of view.
1 - Devil in Disguise -- Elvis Presley
This song illustrates the sort of villain I mentioned at the panel last Saturday, the sort of character who seems like a 'suitable catch' on the surface -- until you get to know him a little better, and if you're an historical female character, it may very well be too late by then. You may have been married off to what seemed like a strong alpha male character, only to discover he is actually a villain, making all the wrong choices based on fear, self-preservation and self-interest.
This sort of tragic villain character -- someone who sees himself as a thwarted hero -- is shown in the video as Guy of Gisborne from BBC's Robin Hood (played by my fave, Richard Armitage.)
2 - The Sinner in Me -- Depeche Mode
This song perfectly captures the allure of The Gray Character, my favorite. This accounts for the attraction we often feel towards a character who we sense is still redeemable. This sort of villain holds a lot more tension within the story, because we aren't sure whether he'll choose the high road or the low road. A traditional villain will always take the dark choice.
3 - A Criminal Mind -- Lawrence Gowan
I've always loved this song, by Glasgow Scotland-born, Toronto-raised Lawrence Gowan. I love the bald admission given by the narrator: "Ask one who's known me / If I'm really so bad / I am."
This is the sort of internal monologue that would take place inside the traditional villain character. He has no ambitions to change, no desire to reform. He delights in his own horrible rampages.
Strangely, the tone of the song implies a degree of regret -- however, it's clear that the narrator will never make the choices of a heroic character. The greater good, self-sacrifice -- these ambitions won't tempt this villain in the least.
4 - Animal I Have Become -- Three Days Grace
Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time is a massive fave of mine (played by another of my long-time inspirations for a fictional character in one of my works-in-progress, Robert Carlyle.)
What a tour de force of villainy! As the original village spinner character, his descent into darkness through fearful choice-making is something we can relate to. We even hope that this character is still reachable and redeemable.
As the Dark One / Rumpelstiltskin, he is a cool deal-maker, preying on those who will do anything in a moment of need. He is not without emotion, however -- he has a streak of playful mischief-making, and delights in the sword he holds over people's heads.
As Mr. Gold, the contemporary Storybrooke pawn shop owner, he holds the most tension for the viewer, as we never know how this version of the character will react. Mr. Gold shows the most vulnerability, the most rage and the greatest desire to reach for happiness.
5 - Bad to the Bone -- George Thorogood and The Destroyers
The supervillain tune from my set list last week belonged to the Joker (played by dearly-missed Heath Ledger) -- and here he is again, in all his traditional villain glory.
My second Hal-Con is wrapped and in the can. A fantastic weekend! Thanks to all of the organizers who put on the event, especially since -- as you'll see -- things went a little off-script on Saturday...
1 - This is my husband Brad and me at our booth on the main retail floor, Day 1. We had an awesome spot, and I did the best ever at this show. Thanks to everyone who dropped by my booth, with very special thanks to all who bought my books. That's a thrill that never gets old.
2 - Upstairs on the second floor, in the official author area, my friend Shawna Romkey, a fellow member of our writers' group Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, had her booth ready for Hal-Con pass holders. Shawna had an especially great con. Go, Shawna!
3 - Across from Shawna was bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks, who came with his own legions of devoted fans. Witness the Terry Brooks lineup.
4 - When there was a moment between signings, Terry Brooks made his way along the other author tables, chatting with fellow writers. Here's what happened immediately following the convention, in Shawna's words: "Ummm...Terry Brooks just contacted me. He read my book on the flight home. He asked for my email to send longer comments than my website form would allow. YIKES!!!!!!!!!" Then -- "Terry Brooks emailed me!!! He had some really positive things to say and also gave me some great feedback! *faints* " 5 - What book is that, you say?
6 - One of the good news / bad news things about taking part in events like Hal-Con as an author is not being able to see everything that's going on. I did manage to stop for a few minutes on one of my trips upstairs to see Shawna, and watched these historical warrior reenactors demonstrating sword fighting.
7 - Sometimes the best place to see the headliner guests is just by staying put at your booth. That's Robert Maillet at right, from 300, Sherlock Holmes, Immortals and Pacific Rim checking out a jewelry vendor across from my table.
8 - Day 2 started out with a very large line-up stretching around the Metro Centre, with the interior crowds noticeably bigger. This shot of the corridor immediately outside of the room where Shawna and I did a Heroes and Villains panel on Saturday at 12:45 is a good indicator of the Day 1 crowd. Busy but still lots of space to move around. Halifax is a little city, and Hal-Con is still a young event -- only a few years old. By about 10:30 on Day 2, having been a former Toronto's Fan Expo participant, as well as an eight-year veteran of working front of house for what is now the Sony Centre, I could sense that the building had reached maximum capacity and that people were no doubt being turned away. I attempted to head upstairs to meet with Shawna before our panel, only to be faced with an unmoving wall of people being held back on the first floor. Using my Toronto Big City skirting-around-the-mob technique, I managed to get to the escalator where I thought I would have to plead my case as to why I had to get to the second floor. However, the staff waved me along when they saw my vendor pass -- thank God!
9 - Somehow our panel started on time, with a packed audience and even standing-room-only at one point. Shawna talked Heroes and I talked Villains, and we had great questions from the audience.
This was the first-ever panel at an event like this for both of us. Thanks to everyone who attended and took part in the discussion.
10 - Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us at that time, Hal-Con was enduring some rather extreme growing pains. Here's a link to a news report on Hal-Con's Day 2 fiasco:
11 - I salute the 5th Dr. Who, Peter Davison, who waded outside into the cold where all of the incredibly disappointed turned-away convention pass holders were lining up for refunds. Peter Davison walked up and down the line to chat with those who couldn't get in, showing wonderful generosity and kindness. Here's a clip from Dr. Who, with the 5th doctor in action.
12 - Shawna got to hang out with him at the Stargazer Soiree later that night. A jolly good fellow, what?
13 - The best part of taking part in cons like Fan Expo and Hal-Con is the incredible costumes that go by my author table. Here's a small taste of some great ones. Join me next week when I turn Thursday Thirteen over to the costumes of Hal-Con 2013.
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
It's Hal-Con time again!
Starting today and running through Sunday, I'll be at my booth on the main floor at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre, 1800 Argyle Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If you're looking for print copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel Saint Sanguinus or my dark fantasy novel Bound by Dragonsfyre, I'll be signing copies.
Together, we'll be giving a workshop on Heroes and Villains on Saturday, Nov. 9th at 12:45 until 1:30.
In the meantime, the great NaNoWriMo writing marathon of 2013 continues. If you're doing the marathon and you want to find me, I'm NaNo-ing as vamprom.
Let's celebrate all things superheroic. This week's set features songs written about superhero characters, a super villain and one classic hero of old.
Champion of the Arts - I write historical and paranormal fiction, as well as poetry. I love to showcase creative works by artists of all stripes. Blogging from Nova Scotia, Canada
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