Succumb to Darkness - Book Tour and Giveaway

Evanangela must learn to survive in the French vampire court after her fall from grace.
​The Revolution is coming, and soon, the gilded cage will burn.

Succumb to Darkness
by Lauren A. R. Masterson
Genre: Dark Fantasy

Evanangela falls from grace, her wings burned and her soul blackened as she is reborn into a vampire. Àmichemin adopts her into the vampire court and shows her a life of brutal slaughters masquerading as elegant affairs at Seigneur Verseau’s side. She must find her place in the realm of the damned and somehow regain her virtue.

But all is not well in the Nacre Court, as there is a dire blood shortage. The greed of the vampires is eroding the careful balance of the feeds, and Verseau and Àmichemin must act to prevent a full-on revolt within the court. Can she keep her secret and survive?


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​Chapter One

Evanangela hid her face in her hands as her wings disintegrated. The feathers turned from their glorious silver splendor to grey, then to black, then to ash; the flames consuming them as she fell. Her eyes changed from colorless, to cobalt, then to cherry. Her teeth grew and sharpened until they were serrated and hung low like ivory thorns.
The fallen angel clutched her chest as her inner light went out and was replaced with cold darkness. She screamed as her heart blackened and the clear holy blood darkened. Red tears flowed down her cheeks, leaving her veins empty. When her virgin feet touched the Earth, she slumped into a heap. Her leg muscles were weak, as she was used to flying, never having walked. The solid ground was foreign compared to the shifting clouds and winds she was used to frolicking through. Her bare hands skimmed the cool grass. She flinched at the sensation, her mind racing to process all the new feelings that flooded her body.
Evanangela turned and saw the setting sun. “My last sunset. How I wish I could fly once more and burn in it.”
She watched in quiet remorse as the sun disappeared below the treetops. A breeze rustled her tunic gown. She shivered. The warm feathery weight of her wings had always insulated her against the wind. Now, she felt naked, her body light and exposed. Evanangela reached back and brushed her empty shoulder blades. They were solid and smooth.
My beautiful wings! I know it to be true that Dieu1 is righteous and just, but this is simply too much!
She sank to her knees, bowing her head as she cried, but no tears came. Her eyes burned from the lack of release and her face was flushed. Evanangela sat back on her heels. The sky was dark now, and she could see the bare plains as she never had from above. Silver mists in the shape of humans floated about through the grass. Had Evanangela still been an angel, she would have ushered these lost souls to peace. But her new dead heart could not hear their pleas.
“Mon Seigneur Dieu,2 why have you forsaken these souls? Are they damned as I have been?” She watched the mists writhe and shift until she was startled by the sound of footsteps.
A shiver ran down her spine. The scent of living flesh was near and her veins contracted with desire. Evanangela clutched the long grass, willing herself to stay and erase the thoughts of killing. Her heart burned to release tears, but her eyes could find none. The human’s footsteps thundered as he approached. Evanangela cringed, her skull ached from the noise.
The fool! He is tramping so loud, all of France must be able to hear him blundering through these fields!
Reason slowly dripped away as her breathing became shallow. His scent was on the wind, faint, but it rolled over her tongue, igniting her instinct to hunt. She traced the sound, her body tense, ready to strike once the traveler was in range. In a spitting rage, Evanangela ran, without stealth or grace, and tackled the lost traveler. Her crimson eyes were bright with the madness of the feed as she threw her jaws open, exposing the glinting fangs.
“Oh, Seigneur Dieu, sauvez-moi!”3 He covered his eyes, trembling and screaming.
Evanangela froze. The fire in her eyes extinguished and she released her grip.
“Seigneur.” She whispered.
The man took advantage of her confusion and pushed Evanangela away. She sat there, staring at nothing while the traveler ran back to the woods. The desire for blood escaped to the back of her mind, for now.
“A demon! Dieu, save us from the demon!” The traveler’s cries were becoming faint as he reached the trees.
What am I to do? To live this half-life I must kill, to kill is to die, and to die is never to return to whom I once was.
Evanangela grabbed her hair, shaking her head and prostrating herself on the grass, screaming. “Why must it be this way?”

Start at the beginning, and when you come to the end, stop.”
–Mad Hatter from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Lauren A.R. Masterson graduated from Columbia College of Chicago with a degree in Fiction Writing.  During her college days, she began working as a freelance model eventually making it her full-time profession after graduating.  She toured nationally, met scores of creative people, and had many adventures.  After retiring from modeling, and experiencing a divorce, Lauren felt the drain of her creativity.  But after finding a loving and supporting community she began exploring her writing talent and art again. Lauren is now a regular in the local Chicago writing communities and is dedicated to enhancing her craft.


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Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I’m a legacy writer. My mum is a writer, and there are other women in my family line that have also been writers. My talent for the craft was apparent at a very young age, as I had a proclivity for making up stories for myself and was a voracious reader. My parents were supportive and did everything they could to nurture my writing. My mum gave me resources such as Strunk and White, and often red-lined my stories herself. I was writing novels by the time I was twelve years old, and went on to study writing professionally at Columbia College Chicago. I’m lucky that I have always had supportive parents, and a supportive extended family, who always encouraged my writing. Because of them and the opportunities I was given, I am now a published author today.

What is something unique/quirky about you?
My life has been full of unusual circumstances and I’ve always been a bit odd. One such unique thing about me is that I used to catch butterflies with my bare hands as a child. I was able to sneak up on them and snatch them up without harming them. I used to collect them in jars because I had a fascination for insects, plants, and nature in general. I actually took many advanced biological science courses, but ultimately stuck to my path of becoming a writer, rather than a scientist.

Tell us something really interesting that's happened to you!
My life has been full of unbelievable things that have happened to me, but they have been either tragic or crazy. I have had a small thing of interest happen to me that was a beautiful experience. A few years ago, we had an incredibly hot week during the summer. While out running errands, I saw a bird lying on the ground. At first, I thought it was dead, but then I saw that it was breathing. It had fallen out of a tree from heat stroke. I took it home into the air conditioning and gave it some water. After a couple hours, the bird was good as new, and I let it free off our back porch where it flew away.

What are some of your pet peeves?
One of my biggest pet peeves is this latest odd trend that I’ve noticed. It’s an odd hill to die on, but it irritates me to no end. For some reason, people say “weary” when they mean “wary”. Such as “I was weary of that scary man!” and all I can think of is “Really? The scary man made you tired?”. It’s unreasonable how much it annoys me.

What are you passionate about these days?
I’m a passionate person. When I’m interested in something, I invest my whole being into it. I was raised to believe that people are people, and they should be treated with civility and respect unless they prove themselves to be a bad person, or a person who makes bad choices. As I’ve gotten older, this mindset has become a passion in that I care deeply about LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, BIPOC rights, etc. It’s something I frequently speak out about and do what I can to give my support to the communities and continue to teach respect and acceptance. I have people in my life, family and friends, who fall into these categories. But I also believe that these human rights should be important, regardless of it being a personal issue or not.

What do you do to unwind and relax?
Creating time and space to rest and relax is something I’ve been working on in therapy. I have never prioritized rest in my life, and I spent over six years of my young adult years doing everything I could to avoid sleeping. At the height of this problem, I would often go anywhere from two to four days without sleeping, drinking coffee instead. All in the quest to create and do more. Since then, I’ve been working to do better to slow down or even stop when my body needs to. I’m a very high-strung person, so winding down is hard. The best ways I’ve been able to reach some level of relaxation or peace is through reading, drinking tea, playing Minecraft, drinking wine, and having therapeutic lavender salt bubble baths.

Describe yourself in 5 words or less!
Prolific.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
This is a question I’m frequently asked: When did I first know I was a writer or consider myself to be a writer? If I had to pinpoint it, it would be when I was about three years old. It was before I had learned how to read and write, but I would make up little stories and have my dad write them down for me. That’s the earliest memory of writing that I have. Once my mum taught me how to read and write, I spent hours and hours on my own writing little stories in the giant stacks of notebooks my parents would buy for me. When I was about ten, my dad gave me an old laptop computer and let me start writing on that. Shortly after, they bought me a printer to hook up to it and let me write to my heart’s content. Writing wasn’t something I discovered. I was born to be a writer. It’s always been the core of who I am as a person and ma raison d’être.

What inspired you to write this book?
Succumb to Darkness was first inspired by a poem I wrote titled “Midnight Waltz”. I wrote this poem during my senior year of high school in 2005. This poem then inspired me to write seven other poems including a saga poem titled “Vampires All”. All seven poems were inspired by the song "The End of All Things" by Howard Shore from the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie. The saga poem “Vampires All” became the blueprint for the original manuscript of Succumb to Darkness. The poems and the manuscript were written in 2005-2006. I took out the old manuscript again in 2008 during my first year at Columbia College Chicago where I worked on it in a few of my writing classes. After that year, I put it away and worked on other manuscripts. Since then, I worked on Succumb to Darkness infrequently until 2018 when I was cataloging all my unfinished works. I was determined to finish the manuscript and have it published. This was also the same year that I had my first novel published, Love of the Sea. I typically work on two manuscripts at once, my priority manuscript and my “distraction” manuscript to keep myself from burning out. Succumb to Darkness was my distraction manuscript until it became priority in 2021. I’m pleased that this story is finally out in the world for people to enjoy.

What can we expect from you in the future?
I am currently working on finishing my next book, Be Mine. This is an LGBTQ+ BDSM erotica story, and I hope to have it published before the end of the year (2023). Once this book is released, I will be working on my thirteen book young adult fantasy series. This is the crown jewel of my writing career and I’m very protective about the details on it. All thirteen books have been written; however, the first book manuscript is incredibly old (it was completed in 2003), and the last book in the series was completed in 2009. I’m working on doing a massive overhaul on all thirteen manuscripts and will also be creating illustrations for all the books. It’s an ambitious goal, but also the project that means the most to me out of all my unfinished stories. I do plan on working on other novels inbetween the thirteen book series, including a speculative historical fiction novel on Marie Antoinette, a romance novel titled Clover Companion, and several others. My current unfinished manuscript count is at 97 today. We’ll see how far I can get through that list in my lifetime.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Succumb to Darkness?
The three main characters in Succumb to Darkness are Evanangela, Àmichemin, and Verseau. Evanangela is a fallen angel turned vampire. Àmichemin finds her, and takes her back to the château, where Evanangela meets Seigneur Verseau; the lord of the vampire court. Evanangela wars with herself throughout the book, trying to maintain her angelic morals while sacrificing her virtues in order to survive. As she learns and gains power, her black and white views become far more grey. Àmichemin is the right hand vampire to Verseau. She is a cunning and dangerous vampire who has taken a special interest in Evanangela. The truth about Àmichemin’s origins are revealed later in the story, and more of her secrets revealed turn her from a sultry lady of the court to a terrifying monster. Verseau is the lord of the vampire court (the Seigneur). He is quintessentially French, having romances with the other vixens of the court, until Evanangela arrives and steals his heart. He seeks to maintain control of the vampire court while a dire blood shortage is at hand. This, combined with a brewing peasant uprising, has Verseau’s careful façade cracking and Evanangela can see the overwhelmed and empathetic man within.

How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?
The Lac des Morts scene in Succumb to Darkness was my original vision, inspired by the song "The End of All Things" by Howard Shore from the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie. I cannot reveal more about that scene due to spoilers, however, it is a violent and devastating scene. I built the book around that scene that had played through my head. The characters went from little paper dolls in my mind to fully realized characters as I created the story. Each of them is based on ideals of morality, power, and romance. Their opulence is balanced with their brutality, as well as the exploration of grey morality. Life experiences rarely fit in neat little boxes, and often times we have to do regrettable things in the name of survival. All of this is what Succumb to Darkness is about.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?
Evanangela is a play on the word “angel”. It is a bit on the nose, but I also think it’s a pretty name and it fits her character. Àmichemin is French for “halfway”. This is a nod to her origin story and her secrets that we find out about halfway through the book. I also think it sounds very pretty. Words and names are incredibly important and chosen with care in my stories due to that I have synesthesia. I taste colors and words. “Àmichemin” tastes so beautiful to me, like lavender and pine needles on a winter morning. Verseau is French for “Aquarius”. It’s a nod to the idea of Christianity and “the Age of Aquarius” and how there are religious undertones with the concept of angels and vampires being presented in a traditional format. And of course, I also like the way “Verseau” sounds. It’s very regal and commanding.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
What I enjoy most about writing all of my books is I love losing myself to the story. There is a point during the creation process where I don’t see anymore. I’m completely in my head witnessing the visions of the story as my fingers fly across the keyboard. I’ve learned to type incredibly fast in order to keep up. It’s the most beautiful and exhilarating part of the process for me. I can actually feel myself “there” with the characters, seeing everything unfold. There’s nothing in the world, no life experience, better than that feeling.

Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
Evanangela is a fallen angel, turned vampire as punishment for her grave sin of vanity. At first, she sees herself as “better” than the vampires, and disdains the vampire court. She is naïve, but not stupid, and does what she must to survive. At first, she fights with herself and her high angelic morals. But as the story goes on and she has to continue to feed and fight in order to live, these lofty ideals begin to slip away. She sees humans for what they are, up close and personal, and begins to question how deserving of Dieu’s love and forgiveness they truly are.

Àmichemin is an ancient vampire and the right hand to Seigneur Verseau. She has a hot and cold style attitude and radiates power wherever she goes. The vampire court doesn’t just respect her, they are scared of her. At first, Evanangela thinks it’s due to Àmichemin’s position of power in the court, but later on in the story, she finds out it’s so much more than that. Àmichemin has tragic origins and has clawed her way up to power and awe. She is one of the strongest female characters I have written, and I love her to pieces.

Verseau is meant to be everything that the rococo French court represented – the opulence, the slick wit, and irresistible sexual prowess. He is charming with a hint of danger. His soft heart is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He wants nothing but joy and richness for the vampire court, but the blood shortage and looming Revolution strike down his efforts at every turn. He is holding onto his position as Seigneur by the skin of his teeth, with Àmichemin propping him up and protecting him from the growing dangers.

How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
“Succumb to Darkness” has always been the title of the story, even when I wrote that first manuscript back in 2005. It felt natural, that Evanangela is succumbing to the darkness of becoming a vampire and learning to live with herself and the choices she has made.

Who designed your book covers?
I commissioned my friend R. Taylor to create the book cover for Succumb to Darkness. She is both an accomplished artist and a published author. She has done book cover designs for other author friends of mine, and I love her work. She was wonderful to work with and created the cover to my specifications down to the details of eye color on the characters. A big motivator for why I commissioned a custom cover design is due to that there are no stock images/artworks that feature black vampires. Verseau is black and it is important to me that he be represented correctly. There are other books I have in my database that I would love to commission her for covers in the future. My three currently published romance novels Tearing Down the Wall, Freja’s Baby, and Freja’s Baby Shattered are all stock images. Love of the Sea has a cover that the publisher, Ink Smith Publishing, selected and I approved. I was the artist and created the illustration covers for my novel Geisha Hands and my novella Pandora. I already created the cover for Be Mine myself, and also plan on creating illustration covers myself for all thirteen of the books in my YA fantasy series

Anything specific you want to tell your readers?
Succumb to Darkness is a story that I have been cultivating for a decade and a half. It brings me such joy to finally bring it to life and share it with everyone. I fell in love with the dark romance of vampire stories in my teenage years, and I wanted to share that in my own story for my readers. I hope the book feels very much like the traditional vampire lore with all the darkness and romance, while packing some surprises along the way. Thank you for reading Succumb to Darkness and I hope you enjoy it!

What is your favorite part of this book and why?
The climax of the story, Chapter Thirty-One is my favorite part of Succumb to Darkness. Writing it was intense and all done in one sitting. The scene unfolded before me and I typed so fast and so hard that my fingers hurt afterward. I listened to “Stampede” by Hans Zimmer from The Lion King on repeat while writing the chapter. There were several times that I realized I was forgetting to breathe and I was shaking by the time the chapter was completed. That chapter is chock full of spoilers, but I can say that once they are in the carriage, that part of the story is where everything comes full circle. I barely even remember actually writing it, it was such a vibrant scene in my mind that I had completely lost touch with reality at that point and was living in the story as my fingers flew over the keyboard.

Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
Succumb to Darkness is a must read for anyone that loves traditional vampire lore. It goes back to the roots of vampires being monsters that prey on humans, that they bewitch us with their unearthly beauty in order to lure us in for the kill. The dark romance of it all is opulent and thrilling. The glittering French court at its height before the Revolution sparks wonder with the rich imagery. This story will suck you in, literally.

Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have a database of manuscripts that are in all states of completion. Be Mine and my thirteen book YA fantasy series are next on the list for completion and publication. But I also have a zodiac romance series planned, as well as a fantasy trilogy about centaurs; among many, many other stories.

If your book had a candle, what scent would it be?
Candles are a big part of Succumb to Darkness and are mentioned throughout the story. If the book had a single candle scent, I would say it would have to be some combination of pine needles, lavender, vanilla, and snow.

Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?
I have synesthesia where I taste colors and words. There is also overlap in that colors and words that are colors taste the same, such as the word “red” tastes the same as seeing the color red. Some words and colors taste bad, but most of them taste good. My personal favorites are shades of red, especially crimson and scarlet. Shades of red are a common theme in all my stories and much of my poetry. Many of the words and imagery details in my stories are put there because they taste good to me. If I want to lick the page, I’ve done a good job writing the scene.

What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
Juliet Marillier is my all time favorite author. I love her books in the Sevenwaters Trilogy: Daughter of the Forest, Son of Shadows, and Child of the Prophesy. I have more books by her and I can’t wait to read them. I love the way she paints such beautiful imagery in her stories, her use of magic, and the historical lore behind them. Her works have been a big influence on my writing style. I also love Anne Rice’s books, especially Interview with a Vampire. I love her writing style and the characters she created. I love The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley. This is a fantasy story that I’ve read several times. I love the strong female lead character and how, against all odds, she overcomes and saves the day with her courage and wits. But my all time favorite book is A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is a book from my childhood that I have read so much that the book is falling apart. It’s my comfort book I read when I’m in a depression spiral or suffering from my chronic nightmares. I love that old British stylistic way of writing and love emulating that feeling in my books as well.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
The research I do for each of my books depends on what kind of book I’m writing. Succumb to Darkness didn’t have much formal research, as it was largely a fantasy story. I have read many traditional vampire novels such as Dracula and Interview with a Vampire. I also have spent years researching Versailles, Marie Antoinette, and the French Revolution as a special interest. I utilized that knowledge to write the concepts in my book. I’m also bilingual in French, and I utilized this to write the French dialogue and come up with the French names. I have written other books that required an incredible amount of formal research. My Japanese historical fiction novel Geisha Hands took three years of intense research about Japanese history and culture. My speculative historical novel about Marie Antoinette will be another of my intense research book projects.

Do you see writing as a career?
This is a difficult question to answer. I’ve worked my whole life to make writing my career. But unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s difficult to make a living off your writing alone. I hope someday I’m able to make that happen, but until then, I’m determined to keep on writing, regardless of if it’s paying the bills or not. A big part of this is because we expect so much of creatives in today’s age of instant gratification and zero privacy. We expect creatives to share their entire process and personal lives with us, all while creating new works at record speed at a constant rate. We live by “More” and “Now!”, and it’s hard to keep up. There is more competition in every creative field than ever before, and it’s hard to be heard over all the noise. At the very least, if I can complete and publish my most important stories, I can die happy.

What do you think about the current publishing market?
The current publishing market is complex and more demanding than ever before. Publishers are facing challenges with declining reading rates, the rise of AI, and the surge of new authors since the pandemic lockdowns enabled so many people to pursue their true passions. There’s more competition, more fraud, and less money to be had. This means that it’s more difficult than ever to be traditionally published and even harder to become agency represented. Self-publishing is a great way to bypass the whole process, but it creates a wealth of other challenges. Self-publishing means you’re on your own, and you have to build your books, your brand, and your business from the ground up all at once. The learning curve is steep, and I’ve seen many new authors make serious mistakes along the way that damage their careers (such as badmouthing traditional publishers and putting reviewers on blast). It’s the wild west in the publishing world of today, and we’re all rushing to grab our piece of the action.

Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?
I love to read. I wish I could make more time for myself to read more books. My two favorite genres to read are fantasy and historical fiction. I love to lose myself in a fantasy world, or another country/time period.

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
I tend to bounce back and forth between listening to music and writing in silence. However, I can’t write in noisy places such as in a café or a public space. That’s too many distractions. When I listen to music, it’s typically instrumental with no lyrics. It’s helpful to have music that matches the vibe of the scene I’m writing. But sometimes, even the music is too distracting and I write in complete silence.

Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I have many books in my database, but I do my best to only work on two books at a time at most. Back in college, I did work on as many as five or six manuscripts at once due to different projects in different classes for my writing degree. I was able to write so many manuscripts in such a short amount of time while I was in college. But that was mainly the creation process and not much editing. Now, I’m going through those unfinished manuscripts and finishing the process – completing the manuscripts and polishing them with rounds and rounds of editing. Having only two manuscripts that I’m working on at a time has been a great rule to help keep me focused and finish them for publication in a timely manner.

Pen or type writer or computer?
When I was in college, our writing teachers required us to write by hand in class, then type up our work to turn in later. The teachers believed that writing by hand was better for the creative process and prevented people from getting hung up on editing while trying to write. Personally, I have always preferred typing on the computer verses writing by hand. My handwriting is terrible, as well as I have arthritis in my hands which makes it hard for me to write with a pen or pencil. I can also type far faster than I can write with a pen or pencil. The sound of the keys clacking is also so satisfying and encourages me to keep going when I’m working on my stories.

Tell us about a favorite character from a book.
Sorcha from Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier is one of my favorite characters. She’s a strong female lead character in an Irish fantasy folklore series. Sorcha is not especially pretty or charming, but she’s intelligent and bold. I love her steadfast dedication to the suffering she must endure in order to break the curse put on her brothers. The intensity of her sense of purpose and the strength of her love is inspirational. I hope my female lead characters are able to stand up to her in strength and tenacity.

A day in the life of the author?
I actually have a vlog on “A day in the life of an author” on my official YouTube channel. However, it follows what it’s like to work as a vendor at an author convention, packing up my books to set them up at a booth and sell them. I don’t yet have “A day in the life of an author” vlog on my channel on what it’s like to work on a manuscript. I’m worried that it will be boring to watch, as it’s just me sitting at my desk typing away. Unfortunately, my typical day spends far more hours on my social media work for my author brand, working at my corporate day job, and handling daily “adulting” like errands, laundry, etc. It’s not very glamorous or exciting, just a lot of daily grind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oif97YHnFTc&t=3s

Advice they would give new authors?
The best advice I have for new authors is to write the story that you yourself would want to read. If you don’t want to read your story, why would anyone else want to read it? Make sure you love your story and that it holds value for you before sharing it with the world.

Describe your writing style.
My writing style is heavy on imagery with “flowery” language. I love describing scenery, describing characters, any chance I have for world building and imagery. I love using colors, textures, scents, and sensations. I especially love describing shades of red. I use words deliberately. All my words are chosen with purpose due to I love to be as descriptive as possible, as well as my word choices are often dictated by my synesthesia. Ultimately, I want the reader to see the beautiful vision I have in my head. I want them to feel transported to the time and place the story is set in. I want the story to feel like a full experience, not just words on a page. This is also why I love including artwork in my books and have more plans for illustrated novels in the future.

What makes a good story?
A good story needs to speak to the reader, to draw them in. The reader needs to feel a connection with the characters and feel the motivation to keep turning the page. Stories are not meant to be boring and tedious. They’re meant to evoke feelings and spark wonder. Whether your story is an important piece of history that needs to be told, or it’s a fun piece of fluff, either way, the message to the reader needs to be clear and enticing enough to convince the reader to jump in.

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? What are common traps for aspiring writers?
My writing process is time consuming and involved. The first step of the process is Creation. I’m inspired by something, and sit down and just write. I write until I get all the scene(s) out of my head and onto the page. This can be anything from a single sentence to several pages. The next step is I Plot. I pick apart the random creation I’ve vomited onto the page and start to organize it into a basic story plot so I have an idea of what the beginning, middle, and end of the story will be. Then I Create some more. Just more random writing of whatever strikes my fancy with scenes in the story all out of order. Then I Outline. I take all the random scenes and organize them into a full outline and assign them to chapters. On average, I start each novel with the goal of thirty-two chapters. Some are longer, some are shorter. I continue to repeat the Creation and Outline process until I’m finally able to type “The End” on the manuscript. Once I reach that point, I put my manuscript through several rounds of editing. I do my Big Edits first where I analyze the story arc, character development, fix plot holes, etc. Then do my Fine Edits, which is where I go over the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb for typos, grammar and spelling, structural errors, etc. This is anywhere from three to six rounds of editing. I never do more than six rounds of editing because you can edit a manuscript to death. By that point, it’s chefs put your knives down and be done. I either send it off to traditional publisher submissions or I send it to my layout artist for “self” publishing with my small press publishing company.

What is your writing Kryptonite?
Time. Time is the biggest enemy of my writing. I wish there were more hours in the day and I wish I had fewer responsibilities so I could spend more time writing. In fact, that’s how I got into the terrible lifestyle of never sleeping – I would drink coffee to replace sleep so I could stay up for days at a time to write more, create more art, and do more things with my days. I’m lucky that I don’t suffer from writer’s block or any lack of motivation to write. I simply don’t have enough time in my day to devote the level that I would prefer to spend on writing. If I could, I would spend anywhere from five to twelve hours per day on uninterrupted writing.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?
The genre of the book often determines how long it takes for me to complete a manuscript. Romance novels are the fastest for me to write and edit. Historical fiction novels take me the longest overall. Romance novels on average take me about one to two years to complete. Fantasy novels take me about two to three years to complete. And historical fiction novels can take me upwards of five years or more to complete due to all the research that is required. This is why I also tend to work on two manuscripts at once. That way, I can get a fluffy quick romance novel out while still researching for a historical fiction novel.
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Aug 16
kickoff at Silver Dagger Book Tours
Bedazzled By Books

Aug 17
The Sexy Nerd 'Revue'
The Bookshelf Fairy

Aug 18
Lady Hawkeye

Aug 21
Naughty Nightie Book Blog

Aug 22
All Things Dark & Dirty
4covert2overt ☼ A Place In The Spotlight ☼

Aug 23
Books+Coffee=Happiness
Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin'

Aug 24
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree
C.A.Milson

Aug 25
Books all things paranormal and romance

Aug 26
A Wonderful World of Words

Aug 28
❧Defining Ways❧

Aug 29
Celticlady's Reviews
Craving Lovely Books

Aug 30
eBook Addicts
Sylv.net

Aug 31
Country Mamas With Kids
Girl with Pen

Sep 1
Insane Books

Sep 4
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Sep 5
Tina Donahue - Heat with Heart
Kenyan Poet

Sep 6
Readers Roost
The Book Dragon

Sep 7
Inside the Insanity
Literary Gold

Sep 8
Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read

Sep 11
My beauty my books

Sep 12
The Scratching Post
Trixie Reports Books

Sep 13
Twisted Book Ramblings

Sep 14
Royally Insane Books
Painting With Words

Sep 15
Scrupulous Dreams

Sep 16
Midnight Book Reader

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