COMING SOON FROM THE WILD ROSE PRESS

As a writer I am often asked how I come up with ideas for a story. 

Ideas can spring from anywhere:  the grocery story, Wal-Mart, work, school, but my idea for The Rook and the Raven came from a dream.

When I decided that I wanted to write a paranormal romance for The Wild Rose Press, I first went to their website (TheWildRosePress.com) and looked at the guidelines for their Faery Rose line. The hero “should be sensual, who knows what he wants and goes after the leading lady.”  Okay.  I can handle that.  But what kind of hero should I have?

I didn’t want the usual cast of characters: vampires, werewolves, or ghosts. Ho-hum.  Boring. My supernatural hero had to be brand new.   But who or what?

Then I remembered a dream I had years ago.

On my quest to become more spiritual I went to many meetings that offered guided meditations to find your spirit guide.  I desperately wanted to know my guide’s name and what he looked like.  While I sat ramrod straight, feet on the floor, eyes closed, and listened to the speaker walk us through grassy meadows, crystal clear lakes, into caves and to infinity and beyond, I waited for my guardian to appear. 

He never did.

After months of these meetings and failed meditations, I quit searching for my guides.  I knew I had them. They were always there when I needed them.  Humans put too much importance on a name and shape anyway.  Don’t get me wrong.  A lot of people find their guides in this way.  It just didn’t work for me.  I think I was trying too hard.

A few years later, my guide came to me in a dream. 

He was worth the wait.

He wore a black trench coat with a high collar.  His entourage followed a few steps behind him.  I didn’t know guides had a staff of assistants.  It quickly dawned on me that this guide was El Supremo.   

He looked like Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Now, while I liked Orlando in Pirates, Johnny Depp was the bad boy that made my heart race.  Elizabeth could have Will.  Give me Jack Sparrow.  With that being said, I wouldn’t kick Will out of bed for eating crackers.  So having a guide that looked like Orlando Bloom was pretty cool.

 

I won’t bore you with all the details of the dream, but the thing I remember so vividly was how it ended. 

Orlando Bloom Guide wrapped his trench coat around his wide shoulders, and with a look of intense remorse he told me he must go.   He was needed in a different time and space.

            I felt his sadness and loneness when he disappeared into the mist. 

                                              I’ve never dreamed of him sense.

                                              He would be my hero. (Picture Hugh Jackman in Van Heilsing with silver eyes and wings and you got The Rook.)

And because my guide protects not only me, but tons of others in this vast universe, I wanted to come up with a name never heard before. My fingers typed, The Rook.

A rook is also called a castle.  A castle protects.  Perfect.

I’ve always liked the name Raven so my leading lady became, Raven.   

And that is how I came up with the idea for The Rook and the Raven.

The Rook is the highest Sentinel; created for the sole purpose of protecting all life in the universe.  He is immortal.  Invisible.  And because I like bad boys, he’s a rebel.

“Disobeying the ancient law that forbids The Rook from interfering with destiny, Roark rescues young Raven from certain death, forever tying her mortal soul to his.”

Love is a power unto itself and will not be denied. But is the love The Rook has for Raven strong enough to transcend dimensions or will it be forever lost between the shadows of time and space?”