You know how sometimes after you’ve finished watching a scary movie or experienced something particularly shiver-worthy, you’ll notice every little sound in the house, every shadow in the hall, every creak in the floorboards? Moods or events, especially paranormal ones, can definitely affect us and make us hyper-aware. And since a writer’s muse is an imaginative extension our ourselves, I’d say that hyper-awareness definitely carries over to the muse as well.
At least it did for me. Twice. Really.
And each time, a vampire book was born.
Six years ago, after a long day of work, I was happily pounding away at my keyboard, working on a contemporary cowboy story. Two AM rolled around and I took a break from my manuscript to tiredly run my hands down my face. And that’s when I noticed the perfumed smell. I glanced around, sniffing, trying to figure out where the scent was coming from. It didn’t smell like soap on my hands, but I’d definitely detected a perfumed scent when my hands were near my face. I smelled my hands again and realized the scent was coming from a ring I’d bought a couple weeks ago. The ring had obviously been through many hand washings and had no reason to smell like perfume, but it did. Odd that. And yet, as I stared at the ring on my finger, I thought, Hmmm, that’s…interesting. Bet I could write a story about a ring with a scent. It’d have to be paranormal. And sexy. Now, what kind of hero would I put in a paranormal, sexy story? *Insert dinging bell over my head here…oh, and a finger snap*. Vampire!
Even though I’d never written a story about vampires and never had any intention to, I started a vampire book. That vampire story ended up being the first book I sold to a small publisher, which was later followed by two more books in the KENDRIAN vampire series.
Fast forward four years and eleven novels and novellas later, I had the most amazing dream. A human female had written a fictional book about vampires. The next thing she knows she’s kidnapped by a real vampire and they’re being chased by gunmen. The vampire who kidnaps her shoots at the people shooting at them, meets with a drug dealer and basically comes across as a bad guy, who happens to have saved her life in the process. Hmmm, he sounded dark. And I liked it! What did I do once I woke up from a surreal dream like that? I began scribbling like a madwoman! The next thing I knew, that book SCIONS: RESURRECTION turned into my first NY sale, along with two other follow up stories, SCIONS:INSURRECTION and SCIONS:REVELATION.
Yes, in both cases, unique events were the catalysts for my vampire stories. My subconscious muse worked overtime, creating those first stories, but I’ve continued to write about vampire heroes ever since, because they’re interesting and complex characters. Full of supernatural strength and yet harboring an Achilles weakness, these tormented heroes ooze sex appeal. While their dark, dangerous nature and need for blood heightens the risk, their allure makes them invitingly irresistible in a bad-boy, “Bite me, baby” kind of way.
What I find the most interesting about my own inspiring experiences was the fact that both stories turned out to be about vampires. Now that you know what drew me into writing about vampires, what about you? What draws you into “reading” about vampires? Is it the character/hero? The mythology? The dark world?
I’m guest blogging about this subject on Jaye Well’s blog today. To enter a drawing to win a signed copy of SCION:RESURRECTION, go here and post a comment. Hope to see you there. 
Patrice