Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: dark spirits

Showing posts with label dark spirits. Show all posts

Warning: To those who haven’t read BEYOND THE EYES, there are some spoilers in this.

Four months ago, I interviewed Paige Reed, the main character in my YA paranormal series. The chat was cut short because she and Nathan had to meet Tree and Carrie at the movie theater. Paige promised to meet with me again and since the second book in this series (DARK SPIRITS) will be coming out at the beginning of 2013, I thought this would be a good time to get back together.

Right now, she’s at a hidden location, so we can’t do a video chat. I have to say before I start the interview that I love her raspy voice. It reminds me of Demi Moore’s, but not as abrasive.

Me: "Good evening, Paige. How are you?"

Paige: "I’m doing well. Thanks."

Me: "I’m going to get this interview rolling by asking you some hard hitting questions . . . if you don’t mind?"

Paige: "I still feel bad for bailing on you in our last interview, so I’m totally fine with it."

Me: "No worries . . . Before you became immortal, you had to deal with a lot of shit that you harbored inside yourself for so long. I know you’ve shed many tears, and now you’re a stronger person, not only physically but mentally-"

Paige: "Yeah, I am."

Me: "But don’t you still feel sad about your parents?"

Paige: "Sometimes I do, but it’s not like the same kind of sadness as before. I understand now why they made their decisions. Also, they haven’t abandoned me. Your readers will discover that in your third book–The Devil’s Third. However, there are times when I miss them, and that’s when the sorrow creeps into my heart."

Me: "I know Nathan told you immortals’ emotions are heightened exponentially. How are you dealing with your intense feelings?"

She laughs.

Paige: "The people who read Dark Spirits will find out I’ve had a hard time controlling my temper at first. I am getting better, though, at switching off the feelings I don’t want."

Me: "I know you get premonitions from a ghostly voice only you can hear; however, you’re starting to discover other gifts you have as well. Am I right?"

Paige: "Yeah, you are. I do come from an ancient line of witches; however, I’m something different. I mean . . . *sighs* I really don’t know what to think about it, to be honest–about what I am."

Me: "What can you tell us about Dark Spirits?"

Paige: "Well, in Dark Spirits, I find out one of the abilities I have comes from Solomon. It’s an awesome gift I hope to keep if his power ever leaves me."

Me: "What else can you tell us without spoiling it for the readers?"

Paige: "There’s an ancient dark spirit named Volac who wants to destroy me. He has a following, and they plan to help him do just that. One night they ambush us, and Nathan finds out some disturbing news. Also, in this book Nathan and I have some relationship problems, but I don’t want to talk about that."

Me: "I understand. What about Brayden? Or do you not want to talk about him? I know he had stepped over the line towards the end of Beyond the Eyes."

Paige: "He did totally screw up there. However, he's back to Astoria and genuinely sorry for that."

Me: "You forgave him?"

Paige: "Well . . . yeah. I’ve known him since I was five, and he would never hurt me."

Me: "Is he coming between you and Nathan?"

Paige: "Brayden still believes we belong together, and he did offer me something I want from Nathan–a partnership of equal standing. You see, Nathan is overprotective. I mean, I can understand why because I almost died. But still . . . The readers will find out about his secretive behavior and why. I also find out he has an ally in an unlikely source. It totally shocked me when I found that out."

Me: "What about Aosoth? The last we read about her, Nathan had cast her out of Carrie and used one of his homemade incantations to prolong her suffering."

Paige: "All I can say is the reader will get to find out where she went and what happens after she regains her energy."

Me: "So Carrie and Tree play a bigger role in these next two books?"

Paige: "Yeah, and unfortunately they’re now involved in my dark world."

Me: "Carrie tells you a shocking secret that greatly impacts her life. I know in book three it gets worse for her, and you do everything in your power to help her, including casting a circle and doing magic."

Paige: "I do. She’s my best friend, and I’d go to hell and back if I had to to save her."

Me: "I’m going to leave it at that because I don’t want to spoil the next two books for the fans of this series."

Paige: "Good idea."

Me: "I think I’ll end our interview now because it’s getting a bit lengthy. Please tell Tree, I’ve been hearing from quite a few people that he’s their favorite character."

She laughs.

Paige: "I will."

Me: "Thanks for talking to me and looking out for humanity."

Paige: "You’re welcome, and thank you for telling my story."

Me: "How could I not? If only they knew . . . Take care."

Paige: "You too."

So there you have it. My editor just finished editing Dark Spirits and said the plotting and characterization was excellent, which of course made me happy. The cover is almost complete, except for the testimonies I’ll be receiving from a couple of authors. I will do a cover reveal before I publish this book. So it’s all coming together. I can’t wait for you to read it and join in on the fun. I will be doing some awesome giveaways such as the claddagh ring Nathan gave Paige. I can’t wait for you to see it. It’s beautiful! :)

dark spirits, immortals, interview, 2 Comments

A while ago, I had interviewed one of Paige’s best friends–Tree. His real name is Jack but his friends call him Tree because he’s tall and has a Mohawk. Well now I thought it was about time to interview my main character, Paige. I won’t though, ask questions that would spoil the story for future readers.

I’m interviewing Paige, via video chat. At the beginning of this series she was seventeen, however, she just turned eighteen this past May. Right now, she’s wearing her long, dark red hair down. I can’t help but envy how perfectly straight it is. Every morning I have to take a hair straightener to my naturally wavy hair to accomplish what Paige’s hair naturally does. She’s also petite like me, however, she’s a few inches taller than I. She’s five three and is wearing a white tank top and camouflage shorts. Her normally pale skin is nicely tanned, and I imagine it’s from hanging out at Cannon Beach with Nathan, Tree, and Carrie.

Me: "Hi, Paige. How are you today?"

She smiles and shifts nervously in her seat.

Paige: "I’m good. Thanks."

Me: "You don’t like to be the center of attention, huh?"

She tucks her hair behind her ears and shakes her head.

Paige: "No, I don’t."

Me: "I appreciate you allowing me to interview you, and I promise it’ll be short and painless."

A small smile forms on her lips, and she nods.

Me: "I know you can’t tell me too much because I just released your story to the world, and I don’t want to ruin it for future readers and--"

Paige: "Do you think . . . " She looks down.

Me: "What?"

She takes a deep breath and fixes her dark green eyes on mine. They look worried. I notice my heart is beating a little faster.

Paige: "Do you think the people who read this series will believe about the dark spirits?"

I shrug.

Me: "I don’t know. I wrote it as fiction."

Paige: "But since the human race has existed here on earth, there have been humans who have done some horrific things, like what the Nazis have done."

Me: "Yeah, I know."

Paige: "Or humans with super-human strength overpowering another human and performing cannibalistic acts on them."

I just nod, a little taken aback by this unexpected turn in our conversation.

Paige leans closer to the camera. The look in her eyes is sad, yet there’s a desperation in them that is alarming. My heart picks up speed again, and then she says two words that send chills down my spine.

Paige: "Dark spirits."

For half a minute we stare at each other. Her eyes are as round as her face. What she just said isn’t really news to me, but I can’t help but wonder if I had opened up a can of worms when I decided to publish this series.

I can hear a heavy door closing in the background with a loud thud. I blink, and Paige glances away.

Nathan: "Paige, Carrie and Tree are waiting for us at the theater."

Paige covers her mouth and looks at me apologetically. She drops her hand.

Paige: "Crap. I totally forgot. We’re supposed to see The Avengers this afternoon. I’m sorry, but I have to go."

Me: "That’s okay. We can finish another time. I imagine Tree is anxious to see it, huh?"

She laughs and smiles.

Paige: "Yeah. Tree and his superheros. You gotta love him."

Me: "My dad told me it was an excellent movie. He’s into superheros too."

Paige smiles again, and then Nathan kneels beside her. The corner of his mouth curls, and I can’t help but think how cute he is. His hair style reminds me of Brad Pitt’s character (Tyler Durden) in Fight Club–short brown hair, and spiked up on top–except Nathan has blond spikes. Nathan also has a boyish look, like Brad Pitt, but he doesn’t look like him. Nathan’s eyes are dark blue, and honestly, he’s cuter than Brad.

Nathan: "Hi, Rebekkah."

I can’t help but grin.

Me: "Hi, Nathan."

Nathan: "I hate to be rude, but I have to steal Paige from you."

Me: "No worries. I understand. You guys go have fun. I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future."

Nathan lifts his eyebrows and locks his gaze onto mine.

Nathan: "You can count on it."

Paige: "Let me know when you want to do this again."

Me: "Okay, I will."

Paige: "Thank you for sharing my story with the world, and just so you know, I have more to share if you ever decide to continue after the third book."

Me: "You’re welcome, and we’ll see how well this series does before I decide whether to continue it or not."

Paige and Nathan stand up.

Paige: "Well, if you do, let me know."

Me: "Sure thing. Now you two go have some fun."

Paige: "Okay, bye."

Me: "Bye."

Wow. That interview was certainly not what I had imagined or expected. We hardly had a chance to get to know Paige, but we’ll do it again some other time. I also would like to interview Nathan. I just don’t know if I can without giving too much away. Maybe when the second book comes out I will.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this interview. I didn’t plan it this way, nor did I change anything. I left it in its rawest form so it would retain its purity and essence.

My butt is numb so I best be off (not that you wanted to know that, but hey, I’m still going for the raw and uncut version). :)