Ask the Author: Aidee Ladnier
Answered Questions (11)
Aidee Ladnier
Hi! I have good news and bad news on this. The bad news is, my writing life has been on haitus with the pandemic. The good news is, Debussy and I have one finished piece in editing and several more plotted out. So stay tuned and prepare to be there and be scared!
Aidee Ladnier
I got the idea for Wolf Around The Corner from asking, "What if a werewolf played the lead in Beauty and The Beast? Wouldn't that cut down on makeup and transformation scene headaches?"
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales, but if you read the story, Wolf Around The Corner is actually based more heavily on an old Arthurian legend of The Loathy Lady. I like the idea of characters being given a choice instead of simply regrets as Beauty has when the Beast is dying. In The Loathly Lady, a knight is given a choice between having a beautiful wife during the daytime and a Beast in his bed, or a Beastly wife during the day and a beautiful wife between the sheets. I won't tell you what he chooses because Wolf Around The Corner hinges on it!
I've been flirting with this idea for awhile. I love the idea of werewolves as extensions of the monster bridegroom trope of fairy tales and this was the perfect time to try it out. I hope you like it!
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales, but if you read the story, Wolf Around The Corner is actually based more heavily on an old Arthurian legend of The Loathy Lady. I like the idea of characters being given a choice instead of simply regrets as Beauty has when the Beast is dying. In The Loathly Lady, a knight is given a choice between having a beautiful wife during the daytime and a Beast in his bed, or a Beastly wife during the day and a beautiful wife between the sheets. I won't tell you what he chooses because Wolf Around The Corner hinges on it!
I've been flirting with this idea for awhile. I love the idea of werewolves as extensions of the monster bridegroom trope of fairy tales and this was the perfect time to try it out. I hope you like it!
Aidee Ladnier
I don't wait for inspiration! My time is limited so my muse dances to my tune. That said, I don't work on just one story at a time. I have several. So if I'm not feeling it on one story, I move on to another.
Aidee Ladnier
I think you mean "what doesn't inspire you" - LOL!
I have to admit some of my favorite books to write are inspired by a particular genre that I love - such as up-all-night movies that led me to write The Moonlight Market. Or time-travel stories which led me to write The Busted Labs series.
That said, I also get inspiration from a few offbeat sources - like hearing something wrong. For instance, I'm writing a story about a character who, instead of visiting her maternal grandmother, goes to see her nocturnal grandmother. So much fun!
I have to admit some of my favorite books to write are inspired by a particular genre that I love - such as up-all-night movies that led me to write The Moonlight Market. Or time-travel stories which led me to write The Busted Labs series.
That said, I also get inspiration from a few offbeat sources - like hearing something wrong. For instance, I'm writing a story about a character who, instead of visiting her maternal grandmother, goes to see her nocturnal grandmother. So much fun!
Aidee Ladnier
Here's my favorite two-sentence horror story. It's an oldie but a good one:
A man, utterly alone, stumbles in the dark and wishes aloud for a light. And one is handed to him
A man, utterly alone, stumbles in the dark and wishes aloud for a light. And one is handed to him
Aidee Ladnier
Believe it or not, I'm working on a shifter romance - a house cat versus alley cat shifter romance already titled "Yowl At The Moon". It invaded my thoughts and won't let me go (even to work on a project with a deadline). I've even created a brand new coloring page for it. Sigh. Someone should have stopped me.
Aidee Ladnier
Actually, the inspiration came from my love of good "up all night" movies. Some of my favorite “up all night” films are "Into the Night", "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist”, “American Graffiti”, "Cold Dog Soup", and “After Hours”. The elements of a good "up all night" story are usually:
• an intriguing friend or love interest who is more trouble than they're worth,
• a crazy place (or places) where things happen that never happen in the protagonist's regular life,
• a protagonist living a very staid and boring life that needs to be shook up a little, and
• a night (or a few nights) to encapsulate it all.
These zany movies play upon the fact that when you stay up all night with someone you're tired, your barriers are thin, and you spill secrets without meaning to.
I wanted to write a story like that and THE MOONLIGHT MARKET is the result.
• an intriguing friend or love interest who is more trouble than they're worth,
• a crazy place (or places) where things happen that never happen in the protagonist's regular life,
• a protagonist living a very staid and boring life that needs to be shook up a little, and
• a night (or a few nights) to encapsulate it all.
These zany movies play upon the fact that when you stay up all night with someone you're tired, your barriers are thin, and you spill secrets without meaning to.
I wanted to write a story like that and THE MOONLIGHT MARKET is the result.
Aidee Ladnier
The best thing about being a writer is getting to meet all the new and quirky characters I write about. I mean, how often have you wanted to meet a bodyguard that can turn invisible, or a bartender with extra arms, or even a girl that goes to speed dating events to kill zombies? All the time, right...or maybe that's just me. ;)
Aidee Ladnier
I actually keep books all over my house in various states of being read. There's a different book in the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen depending on where I am when I decide to read. I hate carting books hither and yon, so I simply read a whole bunch of them at once. LOL!
Aidee Ladnier
I don't actually suffer from writer's block. If I have trouble with a story, I work on something else. I usually take a stall in a story as evidence that there's something wrong with the plot and my subconscious is trying to alert me to it. My subconscious is always right. :)
Aidee Ladnier
The first, the most important thing, that new writers must learn is to finish their works.
A blank page does not begin a story. A blank page does not continue a story and a blank page cannot end a story.
It's really hard sometimes, just getting the words down. And often that first draft is ugly. But you know what? Once an idea has been written, it can be cleaned up, polished, and maybe published.
A book that hasn't been started, or more importantly, hasn't been finished, has zero chance of being published.
A blank page does not begin a story. A blank page does not continue a story and a blank page cannot end a story.
It's really hard sometimes, just getting the words down. And often that first draft is ugly. But you know what? Once an idea has been written, it can be cleaned up, polished, and maybe published.
A book that hasn't been started, or more importantly, hasn't been finished, has zero chance of being published.
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