When I first set out to write this series three years ago, I never thought it would run eight books long. I never thought the main series would run six books, let alone that I would write two companion novellas. But once I got to know the characters and their stories developed, I found I had more story to tell and I wasn’t ready to let this world go just yet.

THE CREATION OF BREANNA AND SHADOW

I’ve always loved writing about kickass female characters. And it should be known by now that I like my heroes to be tough, alpha, but tender-hearted when it comes to their women. I’m a romantic through and through, and I like to keep the relationship between my fictional couples hot but sweet.

LOVE BORN FROM HATE

It’s such a fun trope. You see it all the time in fiction and movies, but it never gets old to me. There’s so much room for conflict, especially in romance because love is such a strong emotion to begin with. Pair it with hate, another strong emotion, and the inner and outer tension gets really intense.

COMING UP WITH THE PLOT OF FOREVER

When I write, I have a vague idea where the story is going. I used to meticulously plot everything out, down to the last detail, but I don’t anymore. Call it increased skill acquired over eight years of storytelling, or call it impatience. Call it whatever. I find I have way more fun if I can just dive into a story and figure it out.

CREATING THE VILLAIN

I had NO CLUE who the villain was going into this. All I knew was that I wanted some Phantom of the Opera type villain, the mysterious, menacing Prince Charming. Or Jareth from Labyrinth. Varen Darkfire, the antagonist of Forever, is probably a mix of the Phantom and the Goblin King. Sexy but dangerous. Took me forever (no pun intended) to figure out what type of creature he was and what his backstory was… and I had NO CLUE I was going to go in that direction. But it worked for this story, and I hope to explore more of that type of creature in the future.

SOWING THE SEEDS FOR CONFLICT

When we left off of Lust, Breanna and Shadow were in a pretty good place. Not perfect, but hardly any relationship ever is. I knew Breanna was going to question her choice to mate Shadow, and Shadow was going to question his choice to mate Breanna, mostly because it put him in the role of Alpha and he’s not comfortable with that at all. He doesn’t trust himself not to hurt the people around him, and Breanna struggles with feeling good enough for literally everything. There are, of course, other packs out to get them, in addition to Varen Darkfire’s everpresent evil. The whole theme of this story is centered around forgiveness, trust, and believing in yourself. And of course family. Family is a big theme in werewolf books, in my opinion, due to the whole pack element.

THE END OF A SAGA

I’m pretty much done with the world of Blood Moon Rising, and probably the Underworld, too, once I finish Soulful, the last book in my Her Dark Desires trilogy. I’m in the mood to explore something fresh, something new, which is why I’m moving to a brand new series, set in a totally different universe. That’s the fun part about being a writer–you get to make up new characters, explore new settings, and go on this amazing adventures you would never get to experience in real life. That’s what I hope to bring to my readers every time they read one of my stories. I want to transport them somewhere they’ve never been before or perhaps someplace they’ve only dreamed of. It’s fun to escape real life, and I think everybody needs that.