That sinking feeling when you realise that you committed to writing a story for an anthology and that means working out a pair of new characters, and a story although this anthology has a theme …

Of course, I don’t make things easy for myself, because I also run the risk of falling into the research black hole, one of the joys, for me, of being neurodivergent.

So, what does this process look like? Where do I start? There is a start, isn’t there? Of course, there is!

I am a very visual person when it comes to writing. I need to find the right sort of face which will act as inspiration for my new story. Also, I need to find the right creature that works with the anthology theme. The theme is that ‘even villains deserve love’. I could have made it easy for myself. Casimir, the main man of Cysgodion, definitely filled the role of a villain as far as the characters of “Beta” were concerned. But, by “Cysgodion” and “Merysekhmet”, he seems to have redeemed himself.

Not Casimir then.

The one creature I have yet to include in my stories is the vampire, hence the picture of a vampire bat. But … there is a similar problem to people assuming that all sexy romance must be like FSOG. There are series like The Originals. There are books and movies like Twilight. Then we have Hotel Transylvania and characters saying “Blah, blah blah!”. Vampires have been done to death. So the first thing I had to irk out was how did my vampires differ? Was I going to let someone else choose the definition?

Where would be the fun in that?

But first things first, I needed a face, or rather faces. It would be a M/F romance, as I don’t feel confident enough to diverge from that yet.

My story, my rules. I may well have to include that as a note at the start of the story, because otherwise, I am sure readers might be a bit cross that I didn’t follow ‘official’ lore. I needed my characters to be out and about, so the traditional avoidance of sunlight wouldn’t work.

Lily turnout out to be a high school History teacher. My male character was law enforcement, but in the vampire parallel to the FBI. I haven’t found a face for him, so whilst I have an idea of his name and lineage, I really need that face.

So, as they used to say … “Stay tuned …”.

Bran Cadwgan is one of two Betas of the Cwn Annwn. He believed he would never be granted a Mate by the Goddess as penance for past mistakes, but discovers that he was wrong. Will he succeed in proving to both her family and his Mate that he is worthy of her sharing his life?

Alix Gosselin is the only daughter of the Gosselin Alpha and his mate. She was the “Gosselin Princess” growing up in an abusive home, until she fled first to attend boarding school and then for a career in law enforcement. Her parents had proven that the myth of a mate who would love and treasure you above all else was just that, a myth. Then, she encountered a biker whilst investigating a series of female disappearances in a suspected sex-trafficking ring. Her life would never be the same again. Alix wants to believe the story she is told by her biker, but she knows her father will not let her ‘throw herself away’ on a ‘mere biker’.

Bran and Alix, both have preconceptions to overcome. Both of them will be faced with challenges. Will the growing bond between them be sufficient? Based on the legend of the Welsh Cwn Annwn, and incorporating Jo’s love of myth and legend, Beta introduces a cast of Cwn Annwn, wolf shifter and human characters, weaving romance with the contemporary world. Dare you walk in our world?

https://books2read.com/u/mqN9D8