Q&A with Katie Salidas author of the Immortalis series discussion

I think everyone has heard the quote “write what you know.” It’s probably one of the first things we as writers are taught. It makes sense too. You should be knowledgeable in the things that you are writing but that doesn’t mean you cannot write what you are not completely familiar with.

I write about vampires, but I’ve never been one so I can't write them from experience. What I can do, though, is take things and experiences I do know and translate them to the characters I create.

For instance, when writing the Immortalis series, I needed to describe bloodlust.

What is bloodlust? Again, not being a vampire I have no real basis of comparison, but I do know a few other things that might come close.

I’ve struggled with quitting smoking for years (and still do). Addiction is very easy to compare to bloodlust. A vampire needs blood to survive and I'm willing to bet, if they were real, missing a meal would be none too pleasant.

For a smoker, that morning cigarette or that after dinner cigarette is something of a need too.

When trying to quit smoking, that withdrawal sets in: you feel all sorts of terrible things. You become cranky, irritable, depressed, and short-tempered. Then this little voice whispers in your head that having one little smoke will make it all better. So, in taking the “write what you know” quote into consideration I likened bloodlust to that of a person who is addicted to the substance. I make the need for blood like an addiction and the lack of it something like the effects of withdrawal.

That was a similar question I asked myself for one of my (non-vampire) stories. I did some research on the matter, reading up about cocaine use as my study drug. Having read Immortalis, I felt you had a good handle on it. Bloodlust would most likely be more like a thirst than a hunger but with undertones of euphoric hallucinogens. When your throat is parched, when you've been aching for just a cool drink of water for hours...you really slam that liquid down. In the Immortalis world, that was the impression I gained from Alyssa...that it was drug and water and food all in one.

Very good interpretation!