Enchanted Orb - Christina Ashcroft Inspired

Welcome to the Enchanted Orb for September. Today Christina Ashcroft has graciously agreed to talk about what inspired her to write. While she's focussing on archangels at the moment, you should also know that she also writes hot historical romance. So settle in, and I'll let her tell you about where her ideas come from.

Take it away, Christina!

         

The Inspiration behind the World of my Archangels

Unlike many of my author friends, my mind isn’t overspilling with a thousand different story ideas. I don’t have twenty different heroes battling it out in my head, demanding that I write their story next. My process is painful in the extreme and I suffer from huge panic attacks that this book is the last one I will ever create.

But luckily, as I approach writing the final third of the current book, another hero or heroine takes up residence with my Muse and over the next few weeks make themselves very much at home. I have this superstitious fear that if I try to analyse where my ideas come from they’ll vanish, so if I can possibly help it I just kind of let it all bubble away doing its own magical thing. But since I’ve been asked where I find my inspiration, I’ve tried to nail it down!

My new series for Berkley Heat is about fallen Archangels. The first inkling for this idea came from a random comment several years ago by our very own Eleni (and I’ll be talking more about that in a couple of months!). From nowhere this archangel invaded my mind and I was instantly hooked, despite having no idea who he was or why he was rampaging through the universe.

 

A few years later, after encouragement from my editor, I revisited this moody, Alpha Archangel in the hope he’d be more forthcoming with his story. But this time, a couple of other things began to stir into the mix.

I’ve always been fascinated by the myths and legends of a lost continent. What’s not to love about the idea of an ancient civilization that we know next to nothing about? This fascination was fed more than twenty years ago when I read something that pointed to evidence that the pyramids and Sphinx are thousands of years older than we’ve been led to believe.

Add to this my morbid delight with the whole Mayan calendar legacy and suddenly the world that my Archangel inhabited in his wild, untroubled youth unfolded before me.

It was the spark I needed to illuminate the dark side of the Archangel Gabriel. And while I still don’t have a thousand stories hammering in my mind demanding to be told, I do have a fabulous world with a multitude of archangels, demons, vampires and various other immortals. I might not know their stories yet, but I’m sure that when they’re ready to share they’ll let me know.

Christina Ashcroft writes about bad ass Archangels and the women who capture their hearts for Penguin/Berkley Heat. Her first book in this series, ARCHANGEL OF MERCY, is out on 4th December 2012. Hopefully the Mayans got it wrong…

Between an angel and a desperate woman comes salvation-

and a raw passion that challenges them at every turn… 

When Aurora Robinson attempts to open a rift between dimensions to embrace her true heritage, an arrogant Archangel is the only one who can save her from the jaws of hell. And while she owes Gabriel her life, she’s determined not to fall at his feet-despite the desire she feels whenever they’re together.

After his wings were brutally destroyed millennia ago, Gabriel has no compassion for humans like those who ruined him and betrayed the ones he loved. But when he inexplicably finds himself defying ancient protocols to rescue a woman from a fate worse than death, he is shocked by the searing attraction he feels for a mortal.

As the ancient forces that seek to punish Aurora for her actions close in, Gabriel offers the tempting woman protection at his private sanctuary. But as they both succumb to their desires, they discover an even deeper connection-one that threatens to consume them.

Archangel of Mercy can be found at:

The Book Depository

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Visit Christina’s website for more info: http://www.christinaashcroft.com

Magic Thursday: Inside the Brain of One Author

Sorry for my tardiness in getting this up today, I had to go somewhere unexpectedly first thing this morning and didn't have access to a computer.

That aside, the other day I was chatting to my mum about some new ideas I had. While I was blabbing away, I suddenly realized she was looking at me really strangely and I stop to ask her "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her answer was something along the lines of "I just don't understand where you come up with all these ideas. Seriously, its like you're really…"

She trailed off, so I finished for her "Twisted? Totally crazy?"

Mum tactfully answered that she didn't want to put it that way, but that was the gist of it. She just couldn't comprehend how or where my ideas come from… Okay, so I might have been talking about shape-shifting aliens and inter-dimensional travel at the time, but come on, I'm not that nuts, right?

So I decided to do a little experiment where I noted down over the day what ideas and thoughts go through my head. A day like this is pretty typical for me:

7:00am Wake up thinking about a woman with some sort of powers. During the night I remember dreaming a scene with a spunky heroine. Think it might fit in with the fourth Sanctuary book, Sinner. I think the dream was about the heroine, Leandra. Anyway, I scribble that down in my notebook over breakfast.

7:30am While I'm having breakfast (well, what I manage to eat before the kids come along and help themselves to my brekky) since I'm noting down some things about Leandra, I also make a few notes about some powers or traits I want to give some demons and angels in up-coming Sanctuary books.

8:00am Get a quick email check in before hubby goes to work. Have a laugh over a blog, link posted by Kylie, about having dragons in your story. Wonder if I should write a story about dragons.

8:30am Hubby goes to work, time to entertain the kids. Put on a load of washing and think about that TV show I saw a while ago where someone drowned in their washing machine. Wonder if I can come up with an extra-inventive way to kill off a character next time I feel like it.

9:30am Got things to do in town, pack kids in car. While I'm driving, the song Feel by Robbie Williams comes on. Oddly enough, I've been hearing this song a lot lately and wonder if the Universe is trying to tell me something. Song after that is Wild at Heart by Birds of Tokyo. This song reminds me of Atrophy, my sci-fi romance I've been trying to sell to an agent or publisher. Wonder about current submissions and if I might hear back soon. Then I calculate how long I can wait until I email follow up letters. Then I wonder how much time Rian (one of the characters in Atrophy) will spend drunk in the next book I write. He's not an alcoholic, but he's skimming the lines with the way he likes to take the edge off so often.

11:00am Head home after finishing errands in town. Kids make me listen to Tik Tok by Keisha eight times in a row. Wonder why my four year old is so entertained by a song about binge drinking. After the 8th time, the CD gets switched to the radio and I hear "Janie's Got a Gun." Wonder what it would be like to actually shoot a gun since I make my characters do it all the time. Wonder if I went to the local rifle range, would someone give me a go at it and not think I'm a crazy person.

11:30am Kids go to bed for daytime sleep (WOOOO!!!) drop myself in front of the computer to do revisions on a sci-fi fantasy I'm about to re-submit to my editor, called Heart of the Warlord. Grumble over the fact that book is trying to make itself into a series. Two of the characters, Cael, Counte D'eivil, and Darcy, the Duque of Baeleigh, are tempting me with ideas for their stories. Make some notes and decide reluctantly that I will probably have to write their books as well.

1:30pm Kids are awake (sigh…) Organize lunch while considering a story about an archeologist who finds a gateway to another planet in a Mayan temple. Wonder if I can go to Dymocks and get the DVD of a show called Ancient Aliens I saw on SBS a few weeks back. It had a lot of interesting ideas about the fact ancient cultures were visited by aliens. Come up with a few more alien and other-planet type ideas. Wonder if I can twist any of them to fit Carina Press' sci-fi holiday submission thingy for 2012.

3:00pm Folding washing and suddenly hit with a brilliant idea about something that's going to happen between Drayke and Leandra in current WIP… I can't tell you what it is, because it'll be a big fat spoiler. Write it down in notebook and then make some notes about the fifth Sanctuary book, titled Scribe, and the hero Ethan, who is a Scribe Angel. Get annoyed at aforementioned angel because I wanted to do a different book next, about a demon bounty hunter named Kyran. Ethan's going to make me wait until book six to write Kyran's story. Yes, my characters are pushy when they want to be.

5:00pm Start making dinner when kids start complaining about being hungry. While I'm cooking, start thinking about two other ideas that are trying to grab my attention. Have made a start on both, but can't decide which to focus my attention on if things with Atrophy don't pan out. One is an urban fantasy about ghosts which is almost finished, but needs a lot of re-working. The other is a straight paranormal romance and have written 2 chapters, but the idea feels stronger and writing tighter.

6:30pm Dinner is done, hubby is home. Duck into study to check emails while kids get into bath. Resist downloading episodes of favorite shows on iTunes and check email. True Blood, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries and my new obsession with Terra Nova to name a few of the temptations I have to resist.

7:30pm Kids are in bed (WOOOOO!!!) collapse in front of computer and get back to working on Heart of the Warlord revisions.

9:00pm Have done a couple of chapters and have had enough revisions for one day. Open Drayke and Leandra's story. After looking at Singularity edits earlier in the week, it had occurred to me I’d made a mistake in a scene of Sinner where Drayke and Leandra discuss something that happened in Singularity. Re-write part of the scene to correct it.

10:30pm Brain starting to fritz, eyes starting to droop. Drag myself off to bed. Lay awake for two hours while my brain won't shut up about aliens, ghosts, angels, demons, and other planets. Wish I could get a temporary brain transplant. Sleep. Brain still blabbing, but at least I'm not conscious. When I wake up in the morning, my head will still be stuffed full of too many things. 

I'm giving away two e-books today! A copy of Savior, novella and Sanctuary series spin-off, as well as a copy of the thrid book in the Sanctuary series, Singularity. Just leave me a quick comment to go into the draw!

Singularity

Marc Andros saved the life of an angel. Now he's mystically bound to her until she can repay the act in kind. To make things more complicated, he's working for Archangel Michael. Not the kind of guy he thought would end up being his boss back when he was spending his days hunting the demons and angels plaguing the universe. And just because fate hasn't quite finished twisting him up, with the bond in place he and his angel can't be separated by too great a distance before they both experience an excruciating level of pain. They are literally. Stuck. Together.

Charmeine thought being bound to a human and forced to interact with him on a daily basis would be about the most tedious thing that had ever happened to her. But instead she finds herself fascinated by her apparent savior and constant companion. On a mission to retrieve a valuable sacred relic, Charmeine risks her life, drawing on a considerable amount of her supernatural energies to save Marc. That single act drains her powers to the point of turning her human and thrusts her into a position of doubt and uncertainty.
With enemies all over the universe and the demon king stepping up his offensive to systematically wipe out humans, Charmeine doesn't know who to trust. Will Marc help her if he knows the truth, or will he use her mortality against her to find a way out of their mystical bond? It's an impossible situation, and the wrong choice could mean death for both of them.


Savior

Cadmiel, the Angel of Destiny, knows better than anyone what a bitch fate can be. Five hundred years ago, the only woman he ever loved was killed, shredding his soul and leaving a void in place of his heart. Now Archangel Michael comes to him with a shocking and forbidden proposal. He wants Cadmiel to travel back in time and save Emilyn. Though Cadmiel wishes beyond all reasoning to do as the archangel asks, messing with time goes against his own beliefs and the very foundations of angel lore. But Michael doesn't give Cadmiel a choice and thrusts him through time and space, back to 2012.
The first time Emilyn saw the gorgeous man, she was affected on a level she couldn't comprehend. Cadmiel isn't like any other guy she's ever met, and he makes her wish love at first sight were true. But there are forces at work she never dreamed real. In the space of a day, she goes from normal, every-day college student, to a pawn in an apocalyptic war between angels and demons.
Emilyn's very life is in Cadmiel's hands. Will he risk the future of the entire universe to save her, or let her die and destroy himself in the process?

Magic Thursday Giveaway -- Three Wishes

Okay, first up. Anyone who leaves a comment on this post goes in the draw to win a digital copy of Three Wishes, my latest Out of the Bottle novella (angels and djinn). And I want someone to win it! So leave comments, I don't care if you're Genghis Khan. Everyone deserves a happy read :)

So with business out of the way, let's get to the heart of the post this Magic Thursday -- villains and Disney simplicity.

When I was growing up, life was easy. All villains wore black hats. Seriously. That's how you knew they were bad. And if they lost their hat they did things like laugh maniacally or twirl their moustache. *sigh* How simple Disney made it to boo and hiss the villain.

Then I grew up.

And I found the black and white world became much more interesting when I allowed in infinite shades of grey. Disney has no idea what it's missing! Why is a villain bad? Was it his childhood? Was it her last diastrous relationship? What does the hero have to overcome to be good?

Shades of grey intrigue me. They allow character complexity and a chance to recognise our own struggles.

But because nostalgia is so enjoyable, I'm going to end with this question: Who is your favourite childhood villain?

I'm voting for Captain Hook! or maybe the tick-tock crocodile :)

***

She is the Bringer of Death

Cali, a djinni, has sworn to twist the wishes of humans so they die by their own greed and evil. Her latest master is arms dealer David Saqr, a man Cali believes deserves the fate she has in store for him. But this time she finds herself up against Andrew, David's guardian angel.

He is a Protector of Life

Andrew believes David can yet find redemption. He fights Cali for the man's life, even as he tries to persuade her to give in to the sizzling attraction between them. He shows Cali another side of David, and invites her to trust again, to hope. But centuries of being enslaved have hardened Cali's heart--it's going to take all of Andrew's love to convince her to open it and let him in.

from Carina Press


***

You can find Jenny at her website, on Twitter and Facebook and indulging her love of pretty pictures on Tumblr.

Magic Thursday Giveaway: Jess Anastasi

I never got novellas. What the heck was the point of them? They seemed too short. I always wanted more. I longed for a big, fat, juicy, full length book where the characters got to explore every nuance of expression and sensation and moment between them.
I made this decision based on reading only a handful of novellas. Maybe I was reading the wrong ones.
Once I started writing seriously, I didn't think I'd be able to write a novella. I thought it would be too hard. How to write a satisfactory story in sometimes less than half the length of a novel?
And then the idea for Sanctuary came along. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Angels and demons flying around in spaceships, at some point in the distant future. Who in their right mind would publish that, let alone even attempt to write it (thank you, thank you, Jill!)? I wanted to write this book, the idea was eating at me. And at the time I came across a publisher asking for angel and demon based stories for an anthology. I didn't know if I wanted to submit the story, because once again the issue of who-in-their-right-mind couldn't be ignored. But I set myself a challenge. I was going to write a novella in time for the publisher's deadline on the anthology.
Little did I know, a big lesson was about to come my way.
Because the story couldn't be any longer than 30,000 words, I knew I had to get my characters on the page, lay out their situation and get them on the journey in as few words as possible. I couldn't let any extraneous or irrelevant detail get in the way of that. But on the other hand, I also needed to give the reader enough to become invested and feel satisfied.
I did get the manuscript written in time, but then left it to take up space on my hard drive for over a year.
We all know how this story ends, because eventually I came across Noble Romance Publishing and Sanctuary was my first published work.
I didn't realize it at the time, but after writing that novella, my view of writing undertook a drastic change. I later recognized the importance of not wasting words, no matter what length your manuscript is. After that, when I started a new story, I didn't fluff around, but took my characters and plunged them – and the reader – right into the action. As a result, I'm much happier with what I'm turning out and if the reviews I'm getting are anything to go by, so are my readers.
Another thing I love about novellas is instant satisfaction and quick turn around for me as a writer.
I've been working on a full length romantic suspense for a few months now, though it feels like a lot longer! I actually wrote half of it, decided it wasn't working, trashed it and started again. I'm a chronic re-writer (editing, what's that?) but that story is for another blog post. After complaining to my editor (probably for the tenth time) about how much trouble I'm having with it, she suggested I take a break and write a novella.
Why didn't I think of that?
I'm now halfway through a sci-fi fantasy type thing. It’s a bit different, something I've always wanted to try. With any luck, my editor will love it and it'll be out in another few months. See? Quick turn around!
So for all those reasons, and probably some I've forgotten, I definitely have a new appreciation for novellas.



To win a copy of Severance (which recently got a 5 star review from Long and Short Romance Reviews. Yes, I know, I can't stop going on about it.) tell me if you've ever read a novella and what you love/hate about them.