The Midnight Breed Series Companion (48 page)

—Rohinee I., Mumbai, India

My biggest challenge as an author is the same one that’s always held me back in other areas of life: Self-doubt. I’m not sure I’ll ever totally overcome it, since it’s been with me forever, but somehow you do find ways to get past it, at least temporarily, which is often all the push you need. For me with my writing, having a deadline helps! So does all of the lovely email and online messages I receive every day from readers. But in the end, every writing session begins with a fresh new hell of a blinking cursor parked on a blank page.

Fortunately, for every ounce of fear and self-doubt I have that my ideas are lame or my writing is flat, I’ve also got an equal measure of stubborn determination that refuses to let me give up on anything that’s important to me. There’s an old quote I used to keep in a frame on my desk to remind me to be courageous, and I still find myself referring back to it whenever I’m caught in the paralyzing trap of self-doubt about my writing or anything else in life: “Do it trembling if you must, but do it.” (Emmet Fox)

Your male main characters have such strong alpha attitudes. How do you pair them up with their Breedmates?

—Vikki K., Palm City, FL USA

I
love
big, bad, dominating alpha heroes. But it takes a strong woman to hold her own against a guy like that. I don’t necessarily mean physically strong (although that’s good too—just ask Niko or Brock) but a woman who won’t be cowed by a lot of arrogant bluster or dark, broody scowls and growls.

Many times, I’ll match up an alpha hero with a heroine who will be a source of constant friction for him, whether that’s emotional friction or as an obstacle standing in the way of something he wants (or thinks he wants). Other times, I’ll look for a heroine who will bring out a softer side of him that he’s reluctant to admit he even has—the unwilling protector, or the unexpected savior. Or I might push him into a situation where the heroine becomes his partner in some way, forcing him to rely on her and see her as his equal, either by giving him no other choice in the matter or by simple necessity.

It really depends on the characters and what my instinct tells me is the right pairing for them. And when I say the right pairing, realize that very often that’s the dead last person they
think
they should be with!

What character trait do you admire most in your characters and why?

—Lysette L., Moorpark, AL USA

The same trait I admire in anyone: Resilience. Life can be a challenge, and we all go through our own personal hells and torment along the way. The ability to spring back from adversity, or to rise above something that threatens to drag us down, is huge. Anyone can be courageous, especially if you’ve never been tested. But it takes something extra to be able to come back stronger after you’ve been kicked to the ground or made to feel “less than” in some way. Each of my characters has this trait, and I hope their stories help illustrate for my readers that no challenge is too great to overcome, and we are stronger for everything we endure in life.

When starting this series, did you ever envision Lucan as a father?

—Michelle N., Olmsted Falls, OH USA

No! In fact, when I started writing Lucan’s story, I didn’t imagine his life beyond that one book, let alone envision him growing into his current role ten books later, as both a father and the diplomatic leader he swore he could never be. It’s been a very interesting journey, full of surprises for him and for me!

I was wondering now after I have read all the books up to Mira’s was there ever a book or character that was hard for you to write emotionally?

—Nikki N., Marion, IN USA

None of the characters have been more difficult than any others, however, early on in the series I decided against writing a certain character because I felt it would be too difficult for me personally to go there. Originally, I had intended to pair up Tegan with a completely different heroine than Elise. My plan for him was a concert pianist who was dying from leukemia—except the doctors were going to be proved wrong, because Tegan was going take her away and save her life with his blood. That’s how I proposed the story when the series sold as a trilogy in 2005. But before I even wrote the first word of Tegan’s book, I realized the storyline would be cutting too close to home.

You see, at that time, my husband’s eldest daughter, Leslie, was undergoing treatment for leukemia, which had come back after chemotherapy a few years earlier and had later required a bone marrow transplant. I’d thought it would be therapeutic somehow to write a happy ending for a heroine fighting a similar battle, but as Leslie got worse and eventually passed away in January 2006, I knew there was no way I wanted to relive any part of that storyline in fiction or otherwise. So, while I was writing
Kiss of Crimson
that same year, I decided to instead recast Tegan’s heroine as Sterling Chase’s widowed sister-in-law, Elise.

You receive plenty of fan letters and comments. Do your fan comments influence your idea/direction of a book storyline?  If yes, please share a particular situation.

—Madeline P., Escondido, CA USA

I do receive emails with suggestions for storylines or characters, and although I appreciate the enthusiasm and the emotional investment some readers have in the series (seriously, I take it as a tremendous compliment!) I have to stay true to my own vision for the series. I’m the only one at the helm, for better or worse, and the control freak in me won’t have it any other way. But…I did make one exception.

A few years ago, I had my first book tour in Germany. At one of my events, a reader in an audience of over 150 people really pressed me hard to explain what it was about the Breedmates that made them different from basic human women. She wanted to know
why
they had unique blood properties that allowed them to carry a Breed offspring, and
why
they were psychically gifted, insisting that there must be something more to it than my admittedly lame answer of, “Um, they’re just different.” In all of my story building and plotting, I never clearly defined the origins of the Breedmates.

I came home realizing that was some lazy writing on my part, and I was determined to fix it if I could. So, I combed through the early books, looking for a possible solution that would be organic to what I’d already written. And I found it, more readily than I ever would have guessed. I found more hidden truths as well, things that will be coming to light as the series continues to unfold. Whether it was my subconscious running miles ahead of me, or good old-fashioned serendipity, I don’t know. But thank you, anonymous German reader from Dortmund! You taught me a wonderful lesson that day, and helped make the series stronger at the same time.

Are there gay members of the Breed? Because they seem to give me the impression that they are in love affairs quite human and for a man it is not unnatural to love a man.

—Patircia P., Grimma, Germany

Yes, of course, it seems only reasonable that there would be some Breed males who are emotionally and sexually attracted to other males, or bisexual. And I imagine the same to be true of Breedmates and Atlanteans as well. My personal feeling is that love is love, and only the heart can decide who it belongs to.

Do you ever get writer’s block and if so how do you push through that block?

—Sabrina R., Newark, NJ USA

I’ve learned over time that if I’m struggling with a chapter or scene, usually it’s because I’m not writing close enough to the character(s) and/or the conflict. Sometimes I’m in the wrong character’s point of view, and I have to recast the scene from another character’s perspective instead—the best choice is always the character with the most at stake. Sometimes the characters and conflict of the scene are fine, but there’s something else that just doesn’t feel right, or isn’t portrayed cinematically enough to bring the moment to life on the page. In that case, I might change the location of the scene, or alter the point at which the scene opens, or try to capture what it was about the scene that excited me the most as I was plotting it and strive to maximize the impact of that element.

With all Minions he created, why didn't Dragos turn Rogue?

—Tori R., Port Saint Lucie, FL USA

Dragos was a very controlling, exacting man. And he was patient. My God, decades of planning went into his operation—centuries, if you go back to the moment he and his father first placed the Ancient into hibernation in that mountain cave. Dragos would have been extremely judicious when it came to ingesting blood to create a Minion. He would have known his limits and been careful to avoid going over the edge into addiction. But that’s a great question!

Will Mathias Rowan ever get his own story?

—Janae G., Rock Springs, WY USA

I have an idea for a novella for Mathias, and we’ll also see more of him as the series continues.

Will we be seeing more Dragos bred "assassins" like Hunter? Men bred for evil, but who turn their back on their training and fight for the Order.

—Renee S., Woodstock, IL USA

Possibly. And I’ve also had ideas in the back of my mind for a while now about some of the Gen One assassin “lost boys” who were not so deeply indoctrinated into the program like Hunter was, being an adult assassin, but who would have been closer to Nathan’s age at the time they were released from Dragos’s control. I might find a place for them in the series somehow. We’ll see!

My question is why you gave Lucan a last name (Thorne), but none of the other Order members have one. I would love to know the last names to them and how they got them.

—Tami S., Hamilton, OH USA

Because Lucan is 900 years old, his surname of Thorne is a name he acquired along the way, more so than a true family name. Surnames were uncommon in the Middle Ages and earlier, so many of the oldest members of the Breed would not have had them, but would have chosen a surname later on to help them blend in with the human world. Dante’s occasional use of the surname Malebranche (“evil claws”) is a made-up name he’s adopted in reference to his favorite daggers.

Surnames are more common among the modern Darkhaven populations of the Breed. In cases where a last name hasn’t been given to a more contemporary character in the series, it’s either because they don’t have one, or because a surname didn’t make itself known to me as I was creating the character.

Have there been any discussions about turning The Midnight Breed Series into a movie or television series?

—Teresa A., Knoxville, TN USA

Very early on, we had a nibble from a cable television channel that specializes in family dramas and women’s films. To no one’s surprise, they decided the Midnight Breed series was not right for them! *g* I’m asked by readers quite often if/when I might adapt the series for film or TV—in fact, it’s the second most frequent question I hear, right after demands for Gideon and Savannah’s story.

The simple answer is, it’s not up to me. Adapting a book or series of books for live action drama is very expensive, and it takes the right studio with the right people on board to do it well. If a great team came along with a solid vision for the series, I would love to see the Order brought to life on cable or film.