As
a fantasy romance author, I’m often asked this question. My response is—do you
want the quick answer or the deep answer?
In the case of my current release BLOODSTONE, the
quick answer revolves around these two photos and panning for gold.
The
first picture is the Rock of Cashel in Ireland. This site dates to St. Patrick,
and the roots of the place go deep into unwritten, ancient history. I was
mesmerized by the empty windows and roofless walls. The image became Drakkonwehr,
an ancient, ruined fortress with deep, mystical roots.
The second picture is from a spring day in a mountain forest. I was entranced by the quality of light and the promise of the opening in the trees ahead. It became the Wehrland, a place of danger and mystery, teeming with the potential of magic. Both pictures accentuate the light vs. dark imagery of the story.
The panning for gold was something my father did for
several summers in Alaska. His stories and pictures laid the groundwork for an
early scene of my hero panning for, not gold, but the ultimate prize of gem
hunters in the Wehrland, bloodstone—petrified dragon’s blood.
That’s the quick answer. You’ll notice it covers
setting, a hint of imagery, and the title object. Not a thing about the people
who are, after all, the heart of a romance.
That would fall under the deep answer.
I wanted to tell a story about trust, about ignoring
the illusions we surround ourselves with and seeing into the heart of a person—because
that’s what true love is really all about. We might be attracted by the
illusions, but the truth is what either deepens the relationship or drives us
away. That meant I was going to tell a Beauty-and-the-Beast story, and because
my mind works in mysterious ways, it was going to revolve around a snatch of
scroll lore my characters rely on at various points in the story: “True hearts
and no fear, against a mage’s power, hold dear.”
With a setting and a kind of story, my characters
popped up, as they are wont to do, and carried on ‘living’ out the adventure. I
just had to write it down.
