Magic

When you invent a world of magic, it can be pretty intimidating. Anything goes, so where do you begin?

I saw this meme once that inspired me when I was figuring out what sort of magic would exist in the world of Twisted Soul Magic.

So this was sort of the basis for Willa’s shop. I wanted her to create things that would make everyday life so much better if they existed. I didn’t explore it a ton in Crossed Souls, but I plan to in the future books just as fun little nuggets here and there of how much more awesome it would be to be an Extra instead of just a Dull (aka a mortal or non-magic user).

If you were creating a magical world, what would it look like? What sort of power would you have? And what kind of product would you wish existed? Leave a comment and let me know!

Crossed Souls in the Making

I mentioned in my last post that Crossed Souls had started in my head as something so much different than it turned out to be when I wrote it. Originally, I imagined Willa as a sort of Cupid-like character. She was compelled to help everyone around her find their soulmates while not having one of her own and she was definitely bitter about it.

Here’s one of the very first things I wrote when I was trying to flesh out the idea (sometimes, I get a snippet of a character’s inner thoughts or a tiny bit of a scene so I just write it out and stick it in a folder to deal with later. In this case, I never did anything with it because the story went in a different direction):

The book was originally going to be titled “Soulbound,” and I’m really glad I didn’t stick with that one. It would still fit in the context of the series, but I like Crossed Souls better.

Once I had an idea of who Willa was, it was time to create her harem. I’ve always had a love for all things dark and psycho, so Hiro and Crew were the first two guys who flickered into existence in my head. Then, Ever and Knox joined the party… and I can’t promise things will end with the four of them.

I’ve talked about my series bible before for this book, but this thing is a BEAST.

For every character I create, I make a full write up on them. Here’s just a peek into part of Willa’s:

There are about three pages like this for each character detailing all sorts of stuff about them, and I do the same thing for places, familiars, villains, magic types, and everything else in between. It’s a pretty hefty file when all is said and done. It goes on and on…

Did you have any idea how much goes into writing a book? I know I didn’t before I started doing it myself! Now I’m curious: Leave me a comment and let me know who your favorite character in CS is.

Emerald Hills Elite Behind the Scenes

The Emerald Hills Elite series has been on my mind for a looong time. I don’t know if reverse harem academy books are still popular or not, but they’re a trope I love to read (and have loved to read for a while now). I’ve really itched to write my own story, put my own spin on the subgenre and so that’s where the idea for this series came from.

The name “Emerald Hills Elite” is a mix of a few things. “Emerald Hills” was a neighborhood in the city I grew up in (Edmonds, Washington). It was the fancy place that sat up on a hill and overlooked the grey-blue waters of Puget Sound. It was also the place where at Halloween, it was rumored the residents handed out full-sized candy bars (FULL-SIZED, PEOPLE) and so everyone would pile in their cars and head there for trick-or-treating festivities.

I’ve always loved the name, so I thought it really fit for this series. In this series, the city is called “Emerald Hills” and it’s a fictional place that I image is somewhere on what we called the “eastside,” which is east of Seattle. It includes places like Bellevue and Issaquah, if you’re curious. The city itself is up in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range so it’s got all sorts of pine trees and rocky lake shores that get all spooky when it’s foggy and the clouds hang low with rain.

That’s the setting I envision with this book.

There’s also another city literally on the other side of the tracks called “Mulberry.” It sounds like a nice place with a name like that—wholesome and sort of 50s-ish, but it’s not. Not at all.

(Side note: The name comes from the song “Mulberry Street” by Twenty One Pilots, one of my favorites from their new album and I wanted to give it a nod in the story. The song is falsely happy sounding, but when you listen to the lyrics, there’s a much darker undertone about mental health).

In order to keep track of where everything is in relation to each other, I drew a map (and yes, my art skills are trash but you get the point).

My original dry erase board rough sketch of Emerald Hills and Mulberry.

The prettier (but still not very good) one I made in Canva.

This story was originally going to involve all sorts of weird stuff (I was going back and forth about making it PNR, but decided against it… because there was a whole fountain of youth storyline thing that was just strange. Sometimes brainstorming goes in an odd direction), but in the end, I think I’ve got all the parts that will make this awesome fleshed out.

So, there are two rival gangs, a badass heroine, four guys in her harem (we’ll meet them later), two cities on complete opposites of each other, and a school that’s creepy and has its own issues.

Now, I just have to figure out how much (if any) bullying I want to put into the story. Originally, I planned to make this a bully romance but now I’m not so sure that’s what it wants to be. Thoughts?

Taming Griffin's LIVE! Behind the Scenes Q&A

Phew, what a journey! Taming Griffin is now live on Amazon (READ) and it was probably the most challenging book I’ve written so far. Up until now, every heroine had a tiny bit of me in them that made them relatable in my mind. Something I could latch onto to understand where they were coming from. For Kennedy, it was her anxiety and panic attacks, Amara’s was her love of waffles, Ryan was being a tomboy, and Moon’s was her free spirit.

(If you asked my husband, I think he’d tell you that I like the idea of being a free spirit more than I actually am one, but we’re going to pretend that I’m the kind of person who dances barefoot in the rain and dresses up in costume to go bar hopping. I, decidedly, am not.).

Magnolia was the first heroine I’ve written that was nothing like me AT ALL.

So, let’s jump into some behind the scenes on this book and a peek at what’s coming next, shall we?

How’d you get the idea for Griffin’s character?

Originally when I envisioned the series, I hadn’t planned for Maddox to have a brother. Somewhere around the middle of writing his book, though, I knew his mom was going to come back into the picture and Maddox had always been pretty alone in his life. I wanted him to not only have his HEA, but to also get to have that brotherly bond for realsies (ya know, with blood). The problem was… where would Griffin fit in?

Would he be another spin off series waiting to happen? Would he be a side character that never had his story told? Neither of those felt right, and it hit me as I was finishing up Maddox’s story and starting to brainstorm Jericho’s (something I usually do in the middle or earlier of the book before it—so when I was writing Zen, almost as soon as I started the book I started working on True’s story), I knew I wanted Griffin to take over for him. It felt right knowing where Jericho was going and his feelings on the whole fame thing.

In all of this, what was important to Jericho was being with the guys not being on stage (even though he loved the music), so it made sense to have him step aside and Griffin to fill his (very, very huge) shoes.

Now, when I first pictured Griffin, I pictured him this young guy but also very artistic and with lots of ink on his body and piercings and stuff. I figured he’d be this badass cocky troublemaker, sort of like Maddox only different because it didn’t come from a place of pain but instead of youth and just being dumb and wanting to have fun.

Instead, when I started writing him, he came out super sweet and caring and really naive when it came to matters of the heart which makes for some moments of uncertainty that really give him this lovely vulnerability. People say True’s the sweetest guy in the band, but I think Griffin might take his crown.

Why was Magnolia Southern? Why’d you give her the history with domestic abuse you did?

I’ve always had this fascination with the South. I’ve lived there a few times and, like I’ve mentioned before, there’s something about a Southern woman that’s both feisty and strong but in equal measure with sweetness that is so appealing to me. I’d wanted to write a Southern heroine for a while, but the timing was never right with any of the others. Magnolia was the perfect compliment to Griffin’s story and so I got my wish to write her.

It had nothing to do with my past obsession with the show Hart of Dixie and a certain Lemon Breeland, I swear… lol

As for the domestic violence, it was weird because it was probably July of this past summer and I was plotting the book sitting by the pool and letting my mind wander on what Magnolia would be like. Almost right away, I saw her with an abusive ex but she needed to have gotten away from him and be working on moving on from that.

Personally, I don’t have experience with DV so I asked in some of my writer groups and tons of women responded with their own personal experiences, for which I could never thank them enough. Those experiences were what I used as inspiration for all the crap Winston pulls in this book. It’s a lot and it’s disturbing, and her experiences make it all the better when she gets her HEA.

What made you want to write the band on tour?

Up to this point, we’ve seen the guys taking off for their first tour in Shadow Phoenix, ending a tour in Finding Zen, going solo in Loving True, writing music together in Saving Maddox, and recording a new album in Playing Jericho. It really felt fitting for them to go on tour and us to follow along on all the stops and chaos that happens along the way.

The cities I picked for their stops were ones I either personally have visited and loved, have a history with the band, or places I thought would make for dynamic settings for scenes I planned to write (like when Magnolia and Griffin go on dates).

Tell me all the deets about Lucky.

Magnolia’s pup, Lucky, is an Australian Shepherd. I’ve never personally owned one, but growing up my cousins had one that was the sweetest dog. They have the most gorgeous blue eyes and the fluffiest fur, so when I was picking what kind of puppy to give our heroine, this one stood out above the rest.

What’s up next?

I’ve started working on Tempting Harrison next, which follows our British hero as he fights off his attraction to the MUCH younger (and very forbidden) Bellamy Frost. You’ve briefly met Bellamy in Jericho’s book, but she’ll be front and center as the heroine of Harrison’s book.

Harrison is the final book in the Shadow Phoenix series, and once that’s done, I’m moving on to the Hollywood Guardians series, which kicks off with Connor and follows his team as they find love and protect the elite’s dirty little secrets. I’ve already started series planning this one and doing some plot work and I’m really excited about what’s going to happen in it.

Watch this space for more details about this series and sneaks into the first book coming soon! Captive (Connor’s story) is set to release April 20, 2021!

So, there you have it! All the behind the scenes dirt on Griffin and Magnolia’s story. Leave me a comment when you read it and let me know your favorite part!

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Almost right off the bat with this book, I knew I wanted to tackle the issue of domestic violence with Magnolia. When I decided the band was going on tour in Taming Griffin, I wanted to figure out Magnolia’s motivation for wanting so badly to keep her job. The answer came to me pretty quickly—she was afraid if she stopped moving, her past would catch up to her.

Here’s the problem: I’ve never experienced domestic violence for myself. I have this innate need to write my heroines flawed but with a huge redemption arc. I want them to find love, but also to learn how strong they really are and how they’re responsible for their own growth and happiness. Because of that, I like to start them out in tough situations that they can grow out of.

They can take back control of their lives and show themselves how badass they really are.

I do this because I struggle in my own life. Since I was a kid, I’ve had severe panic attacks off and on. I don’t know what caused them or why they started, but I do know that it fucking sucks. At the beginning of 2020, I was at a point where I couldn’t leave my house, even to go for a walk or to go grocery shopping.

It’s taken a shit ton of work this year, but I’m healing and getting better, and I want the same thing for my characters. I want them to find out their true strength in the face of adversity, but I also don’t want to be offensive.

I’m going to write Magnolia how I imagine a woman would act in her circumstances, but I realize that not everyone reacts the same way or will have the same hangups, and that’s okay. Please know if you’ve experienced domestic violence, or if you’re currently struggling with it and don’t know where to turn, you can click this link for help: DV Hotline

You’re not alone in your struggles, no matter what they are, and I hope by writing women who reclaim their lives, I can give you an escape and hope at the same time.

And, for what it’s worth if you need someone to talk to, I’m your girl. Just leave me a comment or email me at heatherreadsitall@gmail.com. I hope you love Magnolia as much as I love writing her and Griffin is exactly the sweet, soulful guy she needs to help lift her up.

Just remember—I really have no idea what I’m doing.

On Repeat

When I wrote Finding Zen, the thing that inspired me most of all was a song. I’ve talked about it before but The Hills by the Weeknd was the song that originally inspired that book. I didn’t have the same instant song inspiration with True. My book inspiration comes from all over the place. Sometimes it’s a song, a random idea that will just pop into my head, a trope I’m fascinated by… it could really be anything.

With True, there wasn’t just one song, but there were many that all had little lyrics that made me think of certain scenes. For example, there’s a scene where True and a very pregnant Amara are dancing in their living room. That scene was inspired by a lyric from the song Only Human by the Jonas Brothers.

With Maddox, the entire plot was inspired by the song Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. Every time I heard the song, I would think about what the guy who was left behind would be feeling. And of course, I always rooted for the girl, in the end, to come to her senses and them to get their HEA. So, I wanted to write my version of how I thought that story would come out with a little extra excitement.

Neither Shadow Phoenix nor Jericho were inspired by songs, and I didn’t make playlists for them because my writing style was a lot different in both. Jericho didn’t really have an inspiration and I haven’t kept it a secret how hard that book was for me to write. Shadow Phoenix was somewhat inspired by my love of reading reverse harem and playing with some of those themes in a traditional contemporary book.

With Jericho, I found myself listening to the album Pink by Two Feet on repeat. It’s not super lyrical, and there are a lot of really sultry, sort of dark, and intense musical moments that just seemed to fit my mood while I was writing that story.

Now, while I’m writing Taming Griffin, I’m finding myself inspired by music again. I’ve got AJR’s The Click on constant rotation, and I imagine Griffin’s more carefree personality really fits in with the song I’m Not Famous.

So, there you have it, a little insight into the weirdness that is my mind. What are you listening to right now? Do you associate any songs with characters you read about? Let me know in the comments!

Shadow Phoenix: The Band

When I was brainstorming Zen’s book, I knew I wanted him to be in a band with at least four other guys. But I had no idea what kind of band or what their name would be.

Fun fact: The band was originally named Dark Phoenix but then I realized that was the name of an X-men movie and I had to come up with something else. I used the shit out of the thesaurus and came up with the new name.

I’m not terribly attached to the name, mostly it just had to be something band-ish enough and not girly because teenage guys named this thing. I’m not (nor have I ever been) a teenage guy, so I just had to try and imagine what their thought process would be like.

And to the reviewer who gave me shit about calling the band name cool through Zen’s dialogue—I’m with you. To me, Shadow Phoenix is just a name. It’s not meant to be amazing because that’s not the point of the series. The point is the relationships, not the band (although, of course the band is important. It’s a rock star romance after all).

Alas, I think I do deserve some props, though, because holy fuck, the guys in the band are HOT and I swear every one that comes along is hotter than the last. When I write them and I read back, I think, “how did that come out of my brain?” It’s like I go into a trance or something and magic falls out.

(I swear I don’t actually think that highly of my work, I actually have a lot of issues thinking I’m not good enough. But fake it ‘til you make it, amiright?)

Okay, so back to the band…

I imagine Shadow Phoenix’s music to be a mixture of 21 Pilots and Linkin Park. Some rock, maybe not so much on the rap side of things, and also a little bit of slower stuff, too. Like Heavy by LP and Leave the City by 21P. But they can definitely rock, too, like Heavy Dirty Soul by 21P.

In my mind, when I’m writing them as artists and their creative process, I imagine them a lot like 21 Pilots, but their band makeup is more Linkin Park, or at least what Linkin Park used to be.

Which bands do you picture when you think of Shadow Phoenix and their sound? I’m curious who you imagine them to be like. Leave me a comment and let me know!

Meet: True

From the moment True announced his presence in my mind, he’s been the sweetest, most caring guy ever. He has the ability to handle shit when he has to, but mostly he’s a laid back surfer who’s good with going with the flow. He’s the peacemaker and he’s a total romantic.

True was raised by both of his parents in a loving and supportive household. He has one brother (Hale) and he looks at his parents as the ultimate example of what love should be and what he wants for his life. True is the moral compass of the group, the light one who keeps everyone from going over the edge into places that might not be easy to recover from.

He’s the kind of guy who’s happiest with a long-term girlfriend or nothing at all. He’s not a fan of hookups, and while he takes advantage from time to time, mostly he’s focused on other aspects of his life.

And musically? He’s incredibly talented on both guitar and as a singer. He and Zen both sing and play guitar, but in the official capacity of the band, True plays and Zen sings. But when they write music together? They make an amazing team. Think Lennon and McCartney levels of teamwork and creativity. True finds his peace with his family, the guys from the band, and hitting the waves.

And in Shadow Phoenix? His laid back ways get him in a bit of trouble the guys have to help him out of….

Meet: Maddox

Maddox was actually the second character that really solidified himself in my mind when I was writing Finding Zen. He was partially inspired by the song “Marry Me” by Thomas Rhett. I knew what his story would be like, but I wasn’t quite sure about his personality.

But the more I wrote him, the more of an asshole he came to be. But I loved that about him. He was the snarky one, the first one to make a snide comment, to flirt unabashedly, to stir up drama and give people shit. He spoke his mind without reservation and I loved that about him.

The one thing that he always is without fail is protective, though. He’s the fixer of the group, the one who makes problems go away. He does what he has to do, but there are lines even he won’t cross. There aren’t many, but they’re there. He has morals and standards, they just might not be what we all think they are.

When we meet Maddox in Shadow Phoenix, he’s still so torn up over the way he left Ryan behind that the guilt is absolutely destroying him. So to cope, he resorts to some unexpected things that I think will shock a lot of people. But, I really enjoy playing with sexuality in a more fluid way, and of all the guys, I thought Maddox could handle it best.

We get a little sneak peek into Maddox’s comfort level with who he is in a scene in Saving Maddox with Ryan and Quinn, but Shadow Phoenix really takes a deeper dive into exploring the dark time he’s going through trying to cope with how to move on from trying to move on without the love of his life.

Where we see Maddox in Shadow Phoenix is just the start of almost a decade-long downward spiral that he recovers from and comes out even better on the other side, but prepare yourself for a Maddox you’ve never seen before.

Meet: Jericho

When I originally came up with my first book idea in Finding Zen, I knew I was going to be writing about a band of guys. I like reading books in a series, so that’s what I wanted to write. So, I had to decide how many guys and how the band would be put together.

It didn’t take long for me to decide I wanted four guys, and for the four of them to start to show me their identities. Well, I should say three of them. Jericho… he’s been a tough nut to crack.

Originally, I thought he was going to be this super shy guy who had a really hard time in social situations, particularly with women. I was also going to have him originally born in Japan and brought to the US as a kid. But, the more I wrote the other guy’s stories with Jericho in the background, the more he changed and his character became something totally different than who I thought he was.

As you’ll read in Shadow Phoenix, Jericho’s not shy AT ALL. He’s quietly controlled and only speaks when he has something to say, not to fill the noise. He was adopted as a baby and doesn’t know his birth parents, but his adoptive parents were cold and unaffectionate.

He didn’t have a bad childhood, per se, but it was lonely and impersonal. His parents had their own lives and at a certain point, he didn’t really fit into them anymore. He used to spend a lot of time wondering why they even wanted him in the first place.

They’re not supportive of him or his career choices, and because of that he’s not close to them. He doesn’t have any siblings that he’s aware of, and so when True recruits him for the band, he jumps in with both feet. The guys become his brothers and are the only people in the world he lets see the real him. The only people he really, fully trusts.

Jericho has a dark streak to him and it presents itself in more ways than one. It comes out quite a bit in SP, but you’ll get to see a whole lot more of the darkness inside him in Playing Jericho. Unleashing his true self has been one of my favorite things but also some of the hardest words I’ve ever written. But I needed to let Jericho be who he was meant to be even if that wasn’t who I thought he should be, and isn’t that just the story of his life?

Two more members to go… Do you have a favorite yet?

Meet: Zen

Zen was the very first character I ever came up with. I’ve talked a little bit about this before, but when I heard the song “The Hills” by The Weeknd, I really started to wonder what that lifestyle would look like. For my first foray into attempting to write my own book, I wanted to write something exciting. What better to start out with than rock stars?

At his base, Zen was always an alpha, bad boy hero with a cocky swagger, ink covering almost every inch of his delectable body, and an emptiness inside that he wasn’t sure how to cope with anymore. He’d sort of been there, done that, you know?

As humans, we adapt to situations really fast, so his lifestyle wasn’t exciting to him anymore. He’d been at this whole mega-famous superstar thing for more than a decade and it was stale. So, I wanted him to be someone I could push around a little. Someone who’s eyes could be opened to new possibilities, and someone who could look at the world through fresh eyes if the right person came along.

His character’s look was originally inspired by Shane Burnell (@shaneburnell on insta, hel-lo), a green-eyed, tatted up hottie who all the girls wanted. When deciding on his name, I wanted it to be something short and easy to pronounce and remember, but also unique and worthy of his status.

In my mind, his parents were hippies and raised him (I use this term loosely since they weren’t really around at all) on a commune, so his name makes sense in that context, too.

As a kid, someone on the commune taught him to play guitar and he grew up singing songs around bonfires most nights. This was where his love of music came from, and I imagine that he liked to pass the time making up songs because there weren’t TVs or electronics or other things that most kids had growing up.

As a teenager, he decided he’d had enough and wanted to take control of his life, so he got emancipated and moved to LA and that’s where we find him when Shadow Phoenix begins. Zen is driven, hard-working, and determined to have whatever he sets his sights on. He’ll pursue it until he either gets it or is physically unable to do any more, but he’ll never give up.

He’s the perfect partner for Kennedy, but it’s a long road to get him to where he’s ready to settle down.

Wednesday I’ll be giving you some background info on one of the other guys, so make sure to check back in!

Which one of the four guys is your favorite? Zen, True, Maddox, or Jericho? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Character Inspiration: Charlie

When I’m starting the process of writing a book, I figure out who my main characters are going to be and then I start digging into their backstory. Who are they? What was their childhood like? What’s their relationship with their parents like? And do they have siblings?

I knew right off the bat that Ryan (the heroine from Saving Maddox) was going to be a tomboy in a sense, but not in a stereotypical way. She wouldn’t believe in the limitations that separate what girls can do from what boys can do. And the reason she believed that was how she was raised. That and she grew up surrounded by two sisters who were badass in their own right.

So, when it came to her sisters, I knew they would have similar morals and values. They wanted to help people. They never thought about what society might tell them they couldn’t do just because they were girls. They worked hard and went after whatever they wanted.

Charlie Knight is Ryan’s older sister. If you’ve read Saving Maddox, you know their dad Alexander had an accident several years prior. Charlie had always known she wanted to be a doctor from when she was just a little, bitty girl but when her dad had his accident, her specialty came into focus.

Neurosurgery.

It became her life’s mission to help her dad and people like him. People who’d lost the ability to walk or function at a normal level without assistance. She felt incredibly called to this line of work, and she threw herself completely into school and then her residency.

I love the Knight sisters so much. They’re my favorite group of siblings I’ve created so far - all with masculine names and soft hearts. I have a future series planned that will feature both Charlie and Justice and will show that women can be heroes, too.

Which Knight sister is your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know!