I’m a huge fan of worldbuilding. I’m a total sci-fi and fantasy geek. It’s what I grew up watching and reading. I started to write my first sci-fi book when I was nine and the ideas kept coming. I’ve always been fascinated by alternate possibilities, other worlds or worlds parallel to our own. Mythology, urban legends, superstitions, religious beliefs and traditions, cryptozoology and conspiracy theories have long intrigued me. Amidst that is my fascination with the power, possibilities and effects of beliefs – for good and for bad. I also love the potential of just one person, or a small group of people, to make significant changes. I guess all of that forms the true backdrop to Blackthorn.

You may or may not know that Blackthorn wasn’t created out of a single moment of resolving to write a paranormal romance series. PNR wasn’t an established genre (or certainly not available to me) when I started writing the series – back at a time when the internet didn’t exist! In fact, Blackthorn started on an electric typewriter because I didn’t even have a computer back then. What I knew about vampires came from The Little Vampire kids’ TV show, a few legendary horror films, not least The Lost Boys, and the sparse books on the subject available at my local library and bookshop.

It’s scary to think it was nearly twenty years ago now that I found myself lost (not uncommon!) and alone in a dark, run down, isolated part of the city I’d just moved to – an incident that sparked an idea of a socially-segregated and deprived society built on ignorance, prejudice and fear. With an already embedded fascination with mythology, I knew this society couldn’t be just human-based. I labelled my non-human characters the ‘third species’ to give them a true sense of segregation and to exacerbate that sense of hierarchy. On top of this, I resolved they’d have shadows instead of souls to justify the conditions they’re forced to live in. Then ideas really began to develop.

The main thing for me was having fun with the possibilities of creating a whole new world. And because, back then, I wasn’t even considering Blackthorn being published one day, I could create my world and my third species exactly how I wanted to. Inevitably, my imagination quickly ran wild with all the romantic possibilities – the Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story of the paranormal world, where love crossed truly significant boundaries.

My favourite stories are always based on heavy doses of conflict. For me, that’s what stories of true survival and true love are all about. Make it too easy, and I get bored. Luckily for me, Blackthorn became a rich backdrop with countless possibilities for both external and internal conflict between my love interests. Over the decade or so while I was getting to know Blackthorn (in-between writing completely different books that I thought might actually pass for publishable), I wrote several short stories as I found my way through the world, meeting various characters from a variety of circumstances. I basically speed-dated all of my characters, placing them in situations and watching if they’d spark – and it quickly became apparent that, to be true to the dark, treacherous and prejudiced world they were in, they weren’t going to have an easy time in the process. After handing them a load of baggage and deep-rooted issues (because I’m mean to them like that), things became even more complicated. But it was out of this trial and error that my key players started to form.

I quickly became intrigued by a VCU agent and master vampire, fighting on opposing sides of the law but with threads that bound them together. From extreme ends of the locale I’d created, I discovered a witch with a difference and a powerful vampire who, unbeknownst to them, were destined to cross paths. I stumbled on a member of a covert human vigilante group and a lycan leader who were so severe in their differences that I never believed it possible they could fall in love. And, of course, there’s Eden and Jessie – but I’m not giving you any clues about them just yet. 😉

Most importantly, as each couple developed on the page, overcoming species differences, prejudices and assumptions, they started to see qualities in each other that bound them more deeply than their unavoidable intense sexual attraction. More so, each of these couples demonstrated an ability to make a huge impact on the world in which they live. Over time, this lead to the creation of Blackthorn becoming like unravelling then reassembling a puzzle, with my four couples as the four corners of the board, each in their own worlds until gradually meeting in the middle, creating a visible catalyst for change beyond their own relationships. Blackthorn, as you now know it, was the result.

So that’s how it all began. Starting this Friday, I have three posts coming up for you where I’ll give you a little more insight into my creation of these couples and the challenges that may lie ahead for them (don’t worry – no spoilers!). And because I know you’re keen to know more about Blood Deep, I’ll end the series of posts by sharing some images of Eden and Jessie as I see them.

Kane and Caitlin, our hero and heroine of Blood Shadows, are up first. And, in the interim, I’m on the home stretch with the first draft of Blood Deep. This latest instalment has been, in equal measure, both fun and terrifying to write – but more of that in due course!

Have a great week! 🙂