Today, I was going over the plot for Legacy, the prequel in my series, and I had some thoughts that I wanted to share with other writers in the world. I personally hate doing research.

This probably comes from the days on end I spent in the library researching for speeches in high school (I did competitive speech, or forensics as it's called out here) and I have found that I can't stand to do research anymore.

For Legacy, I had to research Scotland's history from the 1600's through the 1800's. That's a lot of history. I know more about the Battle of Culloden and the history of tartans than I really ever wanted to know. While some of the research was really interesting (like learning which clan had what tartan), some of it was dry and I had a hard time finding anything reliable about warfare and weaponry from that time.

In the future, if I can afford it, I think I might push that kind of research off onto someone else who likes to do it and has time to do it.

But there is research that I find quite intriguing. About eight months ago, I did research on vampire myths and folklore. That was very interesting. I also did some on werewolf myths, but that wasn't as fruitful as the vampire search was. I've also buried myself in books on Norse mythology recently. It's very interesting stuff and I would recommend anyone who wants to dig into that topic to do so and share those results with me. My library is sorely limited.

What kinds of things do you like to research? What kinds of things do you wish someone else would look up for you?

Sorry for the few days of nothing. As I'm sure everyone and their grandmother is aware by now, my computer was trashed last week. Drama, drama, drama. Add this to the fact that I currently don't have internet at home, and you get the three (sometimes more) posts a week. Last weekend was a mental health weekend and I didn't leave my apartment. So, today starts a new day.

I have a new fang marked computer, or at least a temporary one until I get the real new computer. So for the last three days, I've been rewriting the book that I lost last week and I'm finding new things to inspire me to keep going. I'm dependant on music to write. Since most of my new music was lost on the hard drive, I'm using what I had saved from a LONG time ago on the external hard drive. While going through this music I realized two things: I need to get new music and I really love the Japanese rock music I saved.

Anyone whose read Prophecy knows about the Daitenshi Club which has a rock song in Japanese being played when Rhoswen walks in. I forgot all about that song until I found it on Monday. I also found the theme song to the first couple seasons of Inuyasha. That's a good song too. I might not know what the words mean (there are some English words in there, but that doesn't help much), but the music is great.

This got me to thinking today about inspiration. What helps put you in the writing mode? What do you do to make sure that you get those 3 pages a day everyone in the business says we should write? Are you a musicphile (if that's not a word, I created one) or do you need to read a lot or do you like to look at nature?

I need the music, that's true, but I also read constantly. This week's been a slow week since I'm only on my second book of the week. Normally I knock out about four. Granted, I did finish about seven volumes of manga over the weekend, but still. Since I'm a vampire writer, I read a LOT of vampire stuff. I'm currently into the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I'm in love with True Blood. Next I'll be back in the Twilight zone (yes that's Stephenie Meyer. I'm making bad jokes) again after the latest Sherrilyn Kenyon comes out next month.

Tell me what inspires you. I'm curious to know what works for other people. Maybe I'll find something new for myself.

My unintended hiatus is coming to an end tomorrow. I hope anyway.

After speaking to so many people who have either read my book or have been with me every single step of the way while I've been writing, I have come to the conclusion that giving up my writing career would be stupid. So, after my husband reformats his computer, I'm going to be borrowing his until mine is either fixed or replaced.

Release dates for Legacy and Awakening, not to mention the as-of-yet untitled spin off series, will be delayed because of the loss of data. If, and that's a big if, my hard drive can be taken out of my fried laptop or the laptop can be fixed, the delay will be avoided. Otherwise, I have to start from scratch. The release date for Forbidden is still set for November 14, as long as the cover is done on time.

It's back to business as usual in the Fang Marked office.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm going to be taking a break. I hate technology that gets zapped when water falls over the power strip, don't you? Hopefully, this will be a temporary set back and things will be fine. More information to come when I have it.

When you're writing, how do you picture your characters? This is something I've been thinking about lately and I'm dying (pardon the pun there) to know what other people think.

I've read that some writers think about their novels like a movie playing in their head. They can see the people in the story as actual actors. I must be strange then because I don't see that in my head. I actually see my novel coming to life as an anime. Yes, you heard me. Anime.

Japanese animation is just cool, if you've seen any you have to admit that. It's classic and revolutionary and uninhibited. I've seen things in manga and anime that American artists would never try in a million years. If you've ever seen Akira or Vampire Hunter D, you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, when I was writing Prophecy, I saw Seven, Rhoswen, Ulrich, Chocon, and Varick as anime characters. I even had my husband draw some of them to help me out. So I want to know how you see your characters when you're writing.

Is it a film playing out in your head? Is it like a music video to whatever you're using to right brain? Is it like mine? Is it something totally off the wall?

The time has come for me to separate my writing life from my actual life. There's just too much going on with my writing to keep it on my regular blog. Once my second novel comes out in November, there will be even more.

So far, everyone loves Prophecy. That is surprising and not surprising at the same time for me. When I wrote the story of Seven and Rhoswen, I didn't expect it to take off like this. I was just discussing the story with my friend Melissa, who just finished the book a week ago, and she was begging me for the second one (she has it on her computer. When I told her that, she got real quiet and paid attention to the road). I never thought I would inspire people to actually cry when something happens to one of my characters (I almost gave away the plot twist. Oooops), but Melissa did. So did Laura, who bought the first copy I sold.

As I've been editing the prequel, which will be out sometime next year, I've found myself loving my characters all over again. It's interesting to think of what they will go through later in the novel or later on in the story as I'm writing the next book in the series.

It also makes me think about what will happen when this goes mass market (because it will eventually). That's exciting to think about.

Anyways, I wanted to throw out a post saying welcome and there will be more to come. Now it's time for more coffee.

Currently I'm playing with the layout and making this blog exactly what I want it to be, so please be patient. I'll probably have that all done by the end of the day today.