25 things

I'm jumping on the ol' bandwagon here. I was perusing my blog list and ran across a post from The Philosophy of KLo. Apparently this listy thingy is spreading all through the blogs. I've seen a few other instances of it here, and here , and here.

Here goes

25 things about Immortalis

1. The story wasn't officially named until I was finished with the first draft. I'm still not quite happy with it. It's full name is Immortalis - Carpe Noctem.
Immortals - Seize the night.

2. Many of the characters are drawn from people I know. That's probably no surprise since many authors do this. One character in particular, who only plays a small part, is named after the woman I found hiding in my ex-husband's closet. Needless to say, I kill that character off. Personal therapy. =)

3. The story is set in Las Vegas, I use many places in this story that were once real. The cafe I mention in the beginning of the story was actually a cafe I frequented regularly. Sadly that place burned down. I have many fond memories from there and wanted to immortalize it in writing. Cafe Copioh, I miss you!

4. The original concept for this story was Sci-Fi. The idea came to me in a dream. In the dream I was a vampire, trapped in a cage, while people were draining me of my blood to use for experimental purposes. Yeah, I know, crazy. I was going to use a secret military agency as my antagonist. They were supposed to be harnessing the power in vampire blood to create a super soldier. But, (there is always a but), the idea didn't pan out. So 4 years later, I chose a different path for the story.

5. The new direction the story took, was more drama. How would you deal with being turned into a vampire? How would you deal with drinking blood? How would you deal with never seeing your friends or family again?

6. I've rewritten the end to this book probably 15 times.

7. This isn't a Paranormal Romance. There, Ha!

8. The Nicholas character in my story, is a cross between House (I love that TV show), and my husband (who just happens to be named Nicholas. So unoriginal, I know. =p ).

9. I've been known to stay up all hours of the night writing/editing this story. My favorite time to write is when I am alone. I can't write with distractions all around me.

10. I have a whole series planned for my characters. All pending the first book taking off. *fingers crossed*

11. Immortalis takes place in the span of one month. Short huh? A lot can happen in a small amount of time.

12. I've written many chapters while hiding in my office at work. Shhh, don't tell the boss.

13. I let more people live in my story than originally planned. A few characters got pardons as the story progresses.

14. It's a vampire story, there is blood drinking!

15. Yes, there is SEX in Immortalis. And that was the hardest scene to write. I turn beet red every time I send it out for a critique too.

16. I've never let a family member, (other than the hubby) read this story. I don't think my family will like it.

17. No animals were harmed by vampires in this story. =p

18. I got to use a flamethrower in one of my fight scenes. Do I get points for really cool weapons?

19. I fell in love with the name Lysander while researching ancient Greek names. I just had to use it.

20. My character Santino Vitale's name translates to, The Vital Saint. That one characters name obviously got the most attention.

21. Immortalis is my first attempt at a novel, however, at age 14 I was in the process of writing a vampire story. That year I moved from Texas to Nevada and lost everything I had written. I stopped writing for a while after that. I wonder what would have happened if I still had those pages.

22. There are some bloody and violent scenes in this story. Half way through chapter one, My MC gets mugged and almost raped.

23. My MC has to kill someone. In fact, she kills a couple of people. I didn't go the vegetarian vampire route. I wanted to show the internal conflict of having to kill for your own life.

24. I can read when I write, but I can't read when I edit. While writing Immortalis, I read many vampire books. Part for research and part for the love of the stories. Once I started editing the book, I could no longer read. I kept trying to pick apart the work of published authors. I'm just now getting back into a little reading. I'm attempting again to read the Charlaine Harris books.

25. If, after exhausting all of my efforts to obtain an agent/editor/publisher/etc..., I can't get this book published via the traditional route, I will self publish. My ultimate goal is to see this book in print someday, even if it is only good enough to share with friends and family.