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One of our adult children is a professional jazz musician. If you know anything about jazz, you know a solo is created at the moment it’s being played. It’s called improvisation. Yes, there’s a musical basis for it - don’t ask me what because I’m not a musician – but it springs fresh every time the musician solos. Even for the same song the solo will be different whenever it’s played.

Writing fiction is like that. With the basics of the craft as a foundation, you must then step out and solo. And the music of your story must be original, inventive and fresh each time you write.

Writing paranormals is a great invitation to inventiveness. PORTAL TO DARKNESS was my first. I felt an urge to build a world with a toe in history, peopled with shapeshifters, heroes, and villains torn by jealousy and cruelty. I love jewels, and I created a wizard-knight hero who can hear the songs of gems. New Orleans and Mardi Gras fascinate me, and their flavor and color soon found a place in the story. My characters are spun through the portal to darkness to the dawn just before the time of King Arthur and Merlin.

I love the idea of dragons, and sometimes fall asleep listening to the soundtrack of Dragonheart. When I wanted to create my own story, TEARS OF THE DRAGON became the second paranormal in this collection. A dragon princess who shapeshifts into human form but has a sacred destiny to fulfill as a dragon, falls in love with an heroic knight in a fantasy world. Unfortunately, it’s death to her and her lover if she’s not a virgin when she mates as a dragon to produce the kingdom’s next heir. How will they foil tradition and keep their lives?

Phebe, a secondary character in PORTAL TO DARKNESS, cried out for her own story, and WOMAN IN BLACK LACE was born. She’s lost in another century with a man whose touch sends desire spiraling through her, but how will she return to 2008 when she has no idea how she left it for the past?

Because I write by the seat of my pants, I didn’t know until I wrote the ending that Phebe's story would become a sequel to PORTAL TO DARKNESS when she's reunited with its hero and heroine. It was an April AQP best seller.

Time to go! My thanks to Novelspot for a place to share my journey to publishing. For those starting on this road, I wish you luck and every joy.

Carolina Valdez

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