Interview and Giveaway with Rosalind Scarlett

What is it about the paranormal, in particular vampires, that fascinates you so much?

I still ask myself that question!  Since I was a young adolescent, I have been drawn to the dark allure of vampires and other things in the supernatural genre.  Perhaps it is a manner of escapism from the monotony of everyday life.  Perhaps it is the inner perception that there has to be more out there than what we see or acknowledge on the surface of things.  I am a firm believer in a vast array of other realms and the supernatural, and I have to say I believe that vampires could exist.  Then again, who can deny the dark allure of the sexy vampire— the ultimate bad boy— who could just as easily sip away a woman’s life as make passionate love to her!  And then, they can be so emotional, to me, oft times more emotionally expressive than most deadened human males who are just too busy sitting around drinking beer and watching the football game on TV to barely even notice when their woman is trying to get their attention.  But a vampire, he will notice her even when she doesn’t think much of herself and make her feel she is the most beautiful thing in existence, and perhaps even became passionately obsessed with her!

What inspired you to write this book?  

My original inspiration  came from spending some time actively researching my Irish family ancestry a couple years ago, which just led to more and more curiosity and looking at more things about the area and culture.  While my family comes from County Galway rather than Clare, still it is along the same rugged west coast of Ireland that my ancestors and my main character derive.  I would say, all in all, she and I have many similarities.  All my life I had wanted to write a novel and with my fascination with vampires, emotional and human behavior, sexuality and the darker side of humanity, it just seemed the natural things which to revolve a story.  The series just developed organically, each idea branching into others until it became the foundation for a series.  I have some great plans for the rest and it is still and always will be developing— likely even after I have all the books out and published.  Then I suppose I will just have to find another place to put those belated ideas.

Please tell us about your latest release.  

The story of Cailín was derived from many experiences quite personal to me, and then gave them a paranormal twist.  I combined my love for my ancestral Ireland with my affinity for music, horses, love itself, and vampires.  While writing Cailín, I poured everything of myself into it, and at the end of each writing day, I would be so drained, a total void, it sucked me dry— hmm, not unlike a vampire. . .  I took an everyday young girl who doesn’t think herself anything special and heaved her into a world which contradicts everything she prided herself to be.  Aislinn is forced to struggle to adapt and feel her way through her new uninvited life.  She makes a lot of mistakes and is quite naïve, but she grows stronger with each new crisis she encounters, though she does not believe herself to be strong.  Aislinn has so much she is not aware of, and will have to endure rather a lot before she discovers what makes her unique and just what her purpose is.

Do you have a special formula for creating characters' names?  Do you try to match a name with a certain meaning to attributes of the character or do you search for names popular in certain time periods or regions? 

Creating characters names is one of my favorite things to do in writing!  Sometimes I have them all figured out before I even start writing, although on one of my stories so far (Twilight Garden Series due out in 2014), I have yet to even name my main faerie character.  I am just waiting for the right one to come along because it has to be unique as she.  Obviously, the character’s name should reflect their personality or the feel for them I am endeavouring to portray.  Also, I always match up their name to where they are from and look up popular names for the specific time period of the story.  Aislinn, my main character’s name in Cailín, is not only a popular old Celtic name, it is derived from the Gaelic word, aisling, meaning visions.  This is significant to her because having foretelling visions is her driving special attribute throughout the entirety of this series.

Do you have a formula for developing characters?  Like do you create a character sketch or list of attributes before you start writing or do you just let the character develop as you write?

I would have to say my character development involves a little of both, really.  I mean, one cannot possibly plan out every facet of a character.  There are so many things which evolve on their own organically; there are even entire characters which appear when I had no idea they were even coming to join in, but suddenly, here they are!   It is kind of funny when that happens, the moments where the story takes me by the hand, and I realize I am nothing more than a vehicle to transcribe it!  But I digress; typically I do jot down all the attributes I have in mind for the character I want to create in the beginning.  Still, as with anything, that sometimes changes to fit everything else in the story. 

What is your favorite scene from the book?  Could you share a little bit of it, without spoilers of course? 

My favorite scene has to be the one between Aislinn and Donovan when they get caught in a sudden rainstorm while out on a trek in the rugged Connemara countryside along the coast.  They find shelter in a rock overhang of a little cove.  They end up stuck there for the duration of the night and things between them— which has been completely innocent up until this point— get rather heated.  It was by far one of my favorite scenes to write, and my husband’s favorite to read over!

Do any of your characters have characteristics similar to yourself in them and what are they? 

Yes.  Aislinn, the main character in the series is basically derived from me on several levels.  All of her characteristics are either something I now possess, once possessed or aspire to possess.  Other than the obvious shared hair color and Irish background, I once was naïve as she, yet also headstrong, and I only wish I could have been as bold as she is.  I also share her tendency to analyze things and wallow in emotions, experiencing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. 

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?  How do you deal with it? 

Oh yeah, you bet!  The best way I have found to deal with it is to just step away from it for a while— and that may mean an hour or a few weeks— whatever it takes.  I take a walk, a bath, work on something else, go on a hike or bike ride.  But trying to sit through it and force it usually makes it worse and I never feel like it resulted in my best writing.  And once I am away from it, ideas start to flow, sentences, dialogue, and suddenly I can’t get back to my computer fast enough to plug it all in!

Do you have any weird writing quirks or rituals? 

Yes I do, as a matter of a fact!  When I am lucky enough to be alone, I burn some essential oils and turn on some music on Pandora to put me or keep me in the mood for the scene I am currently working on.  I thrive on creating an atmosphere for myself and getting all settled in just so. 

What can readers expect next from you? 

Soeis, Book II of the Anam Céile Chronicles will be released in July.  I also am working on Rhapsody, the first book in my new series, Sanctum of Souls, about sexy male angels and the women who tempt them.

Where can readers find you on the web? 

They can visit my website, www.RosalindScarlett.com; my blog, RosalindScarlett.blogspot.com/ or connect with me on Facebook www.facebook.com/rosalindscarlettauthor; Twitter @RosalindScarlet, and Goodreads.

Would you like to leave readers with a little teaser or excerpt from the book?

Sure thing!  This is from Chapter 12 of Cailín.  I do hope it tantalizes you!

Just then, Voljidaar turned his head slightly toward the door and called out something in a language I did not understand.  Not a second later, a man and a woman donning nothing save fer their flowing, dark cloaks entered the chamber.  Their eyes zoned in on me in a flash, staring into me with a look that I cannot begin to explain and had never witnessed before.  It both frightened me and exhilarated me, and I had not the slightest idea why.

Voljidaar simply waved his hand toward me and they began approaching me menacingly.  Me eyes flared and I thought to scream, yet me throat seized so that not a sound materialized.  ‘Twas as though I be frozen against me will as I sat there so vulnerable, feeling as would a cornered animal. 

As nearer to me they drew, me initial alarm ‘twas superseded by an intense intrigue of them, and I relaxed, permitting them to come closer, examining them.  Even under the soft glow of the candlelight, I could view them adequately to distinguish their atypical characteristics.  Their pale skin had an underlying shadow, their eyes were uncannily colourless— yet captivating somehow— and behind their pale lips as they pulled them back in a smile, they revealed their gleaming sharp teeth. 

Involuntarily I shivered.

The male— although still pale— clearly be of a darker origin, hailing from somewhere exotic, as be evident in the almond shape of his colourless eyes.  High cheekbones he had, a feature I had not before witnessed in a man.  His black hair be longer than ever I had seen upon a man and extraordinarily beautiful, flowing over his shoulders and midway down his back.  His sculptured physique ‘twas impeccable, that of a statue those would worship of a God.  He seemed as would a warrior.  His face appeared young, yet somehow did not correspond to the astuteness contained within, obviously being well beyond the years he appeared to have.

The female, by contrast, be the fairest woman ever I had seen, her silky hair white as her skin, flowing down to her hips.  So slight in stature she be that she appeared as though she were scarcely an adolescent, her face angelic and childlike.  Her pert breasts appeared as though they were just embarking on their swell to ripening, and her nipples, too, were neutral in tone.  Beneath her flat abdomen, there be but a scant patch of white fluff crowning her mound of flesh. 

The two of them together did compose a bizarre picture.

Overpoweringly they gazed into me eyes— mesmerizing me— and instantly all traces of fear in me dissolved, leaving in its wake only desire.  All I wanted, the only thing in the world that mattered in that moment, be to give meself to them, in every way imaginable.  Whatever they wanted from me, I wanted them to take it, to take everything of me.  I be begging them with me mind, with me body. 

Come and take me!  I offer meself to you!  Please take all of me! 

And I perceived they understood. 

But did I?

Little did I understand, however, what they would take from me.  Nevertheless, me mind belonged to me not any longer.  They had totally possessed me and I would do anything fer them. 

Without a single thought, I had dropped the bed linens to which I had been so desperately clinging, along with any concerns of protecting meself.

Gloriously, they realised me at last, reaching fer me with their hands, their eyes continuing to dominate me.  The female flung the linens the rest of the way off of me as the male put his hands upon either side of me ribs and pulled me effortlessly to the edge of the bed to face them. 

On full display I be fer them, eliciting them to moan with appreciation.  Their hands they be chilled as death as thoroughly they glided them over the contrasting warmth of me nude body, absorbing every millimetre of it, sending me into a slow frenzy.  I squirmed as their hands rapidly slithered to areas of me body that I had so yearned to be touched by another.

Whilst still roaming their hands over me, in unison, they both landed at me chest, each bringing their stunning face nearer to me breasts.  I writhed at the contact of their oddly cool mouths upon the soft flesh of me breasts, heaving me tender upright nipples into their greedy mouths. 

Me desire be granted as they each suckled away upon them robustly, stimulating me, taking over me mind.  They lingered as that fer several moments, as I moaned with more pleasure than ever I thought I had known.

While the young female remained there nuzzling at me breast, the exotic male began to slowly move down me body, trailing kisses down me torso, upon the delicate skin of me belly, and down to me aching flesh below. 

How I craved to feel his mouth there!  His tongue lighted upon it ever so momentarily, sending me into an ever maddening frenzy. 

It only left me frustrated, me flesh now throbbing, and in the very next moment his face had turned to the side to burrow into the softness of me thigh.  He began nibbling lightly and then suddenly I felt something pierce into it. 

As he did, his eyes went black as night.

Just as the woman from me nightmares!

At the same time, the female had moved her mouth up along me neck, nuzzling at the base of me throat, biting into it at precisely the same moment as he.   I gasped from the surprise, rather than from pain, and then promptly I cast out any inhibitions and received it agreeably. 

I did not recoil in the least when they sank their teeth into me flesh, instead all I felt be an indescribable euphoria, as me blood they summoned forth.  And honoured I felt to surrender it to them.  I could feel it rushing through me veins up me body into their needing mouths.  Gradually I felt the buzzing that had been present diminishing, and yet the throbbing sensation it had affected in me tender flesh still remained unbearably perceptible.

As they drank from me so insatiably, I writhed under their mouths, yet ‘twas in ecstasy rather than pain, wishing it to go on as that eternally.  In that moment, I would have given them anything they wanted— had they started consuming me flesh until nothing of me remained, I would have been overjoyed fer the occasion to please them. 

Their hands, still roving all over me, progressively were heating until at last, they were as me skin.  Within me the sensations were building slowly, exquisitely— eluding to the promise of the most rapturous of pleasures. 

Being lured into a euphoric dreamlike state I be, everything else around me fading away.  I forgot where I be, me previous concerns, and who might be observing me in this act of total relinquishment of meself.

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