Where do you get your ideas?
The question most
authors dread because they can’t explain where the story came from or what
inspired them, especially for someone like me who’s a self-proclaimed panster;
writing by the seat of my pants.
Usually I hear my
main character speak up with a single line and I have to pay attention to see
where the story goes from there. Although telling someone the voices in my head told me might elicit a raised an eyebrow,
unless they know it’s a writer talking. That makes it okay. (Hopefully)
As for Destiny Calling, I can remember the
exact moment the story called out to
me. I was sitting in the parking lot of a convenience store and a rusty, old payphone
attached to the side of the building started to ring. I’d never noticed the
phone before, because no one used them anymore in the age of cell phones. I
fought the urge to run out and answer it just to find out who was calling and
what they might say. Instead I watched to see if someone picked up the receiver
but no one did. The ringing subsided, the message left unspoken.
Then Hope, from
Destiny Calling, spoke to me (in my head,
of course). “Today was the day I stopped being a redhead.”
You’ll find the payphone made it into the story with a
snippet of
Chapter 2 of Destiny
Calling.
A
phone rang, shattering the silence. The birds called out, then exited en masse
from the treetops.
I absently patted my cell phone in my pocket, but it
wasn’t my ringtone, and my battery was dead. Scanning outside the bar, I
located a lone payphone barely hanging on to the corner of the building as if
in homage to a past era.
I struggled to stand, moving my legs toward the summoning
ring. The scent of cinnamon began to lessen and subside. The ache in my head
faltered, and the assault on my senses reached a plateau.
I’d found my pain reliever.
Unable to restrain the unexplainable urge any
longer, I sprinted to the phone. Once I placed my hand on the phone, it stopped
ringing. The headache subsided like a beast retreating into its cave until
summoned again.
I put the receiver to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hope. Don’t trust him.” A soothing and somewhat
familiar male voice whispered.
“Who? Don’t trust who?”
Static filled the line.
“Who is this?” I pressed the receiver tighter,
squinting toward the woods and around the parking lot.
“Come to us. I’ll show you the way,” the caller
beckoned.
“How?”
“Take a chance. You’ll see it’s your destiny.”
Chief opened the bar door. “Just what in tarnation
are you doin’?”
The line went dead in my hand. I stared at the
silent receiver. “I was on a call.”
Chief scowled. “That darn phone hasn’t worked in
years. I reckon the whole side of the building would cave in if I tried to take
it off, so I leave the bucket of rust there.” He spit tobacco on the ground.
“How could it work since some critters done chewed through the cord a while
ago?”
He
eyed me with suspicion. “A call you say, um, who was you talkin’ to, then?”
My anger deflated as the severed, twisted wires from
the cord brushed against my leg. “I don’t know.”
Destiny Calling
The Enchantlings
Volume 1
Maureen L. Bonatch
Genre: Paranormal Romance
subgenre: suspense, fantasy. Theme: New Adult, demons
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Date of Publication: December 22 2014
978-1-62830-666-8 Paperback
978-1-62830-667-5 Digital
Number of pages: 310
Word Count: 80,630
Cover Artist: Debbie Taylor (DCA Graphics)
Book Description:
Hope only wants to find out if her ability to infuse euphoria or despair with her touch makes her the devil's spawn, or his exterminator. But when the woman who raised her is murdered by something not human, she loses the only family she knew and discovers one she might wish she hadn’t.
Drawn back to the home town she vowed never to return to, her ability is seen as an asset to everyone but Hope, and she doesn't know who to trust. Her family wants her to help them overcome an enemy oppressing the human population, while the man of her dreams is courting her for the Underworld.
Time is running out, and Hope’s choice may be made for her, as she discovers she’s a pawn in a bigger game played by a merciless ruler who doesn't lose.
Excerpt:
I strained to
release my arm from Griffith’s vise-like grip while scanning the surrounding
trees, trying to determine which was less of a threat, the beast of a man
holding me or those who might be waiting for me in the woods.
“You will come
inside, now.” Griffith spoke slowly and deliberately as if I were a small
child.
I batted at the
hand Griffith placed on my head. “I’m not a puppy, quit petting me.”
“I will protect
you.” Griffith’s warm breath caressed my ear. “If for no other reason, to find
out what I’m giving up and why she wants you so badly.”
I inhaled his
masculine scent, like musky earth. It washed over my face, and the tension in
my jaw released. I stopped struggling. “Are you the devil?” My tongue was thick
and heavy so the words came out slurred.
“Not even
close.” His words soothed and comforted, like having a weighted blanket cocoon
me. Each movement was an effort. It wasn’t the same as the thing in the woods.
This was more like the feeling after a long massage or bubble bath.
“It’s not safe.”
Griffith wrapped his arms around me, and I rested against his broad chest.
“It’s not safe.”
I nodded. My muscles relaxed and my eyelids grew heavy.
“It’s cold.
We’re going inside.” Griffith kept his arm supporting me as he steered me
toward the house.
“We’re going
inside.” I parroted and walked up the steps, leaning heavily on him.
Out of the
corner of my eye, something was cautiously moving at the edge of the woods.
Branches snapped as whatever was observing us crept closer.
About the Author:
Growing up with four siblings had Maureen familiar with escaping into a good book, or the recesses of her mind. She realized later in life everyone didn’t have characters telling stories in their heads, or weren’t envisioning magic and mayhem within the everyday. This, and long walks in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania spawned a love of writing.
Since her desire to become a Solid Gold Dancer was thwarted when the show was discontinued, Maureen opted to pursue other paths. Attempting to conquer new endeavors proved fruitful with her first novella, while other attempts, such as challenging a fear of heights with parasailing, were unsuccessful.
Therefore she’s chased other interests, though none-the-less-daring, but closer to the ground, such as belly-dancing, becoming a self-proclaimed tequila connoisseur, fulfilling her role as biker babe to her alpha hubby and surviving motherhood to twins (so far).
Penning stories boasting laughter, light suspense and something magical in the hope of sharing her love of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary world.
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1 comment:
Thank you so much for having me today!
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