Daily Spotlight with Violet Patterson

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Title: Ryder on the Storm (Emerald Seer I)

Where did the idea come from?  Hm, well, I was wanting to write something that could be read intermittently, you know for busy types who only get to read on their commutes or in the afternoon when their kids are sleeping or on a lunch break in a busy office - all for people to escape into somebody else's life for a while - without having to re-read parts because they forgot or missed some massive plot marker.  I am an epic fantasy gal at heart (I have a tattoo in Elvish on my wrist!) but not everyone can put that time or attention to detail into their reading these days and I understand that.  The Emerald Seer series is meant to be easy on the mind, a fabulous escape, a bit of romance, a sprinkle of adventure and a lot of fun. 

Genre: Paranormal romance?  Urban Fantasy?  Contemporary Fantasy?  Classifying this series has been difficult.  Ryder and the second installment, Light My Fire, are heavier on the romance aspect with some more adult content while Whiskey, Mystics, and Men (a bonus novella) and Love Her Madly are heavier on the back story, magic, and fantasy aspects.  In short, pick your poison, it is contemporary, it is fantastical, and it does have a strong vein of romance.

Casting Ryder....this is fun for me.  I love movies and when I write I picture my characters very clearly in my head so here goes:

Storm Sullivan - sarcastic, tough, and a fiery redhead, I always pictured Storm as a cross between Rachel McAdams, Kate Winslet, and Kate Beckinsale but I had to reign it in to get her age right.  Judging solely on appearance and potential, I stand by my choice of Ashley Greene. 

Ryder Cohen - smoothe, charismatic, and older than he appears, I pictured a cross between Stuart Townsend and, wait, no, I just pictured Stuart Townsend.  This led me to Ben Barnes who actually fits the bill a bit better than I imagined.  He's pretty spot on for Ryder - in my opinion at least.

Trin Sullivan - so, she has to be cast in this movie....why not make her the unbelievably Seer turned ghost whose death initiated Storm's transformation.  Rachel McAdams would be perfect as Trin Sullivan!

Lucian Nightstalker - by far the toughest to cast as he is one of, if not the most complex character in the series.  Sam Worthington was my final choice after weeding through the young actors in Hollywood. 

Angeline Corsova - picture her with blond hair and a killer attitude!  Bonnie Wright is perfect as the fairy who holds much together over the course of the Emerald Seer Series.

Damarra - a goddess and Storm's grandmother, Damarra could never be played by anybody less.  Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses and I would be a happy woman to see her portray any of my characters but especially Damarra.

Roane - an Immortal and Storm's grandfather.  I love the idea of the fabulous Tom Hiddleston being cast in my epic fantasy (another story), but I cannot lie and say I did not picture him when writing Roane in this tale.

I think I could go on and on casting all of the roles in this but that would take forever....and give away too many things!  Maybe I will have to do another post just for casting!

One sentence synopsis:  I am not good at this but here goes.

Storm Sullivan returns home after years on the run to find her life is changing faster than she can imagine and the destiny she tried to flee manages to find her in the end - along with a heap of trouble and a romance for the ages.

Self pubbed or represented?  I opted to go the self publishing route though I have and continue to look into all of my options. I do not like the idea of closing doors without leaving some windows open to ventilate my work space.  Who knows, for the right deal I would be willing to pull my self-pub status but only if the deal is right.

How long did the first draft take?  Actually, the first draft took a little more than a month to finish, it was all the drafts after that and the editing that took the time.  I finished book 2 (Light My Fire) in a month for NaNoWriMo last year and book 4 (End of the Night) in a month for NaNoWriMo this year.  My epic fantasy took a lot longer (as in years).

Other comparable books: I would say the Emerald Seer Series falls in line with Black Dagger Brotherhood, the Sookie Stackhouse books, and that type of storyline.  Lots of supernaturals, some heavy romance, and some more serious undertones.

Inspiration:  Well, the entire series is named after songs by the Doors - one of my favorite bands of all time.  But, the inspiration came from friends who didn't have time to read or become invested in my epic fantasy because it was just too involved for them.  So, I branched out and created something they could read, something I could enjoy and something lighter to give me a reprieve from the in depth world I created elsewhere.

In the end, I just hope people will give the series a shot - love it or hate it, like any author, I just want my books to be read.