Vivi Anna on Inspiration — Plus Vampires and Lycans!

What inspires paranormal romance author Vivi Anna to write books like her newest Silhouette Nocturne release The Vampire’s Quest? Find out in this blog post by Vivi, and leave a comment for a chance to win a FREE book!

by Vivi Anna, author of The Vampire’s Quest

The Oxford dictionary defines inspiration as: the process of being filled with a feeling or an urge to do something; a sudden clever idea.

I have inspiration every day.

Why, you may ask?

I have no idea.

When asked what keeps me writing every day, I honestly couldn’t answer. I stared at that question for hours, chewing on the end of my pen, and pondered the answer. I mean obviously something motivates me or I wouldn’t be writing every day. Surely, there’s a reason why I pull out of my hair and pace my office floor until there’s grooves in the carpet for the perfect word to describe something as mundane and trivial as coffee. But for the life of me I couldn’t figure it out. At least not immediately.

After several days of mulling the question around in my head, a few possibilities came to fruition. Money? Well, sure I write and get paid, now. But before I ever had contracts I wrote. If money were truly a motivator for me, I would’ve picked a different career to devote my life to. One where I get paid consistently (ie: monthly, or every other month, instead of irregular lump payments every 3-5 months hopefully if you’re publishing 2-3 books every year) with enough income to pay my bills, my mortgage, my car, food and family travel expenses (as I am a single mom) because as of right now, that’s not the case. Sometimes, I barely make enough to keep a roof over my head and food on the table.

Fame? Ah, not likely. Not unless I write a national best-seller and end up on Oprah. Which with the type of books I write, will never happen. I’m not sure if Oprah really gets the intricacies of how vampires, werewolves and witches can work together despite prejudices and solve crimes. I’m telling you, she’s missing out on something spectacular in my Valorian Chronicles series. I’m hoping Jerry Bruckheimer can at least find his way to realize how ultimately cool it would to have CSI: Necropolis to add to his arsenal of stellar crime shows on TV.

Recognition from my peers? I admit, that’s pretty cool. The first time I got an email from an author, who I respected, admired and glommed everything they had ever written, telling me what a great book I wrote made me elated with joy. I think I jumped around a bit. But does that motivate me to sit my butt in the chair and write the next day, and the next, and the next? However cool it is, the answer is no.

So what is it you may ask? (or scream, by now, since I took so long to get here)

It’s the pure unaltered joy I get from creating characters and worlds that are so unlike our own, yet seem to run parallel regardless of how hard I try and make it completely alien. I enjoy what I do. It’s as simple as that for me. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else in my life that would provide me with as much satisfaction and happiness that writing gives me. Every day I get to create the rules. I’m in charge of the state of the world my characters live in; I decide who dies and who doesn’t. Yup, it’s a power trip. And I love me some power.

I get to live my childhood dream of being paid to exaggerate everything, of telling stories for a living. If you had asked my mother while I was growing up, what she thought I would grow up to be, she would’ve said a writer. Because she knew first hand, before anyone else, the stories I could tell.

My latest foray into the Otherworld is just a prime example of the stories I like to tell. Vampires and lycans, oh my! Kellen Falcon is one of my favorite characters. He’s a bad boy through and through. And I hope you enjoy is story.

Tell me what gives you inspiration to do what you do. Two lucky commenters will win one of two books, The Vampire’s Quest, or the Nocturne BITE anthology Midnight Cravings.

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Read more about The Vampire’s Quest below!

After escaping from the Otherworld Crime Unit, Kellen Falcon came to Nouveau Monde to crack a rare blood disease. But the European hotbed of temptation yielded sport no vampire could resist—criminologist Sophie St. Clair. And with only days to live, Kellen sought sweet release from her to escape a savage past.

The lycan beauty wasn’t one to stray from her pact. But an investigation into a downtown bombing now tied the two together. And it wasn’t long before Kellen’s smoldering eyes and Sophie’s fierce desire for this vampire put her loyalties to the test….