Welcome author Patti O’Shea to Harlequin with her first Nocturne Bite, Demon Kissed, on sale now wherever ebooks are sold! But how did Demon Kissed come about? Patti’s here to blog about the “oooh” moments that made her paranormal romance…
by Patti O’Shea, author of Demon Kissed (Silhouette Nocturne Bites, May 2010)
As a writer, I absolutely love the oooh moments that can happen. Sometimes it’s a realization about a character that causes this reaction. Sometimes it’s a plot point that pulls together threads in my story that didn’t seem to have a purpose. And sometimes it’s a brand new idea, something that leaves me all excited and buzzing.
DEMON KISSED came in as an oooh!
I was reading Twitter posts one morning when I saw a news headline in my stream: Exorcist Found Guilty of Murder. I knew what this really meant, but my immediate thought was that the demons had tried someone for murder and found him guilty. Okay, I know, weird, but that’s when the oooh part happened.
Here’s what flashed through my brain:
Heroine tried by the demons for murder. Found guilty. Price put on her head. Only she’s not an exorcist, but a demon slayer.
Who’s her hero?
Oooh!
Andras. He’s a demon, but she’s unaware of this even though they’ve known each other for months. She thinks he’s a slayer like she is because she saw him kill a demon. Why did he kill one of his people, though?
Oooh!
Because he’s an executioner. It’s his job to kill those sentenced to death by their courts.
Oooh!
That means Bree would have an executioner assigned to kill her, too, wouldn’t she? After all, she was sentenced to death. It’s not Andras, though. Someone else. Someone who’s not a friend of his. Someone to whom Andras can’t say, hey, hold off killing this woman while I try to get everything straightened out. And she still has the bounty hunters after her—every demon is a threat.
In minutes, I had a hero, a heroine, and a premise, but there were still questions I had to ask and work out. Does Bree know why the demons are after her? How is Andras going to get her off the hit list? Why do the demons suddenly try her for murder when Bree’s been a slayer for ten years already?
Then there were the world building questions. Probably 90% of what I know doesn’t make it into my stories, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need that information. Everything links together. Demon society shapes who Andras is, how he’s going to react and think about things. His society also gives the story a framework. It’s why Bree wasn’t put on trial earlier. It’s why Andras is determined to do whatever he has to in order to protect his heroine.
There are times when answering the questions lead to more ooohs. Luckily for me, DEMON KISSED was filled with these moments and I had an awesome time writing this story.
The oooh moments aren’t limited to writing either and I think they’re just as exciting when reading. What was the last oooh moment you had with a book?
Hi Patti:
I had an ooooh moment (do I have enough ‘o’s in there?) some months ago when this question occurred to me: “What would happen if there was a cosmic black moment and all the characters in romance novels got jolted out of their novels and had to find their way back home – and they are all mixed up with real people (including authors) and no one, not the real people nor the fictional characters, know who is who. No one knows if they are real or fictional and there is no way to prove it.
They are all trying to find their way home in a Wizard of Oz type odyssey. The idea came last October and I now have a first draft of 125,000 words. It was great fun to write because I found it so funny. Revising it is going to be the hard part. How’s that? Book title: “Characters in a Romance”.
Vince
I think the last time I had an oooh moment was in the opening chapter of Gail Carriger’s Soulless. Right away I knew this was going to be a great story with lots of crazy things going on, a great heroine, and a wonderful setting. I remember thinking that when I read your story Ravyn’s Flight as well. It started right off with the action and never stopped, I loved it.
Vince,
Your idea sounds way cool! I bet you did have fun writing it. Good luck with the revisions! I hope they go well for you.
Patti
Barbara,
Thank you! Ravyn’s Flight was my first book and it’s always awesome to hear people went oooh at your first baby.
Patti
Oh I’m with you. I LOVE the Oooh! moments. They make up for revisions and edits. The book sounds fun.
Anita,
Thank you!
Patti