Tag: S. L. Stacy

Milady’s Book Club Welcomes S.L.Stacy


Shehanne Moore’s creation, the fiesty Lady Fury, interviewed mine, Siobhan Elliot…and it was adorable!

shehannemoore's avatarFurious Unravelings

Well, Valentine’s Day is over, thank goodness. You have no idea  how tiresome it was seeing the men’s offerings. I mean things like….  
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was  tiresome when some of them don’t have an eye. As for Tibbs threatening to capture the hearts of some of the local wenches, well, that resulted in him ending in jail.
However, we meet again today with the lovely Siobhan, the fictional creation of S.L. Stacy, whose name is already causing some trouble for the gentlemen but there.
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you can see that they are all agog. So, without further ado, I just think we should get going before the jail gets filled and we have to leave here in disgrace… Already last week’s offering from the lovely Milady Donahue resulted in the men holding the cover upside down in a bid to see up her heroine’s skirt… I am sure, had Milady Stacy known that, she…

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by Categories: author interview, characters, guest blogger, RebornTags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Excerpt for Valentine’s Day: Eros and Psyche’s Wedding


I wanted to post a special romantic excerpt for Valentine’s Day, so here’s one from my current WIP Relapse. (Keep in mind this is from the first draft, and I don’t know if it will even end up in the final version.) It’s a flashback Siobhan has of Psyche’s/her wedding day. I hope to do some more research into actual Greek wedding customs, haha. But anyway it’s cute, and I hope you enjoy it! 

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I study myself in a full-length, gold framed mirror. I’ve grown used to the face staring back at me in these memories—Psyche’s face. The large, deep violet eyes are the same, but she has higher cheekbones and a slightly upturned nose. Hair falls like a white-blonde waterfall down her back. She smooths out pretend wrinkles in her one shoulder, white silk dress and adjusts the gold cord tied at the waist beneath her breasts. Her wings emerge through slits in the back of the dress. The bronze wings of a butterfly-shaped necklace spread across the delicate, pale skin of her chest.

imagerymajestic
Copyright imagerymajestic

In the mirror, I see an auburn head peek around the door behind me. Nike comes in, a white tunic draped over her tall, thin frame. Her hair is long and plaited into a thick braid down her back.

“You look beautiful,” she says, giving me a quick hug. “It is time to go down.”

Nodding, I follow her out into the corridor, our white slippers whispering over the marble floor.

The next thing I remember is standing on the pale sands of the beach, just out of reach from where the ocean waves slither up the coast. My fingers are curled around a bouquet of unfamiliar white flowers. Nike and, to my surprise, Aphrodite stand on either side of me. Aphrodite, like always, is willowy and golden, her beauty almost as painful to look at as the blinding sun above us.

People stand on either side of a strip of sand leading to my soon-to-be husband. I have a vague memory of what Psyche’s parents looked like, but I don’t see them among the onlookers. Two women with braided blonde hair and hooked noses lurk toward the back of the crowd, scowling at me: Psyche’s biological sisters. Sunlight glints off of Hephaestus’s smooth head somewhere closer to the front. I don’t see Ares.

Aphrodite and Nike walk with me up the aisle. I see a few more faces that look familiar, but I can’t think of their names. One is a tall woman with copper skin, an athletic build and a proud demeanor. Her almond-shaped eyes are as dark as the shiny black hair flowing freely to her waist. As I pass her, she smiles warmly. On the other side of the path is a short but sinewy man with curly dark hair. His pupils are black slits rimmed with reddish irises. Gold wings decorate the backs of his sandals. Beside him stands a girl with bouncing brown curls and watery blue eyes. Her small, pale hands clap excitedly as I walk by. When our eyes meet, her lips pull back into something between a smile and a grimace as she fights to hold back more tears. I return it with a hesitant smile of my own. I look away from the crowd and realize I’m almost at the end. Leaving Aphrodite and Nike behind me, I pick up the skirt of my dress and run the last few feet.

Almost immediately, Eros takes my free hand into his. A breeze ruffles his dark hair away from his golden face. His lips twitch upwards only slightly, but his body is tensed with barely contained excitement. He’s not wearing much except for what looks like a sheet wrapped around his waist, tied with a yellow cord. I resist the sudden urge to run my fingers up and down the rippling muscles of his chest and abdomen.

I hand the bouquet off to Nike and step closer into Eros’s arms, his wings enveloping us in a feathery white curtain. He slides a ring made of an iridescent white metal onto my finger.

“With this ring, I am bound to you, always and forever,” he recites, his breath fresh and sweet against my face.

I slide a similar ring onto his finger and repeat, “With this ring, I am bound to you, always and forever.”

by Categories: excerpt, fantasy, fiction, paranormal, Relapse, Relapse teasers, romanceTags: , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

WIP Wednesday


It’s update time!

The purpose of WIP (Work-In-Progress) Wednesdays is so I can set personal writing goals. It also serves as a way to let you all know what I’m working on. I hope you’ll join me and link back to your own or share in the comments!

To play, just fill in the following:

1. What are you currently writing?

2. Inspirations:

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

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1. What are you currently writing?

So I’m realizing I tend not to jump from project to project…I stick with one at a time. Which means I am of course still working on Relapse. (I’m liking the title…I don’t think that will change…) I’ve written 3890 words this week, surpassing my goal of 1500! I feel like I should work on it tonight, but I’m feeling pretty lazy. I also did get around to writing Part 2 of my Reborn dream movie cast, so check that out if you haven’t!

2. Inspirations:

I sort of hate even posting this because I don’t like Katy Perry that much, but someone is writing perfectly catchy, likeable songs for her. Anyway, this song reminds me of one of my characters/couples.

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

I’ll up my game and aim for 3000 words since I seem to be able to write at least that much in a week anyway. I hope to have Part 1 written by the end of February, if not earlier. Then I may have to force myself to put it away while I get ready for my comprehensive exam at the beginning of April…..

by Categories: updates, WIP WednesdayTags: , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

Reborn Dream Cast: Part II


A couple of months ago I cast the main characters of my book Reborn. (Read Part I of my Reborn Dream Cast here.) It was a fun “what if” post to write, and a Part II is long overdue. So far, we have:

1. Candace Accola (Caroline on The Vampire Diaries) as Siobhan Elliot

2. Tom Hiddleston (Loki from the Thor franchise) as Jasper Hart (mostly because my love for Tom is deep and never-ending)

3. Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) as Anna Wallace

4. Mark Salling (Glee) as Jimmy Wallace

5. Charlize Theron (from lots of things) as Farrah

6. Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, among other things) as Victoria

Although I have much love for my main characters, my secondary characters are just as near and dear to my heart. They might not have as much “page time” as the others, but I’ve obviously included each for an important reason. (Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the book.) In fact, sometimes I have more fun writing my secondary characters–namely Peter and Apate. So, without further ado:

Zac Efron as Max

When Zac first popped into my mind as a potential Max, it made me teehee a little. He’s most well known for being in the High School Musical franchise. But actually, Zac is visually a perfect fit for Max. Max is the token human in Reborn–gets mixed up in everything without really meaning to. He’s supposed to look like the stereotypical all-American boy, boy-next-door, whatever you want to call it–and Zac Efron is definitely that guy.

Claire Holt as Tanya

Tanya is Siobhan’s roommate at the Gamma Lambda Phi house. She’s a blonde bombshell and GLPhi’s recruitment chair. She can also be rather whiney and bitchy. Claire Holt is probably best known for her role as Rebekah on The Vampire Diaries and its phenomenal (at least in my opinion) spin-off The Originals. I really like Rebekah’s character–she’s actually quite complex. Hard and unfeeling on the outside, vulnerable on the inside. But it’s Rebekah’s blonde bitch side that Claire could channel for her new role in my imaginary movie.

Shailene Woodley as Carly

So after being the primary character in the Divergent movie, Shailene is probably not going to settle for a secondary role. She’s really just the only actress I could think of that looked like the Carly I have pictured in my mind palace. (I believe my cousin also thought Shailene would be a good match, if I’m remembering our conversation correctly…) Shailene just needs to make her hair WAY curlier and crazier. In Reborn, Carly often gets talked into doing things she doesn’t really want to do. You’ll be seeing more of her in Relapse.

Shemar Moore as Hephaestus

Shemar Moore is on Criminal Minds…a fantastic show, which I often just can’t watch because it freaks me out. Shemar is great on CM and sexy as hell. I think he’d make a great Hephaestus. As the god of fire and the forge, Shemar would be an imposing figure.

Gabriel Mann as Peter

To be honest, I have never watched Revenge, even though it looks like a show I might like. But one night I saw this blonde British guy on one of the commercials for it and thought, “It’s Peter!” Peter is the keyboardist in Jimmy’s band Search and Destroy–he’s tall, blonde, lanky, British, mischievous, silly, and a bit flamboyant. I don’t know, maybe Gabriel is too old to play Peter, but as I’m looking up pictures of him for this post, the more certain I feel about this casting choice.

Joe Manganiello as Dr. Eric Mars

Um, first of all, let’s just gaze fondly upon this picture of the gloriously hot Joe Manganiello. In Reborn, Siobhan jokingly refers to Eric as a “sexy lumberjack.” Eric embodies virility and physical power, but also violence and chaos. Manganiello’s sexy is definitely raw, powerful, and masculine. He also went to my alma mater (not at the same time as me), and I’d like for him to keep having work.

Phoebe Tonkin as Apate

Phoebe Tonkin is another actress from The Originals. It was actually her portrayal as teenage witch Faye on the short lived The Secret Circle (based on another series of books by one of my all-time favorite authors, L. J. Smith) that made me think of her as Apate. Faye was always very mischievous and attracted to dark magic. Apate is developing into a similar character (you also see much more of her in Relapse)–she’s a spirit of deceit and mischief with an inner struggle between her good and it-feels-good-to-be-bad sides. (As several of my characters do, because I’m completely obsessed with this concept.)

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Have you read Reborn? Who’s on your dream cast! Please share in the comments, or let me know what you think of mine! 😉 (I know I have some male readers now and would be interested to know who your favorite female character is and who you would cast!)

by Categories: characters, fiction, paranormal, Reborn, Relapse, romanceTags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

WIP Wednesday


It’s update time!

And it’s about time, too! My plan was to write one of these every Wednesday, but I think it’s been a little over a month since my last one. Although it’s not like it was ever an official New Year’s resolution or anything, so I don’t feel that guilty…

Anywho, the purpose of WIP (Work-In-Progress) Wednesdays is so I can set personal writing goals. It also serves as a way to let you all know what I’m working on. I hope you’ll join me and link back to your own.

To play, just fill in the following:

1. What are you currently writing?

2. Inspirations:

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

*****

1. What are you currently writing?

I’ve mentioned this in other blog posts, but I am still working on Relapse (the sequel to Reborn). I mean, it’s definitely a work in progress. I didn’t really touch it at all over my holiday break, and then I had a pretty annoying case of writer’s block for about a month. I had written the first few chapters, but I didn’t like much of  it. I knew where the story was going but was stuck transitioning from the very beginning to those other things. Sometimes I jump ahead and write whatever comes to me, even if it belongs later in the story, but in this case I really felt like the beginning had to be ironed out more before I could go on. (How do you write? Do you go in a particular order, or write whatever comes to you and piece it all together later? Or some other way?)

The good news is, I’m on a bit of a roll now. I fixed the part I hated, and I’m really excited about it again. In the past week or so I’ve written 3200 words. My word count goal for the whole book is 70K, so we’ll see how that goes.

2. Inspirations:

Those of you who have followed The Urge to Write may have noticed my small tendency to obsess over things. One of my obsessions is the 80s, particularly 80s music and fantasy/sci-fi films. There’s just something magical about the combination of 80s fashion, hair and music with fantastical elements like vampires (think The Lost Boys) and, er, goblin kings. So as tokens of my current obsessions, I leave you with a picture of young Billy Idol and the music video of Gary Numan’s Cars. (I love this song. Gary has about as much charisma as a sea bass, but that actually kind of seems to work for him here.)

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

To write at least 1500 more words of Relapse. I also have some fun blog posts in mind. The first is Part 2 of my Reborn dream cast. The other is a post dedicated to one of my other ongoing obsessions: misunderstood fictional characters.

by Categories: 80s, fantasy, fiction, inspiration, movies, music, updates, WIP Wednesday, writingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

Monday Night Babbling


http://memegenerator.net/instance/34442510Here is yet another post about how I’m working on the sequel to Reborn. I need people to bounce ideas off of (person reading this: that means you), and, whether you’ve read Reborn or not, you may be able to help me with some of these. If anything, I think that merely getting these ideas down will help me reorganize my thoughts. Because, you see, I’m a bit stuck. Thankfully, it’s not for a lack of ideas. I have a lot of ideas (yay!), but I’m not sure how I want to go about organizing them into a series. The Reborn series was supposed to be a trilogy, but it has possibly exploded into four or five books.

Points-of-View

One of the issues I’m struggling with is that I chose to write Reborn in first person (from Siobhan’s perspective), which I don’t really regret, because I like getting inside my characters’ heads. But Siobhan and Jasper’s story (the primary conflict in Reborn) isn’t the only one I want to tell. For instance, I thought of a great idea for a book from her friend Anna’s POV. I think Anna would get her own novel, and she’s a much more perceptive person than Siobhan, so her voice would be more poetic. (Siobhan and Anna are from the same small town, so their voices wouldn’t be drastically different, but I definitely want to incorporate some distinctions.) The only problem I’m facing with this is that it would be kind of a parallel novel to Reborn, or at least the first part of it would be. It would end up being book 1.5 in the Reborn series or something. Okay, I’d round it up to book 2. My other concern is that I wouldn’t want to release Anna’s book next at all because Reborn ended in a cliffhanger, and it’s likely if readers care at all, they want to know what’s going to happen to Siobhan and Jasper.

Also related to POV: The other sequel I have envisioned would be from two first person POVs. I think I can make this work, but I’m a little worried it might be too ambitious for a second book. One of my favorite authors, Karen Marie Moning, has pulled this off well, but she waited at least three or four books into her Fever series to experiment with voices. (Side note: Admittedly, I used to have really weird pet peeves when it came to what I felt were “jarring” changes in POV, but I’m slowly getting over this, ha! Now I can see why authors do this. We think of other stories we want to tell along the way.) Maybe I should take a step back. Right now I have three main couples whose relationships I want to explore. Like I said, Siobhan and Jasper were the main focus in Reborn. Carly is a secondary character in Reborn, but I’ve known what happens to her character for quite some time: I’d like to introduce that in the sequel and write it partially from her POV. Finally, like I said earlier, I think Anna and her man (lol) might get a book by themselves. The problem is the events in these two books would probably overlap. I know this sounds confusing. I’m starting to confuse myself…I may just need to revisit my outlines…

I guess I could write both books and release them around the same time with a suggested reading order, but that sounds hard. In fact, writing is kinda hard. Why am I doing this again? Oh, right, because I love it! Even when my brain doesn’t want to work…

Book Titles

Okay, this is less of a confusing mess. I’m just curious to hear your opinion on the matter of book titles. Originally, every title in this series was going to be a word with an “re” prefix (Reborn, Relapse, etc). Then I thought maybe it would be better for the word “Reborn” to appear in every title so readers could associate it with the same series (Reborn, Darkness Reborn–maybe not that exactly, but you get the idea). I’ve seen both (Think Divergent, Insurgent, etc. versus Darkfever, Bloodfever, and on). To be honest, I might stick with the title Relapse anyway since it goes so well with the theme I have in my head, but I’m still curious what other writers and readers think.

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P. S. I made a tumblr, so follow me and I’ll try to follow back! I only say “try” because sometimes I still get confused on how to do things on tumblr. :-/ Warning: I mostly reblog all things Rumbelle, Captain Swan, Delena, and Hiddles/Loki…..

by Categories: fiction, random, updates, writingTags: , , , , , , , , , , 12 Comments

WIP Wednesday


It’s update time! I’ve started WIP (Work-In Progress) Wednesdays to set personal writing goals and as a way to let you all know what I’m doing (besides checking social media)! I hope you’ll join me and link back to your own.

To play, just fill in the following:

1. What are you currently writing?

2. Inspirations:

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

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1. What are you currently writing?

I finally finished the outline for Reborn‘s sequel! I like to know where a story is headed when I’m writing, so I’m relieved I got it done. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long book, but we’ll see. 😉 Also, I just realized I totally surpassed my goal from last week and wrote 2400 words! I also wrote 960 words of my fanfic idea.

2. Inspirations:

This week, I’m finding inspiration from the Lady and her latest album Artpop. I guess I just really like her songwriting and how she plays with word meanings. (Although I find the album cover to be kinda awkward, lol.)

Lady Gaga G. U. Y.

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

Keep on plugging away at that sequel. Also, I found some snippets of an old WIP I had written in a notebook awhile back and got really excited about it again, so I may take a look at that old manuscript and see if I can revamp it.

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What have you written this week? Tell us about it and link back to your post in the comments!

by Categories: fiction, inspiration, music, updates, WIP Wednesday, writingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

WIP Wednesday


First off, I should say I was inspired to start this new weekly post by Should Be Reading’s WWW post (you can read mine from last week’s here), but I decided to put my own twist on it. You see, although I love reading and I do read, I can’t say I devour book after book like some people. If you do that, you are way more awesome than I. I do read a lot of nonfiction, but unless you want to hear about the potential public health and environmental effects of energy production, I’m not really going to have a lot of books to talk about week to week.

Thus, here’s my twist: a weekly post about what I’ve written this week. This way I can not only update you all about what I’m working on, but I can keep track for myself and set personal goals. Instead of WWW, I’ll host WIP (Work-In-Progress) Wednesday. I hope you’ll join me and link back to your own!

To play, just fill in the following:

1. What are you currently writing?

2. Inspirations:

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

*****

1. What are you currently writing?

This past week I’ve written about 3600 words of the Reborn sequel! Although writing the outline has been a struggle. Somehow I’ve managed to outline an idea for a Loki fanfic before finishing the Reborn sequel outline. (By the way, it’s tentatively called Relapse.)

loki22. Inspirations:

For some reason I just love Placebo. I listened to them while writing Reborn, and they’re continuing to inspire me, particularly right now their Meds album.

Also, it’s been weeks now since I saw Thor 2: The Dark World, but I’m still obsessing over it. And by it, I mean Loki/Tom Hiddleston. Seriously, I have a problem.

3. Plan for the upcoming week:

I hope I can crank out 1000 more words for Relapse. (But this fan fiction idea is distracting me a little. I don’t even know what I would do with it if I wrote it. Maybe post a new chapter weekly on here.)

What have you written this week? Tell us about it and link back to your post in the comments!

by Categories: fiction, inspiration, updates, WIP Wednesday, writingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

My Interview on Freshly Booked


“As soon as Jasper and I go inside his apartment, his lips find mine again, and he picks me up and carries me to his bed with ease. He sits on the edge of it with me straddling him, rocking myself against his erection. Breathing hard, he reluctantly breaks our kiss to ask me, “Are you sure you want to do this?…”

Want to hear the rest of this steamy excerpt? Then tune in to my interview on the internet radio show Freshly Booked. And hopefully, I’ll be able to read it without giggling. 😉

Every Wednesday, authors Tricia Andersen and Heidi Sieverding interview newly published authors who have turned their dream of becoming published into reality. I’m super excited and honored to be their guest tomorrow at 8 pm CST/9 pm EST. We’ll talk writing, influences, inspiration, and about my debut novel, Reborn. If you have a question for us, you can call in: (917)889-8080.

In the meantime, give them a like on Facebook!

by Categories: announcements, author interview, RebornTags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment