Guest Post: Elizabeth Loraine

Curling Up By The Fire would like to welcome Elizabeth Loraine, author of Phantom Lives: Collier, the first novel in a new series featuring Abigail Black, released August 18th, 2011.  She is here with us today to discuss some of the ways she gets inspiration for her novels and for her characters.  As an aspiring writer myself, I always find these posts to be rather intriguing and I love to hear how other writers get their original ideas and how they are developped.  Here is a blurb on the first novel in the series, Collier:

Abigail Black, an heiress from Memphis is on the run from her abusive boyfriend, Dallas. In the process she finds out that there she is being pulled towards something, and someone, that she thought only existed in her dreams.


Another page turning adventure from Elizabeth Loraine. Phantom Lives intertwines the modern world with the post Civil War world of Collier, a plantation Abigail had dreamt about her entire life. Now she is about to find out why. Another fantasy world of spirits and immortals is built in a way which fans of Ms Loraine’s will again thoroughly enjoy. Find out who Abigail was in the past and how it changes everything.



Where do my book ideas come from?

by Elizabeth Loraine

Many people ask me how and where I get ideas for my books, characters and locations. While there is no easy or on simple answer I can tell you how both of my series began.

Royal Blood Chronicles came about because of my insatiable love of vampires. I have been intrigued by them since I was old enough to watch television. The old B movies of the sixties and seventies and the soap opera Dark Shadows were so much fun.

The only thing that I thought was missing was the background stories. I wanted to know more about the history of these long lived creatures and I wanted them to more than undead creatures of the night. So my books give you that history along with a new race of vampire; royal blooded vampires.

The next thing I wanted was to create strong female lead characters that were not waiting to be saved, but instead were the hero. Once I have an idea I research locations, decide on names and then simply start to write. Katrina the Beginning was my first novel and when I started I had never written anything before at all, yet I finished that book and four others so far in that series.

Phantom Lives is my new paranormal fantasy adventure with another strong female lead. This series came about because of my own recurring dreams as a child. I decided that I could make a story out of that and so Phantom Lives was born.

I find ideas for fantasy stories all around me. Stories on the history channel that intrigue me, but I also see things from nature, crime and real life stories all of the time and think of a way to fill it with magic and twist and turn it into mystery and fun for the reader. The first reader of my endeavors of course is me, and I expect to be entertained. I often tell my sister that I am at a certain point of the story and I can’t wait to find out what happens. You see I don’t know a head of time, just like any other reader.

So what I would tell anyone taking on a writing project to start with an idea and just start writing. You can do research along the way if you need to. Write a little every day, it helps with the flow of the piece and take a break if you are stuck. Then read what you have written again from the beginning and start again.

Where do your ideas come from? Are you a plotter or a seat of your panser?