Poison Heart:
She killed her true love.
She gave his kingdom to the vampires.
She turned her back on her sworn duty
to protect the innocent from the evil that preys on them, vowing to
never pick up the sword of duty again.
She wants to die...
But the gods aren't that merciful to
the truly despicable. Imogen is forced to pick up her sword in a
quest to rescue the kingdom from the hands of the vampires. And its'
not long before she realizes the horrible truth. To succeed, she
will have to revisit the haunting sins of her past, and find a way to
recapture her heart from the poison it drowns in.
Originally I set out to write a novel
about a slayer set in medieval times, hacking down evil vampires. I
was inspired by Underworld, and when I say inspire, I look at the
Underworld movies the same as I do the Matrix movies. A wonderful
premise, but poorly executed. I was hooked the moment the I saw
Selene jump off the rooftop and land on the ground, walking away so
coolly. I loved the way she went after the werewolves in the subway,
and how she went through the movie with this resolute purpose of
solving the mystery of what the werewolves were up to. The ending
disappointed me, as did every movie after. I couldn't help but
think, hey! Lets go back to that premise, and put Selene in a
medieval setting, and let her kick some serious butt.
The moment I sat down to start Poison
Heart, that's what I was thinking. I wanted Imogen to be this
cold-hearted slayer who went around kicking butt until she finally
vanquished the vampires. I envisioned her as this anti-hero type of
character, who had such a cold heart, she almost turned into villain
by the end of the book. She'd be so obsessed with killing vampires,
you would almost hate her. Heck, the girl killed her true love, just
because he was a werewolf! I envisioned epic battles in the book,
armies of vampires fighting orcs and werewolves, as Imogen sat back
and laughed at tricking them into fighting each other.
And the moment I set down, and my
fingers started typing, all my preconceived ideas went right out the
window. In a furious burst of words (I typed 10,000 in one night,
which is a record for me!), Imogen took over, and it became a novel
completely different than what I intended to write. Imogen just came
to life and took over! I couldn't stop her, I didn't want to stop
her, because her voice was so tragically beautiful, and her story so
woeful, I was compelled to just follow along. She was this perfectly
flawed character, who blamed herself for the betrayal of her past
actions. But unlike the standard fantasy plot, where the protagonist
starts out trying to recover from a personal tragedy that isn't their
fault, only to be swept up in a adventure that eventually exonerates
them...and...completely heal them, allowing them to go on to live
happily ever after, Imogen was different.
She witnessed something that she
couldn't bare and reluctantly goes on a quest to right the wrongs,
she thinks she is responsible for, clinging to this fragile flame of
hate to revenge it all. But she's reluctant, fragile, fighting
between embracing her hate and trying to love again. She never
wanted to be a slayer, she's at heart, a silly foolish girl, who
wants to find love again. She constantly swings between these two
desires, trying to heal her broken heart, all the while accepting her
fate in this world.
It was maddening to try and balance
those desires, knowing in the end she'd never completely heal, she'd
would be like a glass vase that was broken and glued back together.
She would never be completely whole, and because she wasn't, she
would susceptible to her doubts and desires. Imogen was perfect to
me, because she was flawed, always trying, but never capable of being
true in heart and resolution.
But at the same time, she was as
annoying as hell, because the girl had a tendency to go off and do
whatever her little mind thought she desired at that moment. She
didn't want epic battles, she wanted a journey to heal her heart as
best as she could. Here is a girl that's basically a superhero, and
she didn't want to demonstrate that in action scenes! She wanted to
look a clutz on steroids...LOL
And that wasn't the worst thing about
her. Oh—no! As a writer, I'm well trained to write in past
present, but this girl wanted to tell her story in present tense,
which made the editing process hell! In the end, we compromised, and
I dare to think she's reluctantly happy about the book, and the
following two. Imogen is stubborn, and refuses to do anything she
doesn't want to, but I think her and I see eye to eye, now (or so I
hope!)
She's definitely taught me, that your
characters are your children, and you will love them, no matter how
awry they go. You have to give them both, freedom and boundaries!
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