My Inspiration

Last weekend, one of my author friends, Anastasia Rabiyah hosted a chat at CoffeeTime Romance (this happens about once a month). Anyway, last weekend the main focus was inspiration. Where does it come from? What inspires us?

It's hard for me to come up with any one thing. I like reading, obviously. Lately I've been focusing a lot on paranormal books--anything and everything I can get my hands on. Vampires, demons, witches, shapeshifters. I don't care too much for witches and shapeshifters, and most demons, but I love vampires. Every time I sit down to read, it engages my imagination. I think that's my biggest inspiration--reading something and thinking about all the stories I'm currently working on and what I can do to make them better.

These days the best time for me to brainstorm occurs as I'm settling in for bed, just laying there and relaxing after a long day. This is my characters' favorite time to come out and tell me I've been neglecting them. They want their stories told now!

I also love this time of year. The days are getting a bit cooler, the nights a bit longer, the air is crisp. There's just something about fall that gets my creative juices flowing. I have always been a night person--I hate mornings, so more darkness also means more energy for me. I find that autumn is the best time for me to sit down and write, because the feeling in the air inspires me.

I also like listening to rock music while I'm writing. I used to need complete silence to write, but now I pop in the headphones, surrounding myself with ambiance, and I find it both easier to write and easier to concentrate. My husband usually has the TV on all the time, so I need something to drown that out. Music is both inspiring and relaxing.

I get random ideas everywhere. Some stories I don't even know where they come from. Demon's Torment was inspired by a contest I entered on www.writing.com. Avery and the Devil was inspired by something that I was going through at the time--a recently signed lease that we wanted out of so we could move. That made me think of contracts, which made me think of contracts with the devil. I know, it's strange how my mind works. I don't even know where I got the idea for Thief in the Night.

My current project--Blood Rage--started with the first couple paragraphs of the book:

I remembered my name longer before I remembered who I was.
Elliot. My name is Elliot.

These two lines haunted me for a couple weeks before I decided to sit down and start writing. Somehow I established that Elliot was a vampire (once again, I love vamps--obsessed with them), and that the change somehow stole his memories. Now I've got most of the first book written and the second one started. It's a planned trilogy, with a second trilogy to follow.

Within the next week or so I plan on posting the entire first chapter of Blood Rage. It will only be available to subscribers of my Yahoo! group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/racheldthompson/. But I will also be including a teaser here and on my website.