Audience/Genre: Adult/Paranormal, Urban Fantasy.
Publication: January 29th 2013 by Entangled Select.
In a violent world where fallen archangels are hunted for their valuable plumage, Wren knows one thing for certain: the human woman who saved him from a poacher attack will die if she stays with him. The demon responsible for his parents’ gruesome deaths two decades ago pines for the chance to rip apart any woman who stands under Wren’s wing.
Wren doesn’t expect Ginger to stay by his side once she discovers his ability to drain life with a mere touch, yet she lingers. When an unusual talent of her own reveals the location of Wren’s father, Wren’s isolated world implodes. With the help of the demon protectors he’s sworn never to trust again, Wren risks everything to rescue his father, confront the demon who stalks his and Ginger’s every step, and claim his eternity with the most courageous woman he’s ever known.
The Writing Process of Out in Blue
Writing Out in Blue was unlike writing any other book because it was my first. Over the course of a year, I went from a ghost story, to an angel story, to a completely different angel story, doing everything from learning about active vs. passive voice to plot structure. My critique readers kicked my butt, and I love them for it!
We all know books get written, re-written, revised, edited, and proofread, so I’ll share some of the twists and turns the story took as I learned my craft and sorted my ideas.
I began writing during a low point in my life. My job was so stressful I wasn’t sleeping at night and I even experienced anxiety attacks. Daily. I needed a creative outlet and turned to writing, something I’d thought about most of my life but never actually tried. I sat down and wrote a short ghost story and tinkered with it for a while. One day I wrote a scene set among stone ruins in the woods and gave Wren wings. I also gave him his father, the archangel Raphael, and his human heroine, Ginger. Wren had been poisoned with a dagger made from a substance toxic to angels and Raphael couldn’t do anything to stop it. I gave up plotting a way for Ginger to save the day, deciding instead to turn the idea into a novel and start over from the beginning.
I went around in circles for a while, but on the plus side, I got a high word count under my belt. My new story began after Ginger hit a tree avoiding a squirrel. She had no cell service—typical in some places in Vermont—and walked to the nearest house where she met Wren, a strange young man who seemed to be hiding some sort of deformity under an oversized black coat. In this story, Wren was the son of Raphael, but Raphael wasn’t a fallen angel. He was an archangel who loved a human, and they had a son. The Dominion Council, who ruled Heaven, condemned the half-human, half-archangel and ordered Wren’s execution the day of his birth. Raphael had to abandon his son to hide him. I still like this idea and may revisit it in a short story.
Even though I liked the plot, I felt that there was something missing, an idea just out of reach in my daydreams. I decided to hold out for it. I tried a version of the plot in which Wren hated and hid from Raphael, because the archangel wanted to remove Wren’s wings for his protection (from the Dominion Council’s enforcers). This idea took over the story, minimalizing the romance plot. So I kept thinking.
Around this time, I read an article about tiger poaching. Somehow I made the mental leap from tigers to angels. I thought to myself that if angels were real and they walked the earth, everyone and their mother would want a feather—wow, an actual angel feather! Look!—and while some would be innocently curious, others would see it as a chance to make money. In my mind, it’s a realistic scenario. I got rid of the Dominion and started the story over, this time with Wren and Raphael having a common enemy—archangel poachers.
The demon Guardians started out as wingless angels in the Dominion plot—a couple enforcers (Lark and Quail) were loyal to Raphael and were searching for Wren to protect him. When I made the switch to poachers, I thought that if the antagonists were humans, fallen archangels and demons could be on the same side and work together. I stole the idea of colonies from a vampire short story I’d begun writing at that point, and the world changed little after that.
Needless to say, I’m glad I kept revising and tweaking. I ended up with the story I knew was lurking in my subconscious. It doesn’t get more satisfying than that!
Thank you so much for hosting, Anjana!
Thank you for being here today Sarah! And now, here's a paperback giveaway of Out In Blue!
Giveaway Terms and Conditions:
- As listed in the Rafflecopter.
Stop by the rest of the stops in the tour!
There are some really cool events planned for this book, including a FB chat with the author!
Sarah Gilman started her first novel in third grade. She never finished that story, but never gave up the dream. Her fascination with wings also began at that age, when images of the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis captured her imagination and never let go. Now a paranormal romance writer, she employs her love of writing to bring the allure of winged creatures to the pages of her novels. Sarah lives in Vermont with her supportive husband and two spoiled cats.
Thanks again, Anjana! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great read! I've already added this to my TBR list. It's funny, Sarah, but your path and mine have been startling similar in terms of how we found writing. Isn't this a nice place to be? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great post Anjana!
It's a very nice place to be! :-)
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