Behind the Scenes - Setting

Welcome to the first Behinds the Series, hosted by Skye Warren. This week's topic is Setting and how it relates to BloodLust: Armani. 

BloodLust: Armani is set in Manhattan. Both Karlea and Armani live in the East Village, only on two different ends of the spectrum. Karlea in a one bedroom shoebox for an apartment and Armani, a fancy highrise that he owns, complete with several dungeons in the basement. Little would Karlea know that she would be held hostage in such a nice building a few blocks from her home. She works at a nightclub in Greenwich Village and Armani owns a gallery in SoHo.

As a native New Yorker and a vampire writer, I thought NYC needed a vampire presence. Within the last few years, Boston has one, Los Angeles has had one, and the South is represented, too, although I would not want my vampires in the South. Manhattan was very suiting for my characters, and I couldn't picture them living in another big city. No city is like Manhattan. 

I needed a place that had lots of people always moving around and had a very active nightlife. Somewhere where a vampire club would fit in and go completely unnoticed. The weather is good for a vampire - cold, rainy, snowy, sometimes warm and sunny, not like California. 

Later in the book, Armani will sweep her away to some of the most beautiful places on earth, such as Italy, vacation areas along the Mediterranean, and in the South Pacific. Armani is trying to get her to fall in love with him and what better places to do that than in some of the most romantic areas where Karlea will be wowed by the landscape. I had seen some beautiful images on fb that my sister-in-law had re-posted of exotic places and it completely inspired me to whisk Armani and Karlea away to secluded islands where they could be alone. 

I have another vampire story that is set in small town Vermont and those characters have to be more secluded and watch what they do all the time, so the townspeople don't notice. There are no blood bars and humans are rarely fed upon. I couldn't image my BloodLust characters in a situation like that altogether - a few them had lived separately in small towns for periods of time - but to have all of them live in a small town would have made them all miserable and less of an erotic story. In Manhattan, almost anything goes ;)

WeWriWa o3.10.13

Welcome to another edition of WeWriWa! I hope everyone is doing well and adjusting to the end of Daylight Savings, if you are in a region that participates. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I really hate it. It totally messes with your body clock. And mine is still trying to get used to the PST time change. 

So, I have a huge favor to ask all my readers. My pitch for BloodLust: Armani was one of 25 chosen to participate in Pitchapalooza hosted by The Book Doctors. Could you please take a minute to visit thebookdoctors.com/blog and vote for me? Voting ends Friday. The fan favorite wins a 1 hour consult with The Book Doctors, Arielle & David, (@TheBookDoctors). They will also pick a grand prize winner (which I believe results of the voting help influence) who will receive a meeting with an appropriate publisher or agent. THANK YOU so much, I am so excited to have my pitch up there!!!!

Last week, Armani did what he does best - tease.

Karlea watched as Armani turned around and walked a few feet over to the opposite wall. He turned around and faced her, leaning against the wall, waiting. Karlea hestitated, she had fought vampires before high on vampire blood, but they attacked her first, she wasn't the one initiating the attacking. 
Armani stepped back over to her. "Feel my blood in you." He said as his fingers gently touched the flesh at her neck.
"Feel its strength, coarsing through you." He continued, gently dragging his fingers down her soft, warm skin to her heart.

And cut :( That's a wrap for today. Thanks for reading and please vote for me!

Have a great week!
Hearts & Stars
~Siren

WeWriWa o3.o3.13

Happy March! March is usually one of my favorite months due to St. Patty's Day and being 1/2 Irish. This will be my first time "veganizing" St. Patty's Day and keeping it alcohol free. It was hard enough when I went vegan to give up Bailey's Irish Cream ( I love Bailey's in coffee, but then I gave up coffee too). And now I've given up alcohol altogether, so it should be an interesting day. I'm still planning to go to an Irish bar and celebrate with a glass of water. 

Spent Saturday having lunch next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was gray and cloudy, but it was awesome watching the fog roll in over the bridge. It still amazes me that I can do this. 

So, on to WeWriWa. Last week, after Armani fed Karlea his blood, making her stronger, he was going to drink from her again. But then he decided he wanted a little play time...

Karlea immediately went over to the door as Armani stood up, but she didn't seem surprised to find that the door was locked. She turned around to face Armani. She jumped when she turned around and he was directly in front of her, towering over her.
"Let me go." She said in a quiet and non-demanding way.
Armani smiled, "I have the key." He pulled the key from his pocket to show her, it was very antique looking, as if it wasn't even a real key.
"If you want out," he said, still smiling, "you're going to have to come and get it from me."

I would love to keep going, but that's eight. Thanks for reading and please comment, I love reading comments, it helps me improve my writing. I finished writing my blurb for the book this week, but I don't know if I should share it because my eights are from the beginning of the book and I don't want my blurb to ruin it for anyone. Thoughts?

As always, you can find Karlea & Armani on social media:

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Hearts & Stars
~Siren

WeWriWa o2.24.13

Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warriors!

Yet, another crazy week here, and I'm sure next week will be no different. I spent all day Saturday on a music video set at my school. I am exhausted. I wasn't going to work on this one because there are other shoots I want to work on, but my friend was short a person for props, so I filled in. (Thanks Crystal!) Then after the lunch break, I ended up switching to slate. (Thanks again to Crystal!) 

RED camera!

Quiet on the Set!

Its all in the details!
Photo Credit: Crystal

Onto my 8, from my WIP BloodLust: Armani. Last week, Armani was force feeding Karlea his blood. We left off where Karlea was becoming stronger from it. 

Before she had a chance to struggle out of his grasp and put up a fight, Armani went to sink his fangs into the fleshy area between her neck and shoulder, when he stopped. The thought of a fight with her seemed entertaining. She would be strong, but not enough to take him down, she didn't ingest that much of his blood. It would be interesting to see what she could do.  
He released his arm that he still had across her shoulders. She seemed surprised and confused that he was releasing his hold on her. She pulled away and stood up quickly and with grace, not with unstable legs that had been unconscious in a dungeon for hours. Armani, still kneeling on the ground, watched every little movement she made as she stood, enthralled by her beauty.

He has it so bad for her! Thanks for reading! And yes, I still have to catch up. Working on set yesterday, threw me off, It was supposed to be spent catching up and doing schoolwork. 

Please comment, I love reading your comments and it really does help me improve my writing since this is a WIP and my first novel.


You can always find Karlea & Armani on social media or sign up for the newsletter.

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You can find more great authors here and here. Have a great week!
Hearts & Stars
~Siren

WeWriWa o2.17.13

I still have to fight the urge to write Six Sentence Sunday in my title, its so... automatic. 

Another crazy week in the Star household. Or the House of Star & Midnight as I may refer to it sometimes. (I've always wanted to open a Irish pub and call it the House of Star & Midnight. I guess now I would have to make it an Irish Vegan/Pescatarian pub that serves non-alcoholic drinks, to reflect our new lifestyles. That's works well for an Irish pub, don't you think ;) The drinks would have to be so good that you think you are drinking alcohol. Haha)

Anyway, we had friends from back home stay with us for a few days. This is the first time we have seen anyone since leaving Rochester a year and a half ago. Which made it hard to watch them leave on Tuesday, it was kinda like leaving Rochester again. The kids had a especially hard time with it. But we had a blast hanging out and catching up. And I finally saw the Golden Gate Bridge! I've only seen it from a very far distance, where you can't make out what color it really is. It is such an incredibly massive structure when you are near it!

It finally made me realize that I am really living here, that the bridge is practically my backyard and I don't have to leave it anytime soon. That I'm not a tourist who will go back home far away, instead I'm exploring my new home. It finally made living in California a reality, something I have been dreaming about for years. Every time I stepped out the door this week, I had a totally new take on my surroundings. And my crappy little 3 bedroom I am renting with hardly a yard, is now starting to feel a little more like home. Although, I still want to move to a better house when my lease is up! It made me stop missing my Atlanta home so much (not Atl, just the house). We just have to get through our lease here and then we can move into a nicer home in the area that has a yard for the kids.

So, on to my 8 for the week. Last week, Karlea was left unconscious in a dungeon by Armani, after he decided to keep her, living. She was just coming to when we left.

With her palms flat, she lifted herself and sat up. Immediately, someone grabbed her from behind, wrapping their arm around the front of her shoulders and pulling her into them. She screamed, her voice dry and hoarse. 
Armani had been standing in the darkness watching her sleep for hours, making sure her heart kept beating.  His sleeve already rolled up, he bit his wrist deep, moaning, and then shoved it in her mouth. The blood flowed heavily and he was sure, even with her struggling, she would manage to swallow some. Soon after, he could feel her becoming stronger from ingesting his blood. He pulled his wrist away as Karlea caught her breath.

Thanks for reading! Please comment, I love reading comments, it helps me with my writing! I will have to spend a day to catch up on past SSS and WeWriWa because I am just so far behind now. I'm on my second week of classes and I'm already a bit behind, I just need to get on a good schedule with everything and then my Saturday mornings can be spent reading others WeWriWa. 

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WeWrWa o2.1o.13

Welcome to the second Weekend Writing Warriors!
It is early and I am so not awake right now. I've been doing the sleep 3 or 4 hours a night all week and I am just beat as I write this. Classes started Monday and the first week is always the slow intro week, so I can't really comment on it. I'm just trying to get back into the groove and discipline of classes while still trying to focus on everything else I'm doing. Plus the hubby was away at a business retreat for 4 days - yeah, I'm tired. Then friends flew in from snowy Rochester to visit last night. Yay! We haven't seen anyone from back home in like a year and a half. Pretty crazy. It is so nice to see some familiar faces from back home!!!!

Needless to say, I still have not caught up on SSS/WeWriWa posts.   

So, on to Armani and Karlea. Armani saved her after almost killing her and last week he was trying to drag her into a room, of which Karlea can only think its so he can drink her dry, again. She has no idea...

Instead of pushing her into the room at the end of the corridor; a sex room where Armani usually killed his victims; he made a detour and pushed her into a small room that was more like a dungeon, the steel door echoing as it slammed shut. 
Armani twirled her around by her wrists, so she was facing him. He looked into her eyes, compelling her, "You need to rest now."
Karlea went to protest, but lost consciousness. Armani caught her in his arms and set her down on ground. He left the room locking the door behind him.

When Karlea gained consciousness again, she had no idea how long she had been out for. She opened her eyes and slightly looked around; her throbbing headache making it difficult. 


What's worse being dead or being a prisoner? Will he kill her soon after holding her hostage? Is he going to turn her? What is she in for? I guess you will just have to stay tuned :)

Please comment, I love reading comments! And eventually I will get around to commenting on yours. Don't worry, I am keeping tabs on all the posts I have to read. 

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Six Sentences - WeWriWa o2.o3.13 ???

Welcome to... I don't know what I'm doing yet. I signed up for Skye Warren's six. But then I signed up for Weekend Writing Warriors, too. Skye is only hosting six sentences once a month and every third Sunday there will be a writing prompt for a blog post. I want to do this, but I still want to post snippets from my story every week, which is why I'm doing WeWriWa. However, WeWriWa is 8 sentences each week. So, I have to figure out the best way to post once a month so I don't get booted from either one? Maybe make two separate blog posts for each sharing the same snippet? Or maybe each one sharing a different snippet and readers then get a bonus once a month? 

For this week, I'm just going to stick to one blog post that is eight sentences and hopefully I won't get booted from Skye Warren's six.

I'm also doing Karysa Faire's six on Facebook, but I only have to copy/paste six to the discussion and then the link to my blog. It doesn't matter how long the snippet is in the blog.

Oh and go 49ers!!!! This city will be on fire tonight if they win! This city will be on fire if they lose. Either way, its going to be a crazy night in the Bay! 49ers fever has been electric for the past two weeks and I can't believe I live in such an amazing city! Please win this for my dad - love you dad! I started following Joe Montana on Twitter too, just so I can tell my dad what he tweets about the game. I will also be sending Mr. Montana a few tweets as well today.

So, on to Armani and Karlea. I believe he almost killed her last week and then, at the last minute, healed her with his blood to keep her alive and human. What will he do with her now?

Armani grabbed her arms and pulled her into him.
"I had to let you know what it was like." Armani whispered, "Forgive me."
He pulled her up, holding her by the wrists from behind as Karlea screamed and struggled.
"Now no more distractions." 
He said into her ear before kissing her neck, "I want you."
Armani once again pushed her towards the steel door at the end of the corridor, the one he was originally trying to get Karlea to before he was distracted. Karlea struggled, but his grip just became tighter and tighter.

Thanks for reading! And I still have to catch up on everybody's posts for the last two weeks, which I will do at some point! My 5 kids have been keeping me really busy and I've been trying to spend more time with my 2 and 3 year old, instead of being on the computer when they are running around sometimes - my 3 year old daughter is going through a phase where she wants to do everything with me and I LOVE it!!! Not going to pass that up. And classes start tomorrow! I'm freaking out! I've been on a two year break from my MFA program and tomorrow I go back. I'm taking two classes, Cinematography and Entertainment Law & Practices. 

Please comment, I love reading comments!

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