Sometimes my books aren’t based
on what’s running around in my head.
Back when the Twilight saga was about to
appear on the big screen – does anyone remember the huge outcry when it was
announced that Robert Pattinson was going to play Edward? – I hadn’t yet read
the books.
I had, however, read several
vampire novels. Some of those, like the Anne Rice novels, were mostly good
reads. Others were simply abysmal. One author used the same words to describe
his character so many times that if I ever see or hear someone described as
having a rictus smile again, I will have to at least maim the person describing
it. And the same goes for the word orb.
My nieces introduced the Twilight
books to my husband and me. It was nice, light summer reading. And we finished
the first two books in time for the opening of the first Twilight movie.
Later in the summer, I was
visiting a friend of mine for the weekend. She had a daughter who was about 15.
She was enamored of the books – and Robert Pattinson – at the time. She also
knew I wrote stories, although I didn’t know whether or not she’d actually read
any of them.
During a visit to my friend’s house,
the girl and I were having a conversation about what we liked best in the movie
and some of the terrible vampire novels I’d read when she said, “I bet you
could write a good vampire story.”
I had never considered doing
that.
I thought for a moment.
“Well, mine would not sparkle.
And no one would have a rictus smile. I’d need to do something unique.”
She agreed, and we went on to
discuss other things.
“How about vampire fairies?” I
asked sometime later.
“Oh, I would definitely read
that!” she replied.
I had my audience. All I needed
was my world and a cast of characters.
A little later her mother, the
girl, a few of her mother’s friends and I were out exploring and came upon an
old graveyard. We decided to explore. As we were walking along, studying
epitaphs, I saw the name Teilo on one of the gravestones. I’d never encountered
that name before, but I liked it.
Pretty soon, Teilo, who was to be
the hero of my story, had a last name: Feather.
By the time I got home, I had a
village or four made up of fairies. They lived under bushes, in trees or in the
remains of things humans had left behind. But I changed the spelling. They were
Faeries. They had a pre-medieval culture, consisting of priestesses and druids
to take care of the religious aspects of their lives, and the faeries were
divided into clans according to what jobs they performed.
The Celestials were the
astronomers as well as the sea-faring clan. They sailed the small sea (a.k.a.
the Irish Sea) in craft made of walnut shells.
Occasionally, if the need arose
to visit the island across the small sea (Ireland), they might stow away on a
Human ship. They could easily hide, and the amount of food they needed would
never be missed by the larger beings.
The Cantares were the singers and
musicians. They received training in music and went on to entertain or provide
music for solemn occasions.
The Mercifuls were the medical
people: Doctors, nurses, midwives, apothecaries, and other scientists of similar
interest.
The Benevolents were mainly
everyone else. They provided the blacksmiths, leather workers, seamstresses,
bakers, bankers and so on.
Being born into a clan wasn’t a
life sentence. If a child from a Benevolent family was musically inclined, he
or she could join the Cantares once basic education had finished. Or a doctor’s
child could grow up to become a Benevolent. There was free mingling among the
clans.
And then there were the Dark
Faeries. The priestesses had an uneasy and only occasional relationship with
the Dark Faeries. They knew what the Dark Faeries were: Vampyres.
The only reason there was any
relationship between priestesses and Vampyres was that a plague had spread
through the Light Faery population. It had decimated the Light Faeries. And the
Dark Faeries required blood. So there was a truce agreed to between the
priestesses and the Dark Faeries that the Vampyres – except for the renegades
who answered to no one – would leave the Light Faeries in peace and feed on Humans,
instead.
This was beneficial to both.
Humans wouldn’t be hurt or killed by being bitten by a Dark Faery. It was no
worse than a mosquito bite, if it was noticed at all. While their blood wasn’t
as tasty as Faery blood, they didn’t need to be bitten on the neck. Their veins
were large enough for the Dark Faeries anywhere on a human body. The only
danger to the Dark Faery who attacked a human was that it might be squashed if
the Human happened to feel the bite.
This also saved the Light Faery
population from being further depleted by Vampyre bites. Only those who
ventured out into the deepest woods at night had to fear the renegades.
Enter Shauna Faun. This is a
musical band. Their music is sought after by the young Light Faeries, who look
for concerts given by the band. But parents have heard non-specific whispers
about the band, that they have some evil about them.
The truth is, Shauna Faun is a
band made up of Vampyre Faeries. These Dark Faeries have sworn an oath not to
attack concert-goers, and the youth flock to them, despite the condemnation of
the band from the priestesses, because no one has told the young people that
these band members are Dark Faeries.
Now, with my world created, I was
ready to write the first novel in the series: Dark Faery: The Benevolents.
