Guest Blog - Rachel Rawlings on the challenge of writing a new series
To celebrate her latest release - Payable on Death - author, Rachel Rawlings dropped by to talk about the challenge of creating a new series. Here's what she had to say:
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off too.”
– Bilbo Baggins, via J.R.R. Tolkien
I think starting a new series is very much like the advice Bilbo gives to Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. Swap out the road for a blank Word document and it just about sums it up. The comforts of home or in this case the comforts of the world you’ve created previously are gone. No familiar faces or places to guide you along. Will you get along with these new imaginary friends? Will they talk to you, help you like the others or will you fight and scrabble the whole journey?
Payable On Death is a lot of firsts for me- first in a new series, first full length book I’ve written outside of my original series, first time I not only thought about writing a new universe outside of Maurin’s but that I actually did it. It was an unusual experience. I kept looking around corners for my old friends, expecting things to work the same in Jax’s world as they did in Maurin’s. But, Jax’s story isn’t one of vampires and werewolves. Her world, set not far from me in the city of Baltimore, consists of demons and angels. The rules and players were different.
Once we got beyond the “getting to know you” phase, I was surprised for all its differences, how very much the same it actually was. An Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, kick ass female lead, quirky supporting cast, action, adventure and romance. It’s a formula I’ve used successfully in my Maurin Kincaide Series and so far it’s working for Jax’s trilogy as well. It may be a different world, but once I got settled into it, it was just a comfortable as the one I’d temporarily left behind.
A deal with the Devil. Demons haunting your every step. When an Angel offers you the chance to redeem yourself, you take it. Because eternal damnation isn't all it's cracked up to be.
But the Devil always gets his due.
On the streets of Baltimore redemption is..... Payable On Death.
Rachel Rawlings was born and raised in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. Her family, originally from Rhode Island, spent summers in New England sparking her fascination with Salem, MA. She has been writing fictional stories and poems since middle school, but it wasn't until 2009 that she found the inspiration to create her heroine Maurin Kincaide and complete her first full length novel, The Morrigna.
When she isn't writing, Rachel can often be found with her nose buried in a good book. An avid reader of Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, Horror and Steampunk herself, Rachel founded Hallowread- an interactive convention for both authors and fans of those genres.
More information on Hallowread, its schedule of events and participating authors can be found at www.hallowread.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/Hallowread .
She still lives in Maryland with her husband and three children.
