Goodreads asked November Ellison:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

November Ellison In 2003, I heard the song “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence and instantly envisioned this story between a priest and a vampire developing an intense friendship / relationship. Now, in my mind the priest was male and lost in his own profession, and the vampire character was female. However, I’m no expert on the Catholic Church and the thought of doing that character real justice was very daunting.

A few years ago, a friend suggested that I make the priest character a female and the vampire a male and set it here in Newark, Ohio. A light instantly went off in my head, and the words flew out of my fingertips.

One of my favorite pieces of research for the book was an article I found online that suggested the mark of Cain was red hair. Granted, the whole article went on to explain why redheads are evil, but the initial premise sparked a lot of the inspiration for Cain’s actual appearance.

Cain was actually much harder to write than Jo, because “villains” always seem to be so one-dimensional. Jo’s character is an ode to the many strong women in my life. She was very real to me, and very natural to write. First and foremost, my mother is a straight-talking no-nonsense woman of action, and my sister and I both inherited those traits.

When you publish a fiction novel, people think that being a writer is your day job. Mine isn’t. I’m a single mom who works full-time as an executive in a male-dominated field: math. They say you should write what you know. I know all about leading and trying to walk with grace in difficult leadership situations. I do it every day, Monday through Friday.

flag