Writer's Inspiration
One question writers get asked, "Where
do you get your inspiration from?"
Most of the time I'm stuck for an answer.
Stories just come to me.
Another question is, "What was your
playlist for this book?"
I don't have playlists. I write in silence.
Distractions distract me. I'm a bit ADD. Oh, look a chicken. Is there
chocolate?
My publisher put out a call for Christmas
shorts. Short novellas that focus on the holiday season. I thought it sounded
like a fun idea.
But it was mid-Oct and I couldn't get into
the Christmas spirit – heck it wasn't even Canadian Thanksgiving yet. The grass
was green. The flowers were still in bloom.
So I popped on my head phones and listened
to Christmas music – not just any Christmas music – Trans Siberian Orchestra.
If you've never listened to them – give it a go. Wow – their take on Christmas music
is phenomenal. One song in particular – Carol of the Bells. (Technically, its
name on the album cover is Christmas
Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.) To catch a listen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6FhOb7-1dg
The story behind their version of the song –
On Christmas Eve, a lone man challenges the war playing music on the rubble of
the destruction of his city – Sarajevo. When you listen to this song, you can
hear the beauty and then the destruction – the jarring rock music wonderfully
portraying the bombs and chaos.
In my story, Love in the Key of C, the rock music is Giselle's life. It's a
mess. Not the life she'd planned and something she was truly embarrassed about.
Giselle, is you or I. No one special, but
life kicked her down once too often. There
by the grace of God go I – that line wasn't the basis for the story – the
music was – but it does help understanding.
The story follows the same structure of the
song – calm – chaos – calm – chaos then resolution. All in under 10,000 words.
So for once, I can answer two interview
questions –
"Where do you get your inspiration
from?"
Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas
Eve/Sarajevo 12/24
"What was your playlist for this
book?"
Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas
Eve/Sarajevo 12/24
Blurb
Can a slice of
pizza and a flute erase the ravages of life and allow Giselle and Ethan to fall
in love by Christmas?
Collapsing in front the biggest department store in
the city on one of the busiest days of the holiday season was not how Giselle
imagined her day. Cold and hungry, she trudged through her daily existence
wondering if she'd ever find happiness again.
Teenagers. Ethan
loved working with them and turning their raw musical talent into something
beautiful and rewarding, but that didn't fill the black void in his soul.
Like fate, the
songwriters' muse nudged Giselle and Ethan together. But can Giselle overcome
her fears and can Ethan get past the darkness that surrounds him, so they can
find love?
Excerpt
She looked so cold and weak, like she hadn't eaten in a while and was clinging with failing resolve to any semblance of a normal life. I heard the rumbling of her stomach. Anybody could who happened to be within a ten-foot radius.
But more importantly, she was beautiful. No, not her outside. Her clothes were worn and hung on her like she'd purchased them three sizes too big. The sallowness of her skin resembled some of the dead and faded leaves that still clogged the city's sewers. Her hair was wet from the weather and a small cap of whiteness rested on her shoulders. A shiver shot through me as I glanced down at her feet. Tired shoes soaked from the slush on the sidewalk. I fought off the sensation of how cold her toes must be.
It was her eyes that captured me. No, not the color, which was brown if you really needed to know. It was the pain of her existence that poured from them. They were a billboard exposing the humiliation that hung around her shoulders and robbed her of the proud stance she'd once possessed.
I wanted to help her, offering her a moment of warmth, rest and nourishment. What stopped me? A debate raged inside. Did I offer her this gift and then release her back into the elements and despair that had become her life? Wouldn't that be cruel? Or, did I look away and pretend she didn't exist, like so many others had done? I knew how this city worked. What we refuse to acknowledge does not then taint our lives.
Taint.
Taint me—dammit. I needed to meet this woman. To know her story.
Buy Links
Two writers in one. Daryl Devoré writes hot romances with sexy heroes and strong
heroines. Victoria Adams is Daryl's
alter ego when she's inspired to write sweet romances with little to no heat.
Daryl (@daryldevore) lives in an old farmhouse in
Ontario, Canada, with her husband, two black cats - Licorice and Ginny-Furr
Purrkins - and some house ghosts. Her daughter is grown and has flown the nest.
Daryl loves to take long walks on her quiet country road or snowshoe across the
back acres, and in the summer, kayak along the St. Lawrence River. She has
touched a moon rock, a mammoth, and a meteorite. She’s been deep in the ocean
in a submarine, flown high over Niagara Falls in a helicopter, and used the
ladies room in a royal palace. Life’s an adventure and Daryl’s having fun
living it.
Where to find Daryl
Devoré
A Dozen Questions and Answers with Daryl Devoré
How long does it usually take you to write a book?
It can range from less than a month to several years.
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
I can answer this question for this book – it was inspired by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24. Catch a listen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6FhOb7-1dg
When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?
I let them develop. Sometimes I don't even know their names and they go by X until they announce their name.
Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?
That would be like work – having a set amount of words per day. I'm an extremely undisciplined writer.
What is the hardest thing about writing?
Marketing. Somehow writers have to be marketing experts. We aren't business oriented – we're creative artists.
What is the easiest thing about writing?
I can do it in my PJs.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
Yoga. Yoga. And …more yoga.
Do you like music or silence when your write?
Ah! I can answer this one as well – usually I need silence. I get distracted too easily. But the inspiration was the song – so I listened to it over and over again.
What do you think makes a good story?
A good story is like beauty – it is only in the eye of the beholder. If the author likes the book, then it is a good story. What defines that is individual to each author. The books I read and the books I write are vastly different. Is one better than the other? No. And I know this isn't an actual answer to the question, but my true answer would be pages long.
Do you outline or do you just write?
Outline?? What is an outline??? I'm a pantser – I just go for it.
What do you love best about this book?
It's a sweet romance. No complicated sex scene to write.
What is your next project?
I'm in the middle of reworking a medieval fantasy romance – possibly turning a stand-alone into a trilogy.
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