I love hearing how stories came about. It’s so interesting to get to see ‘behind the scenes’ and to discover more about authors and their writing relationships. Today, Raissa (R. Phoenix), has been kind enough to share secrets with me so read on to find out about her latest book, Spoiled. There’s also a link to a freebie 🙂
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Fourteen days.
That’s how long it took for my co-author Morgan Noel and me to write, edit, format, and publish Spoiled. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. Hell, I was sure it wasn’t. I hadn’t managed to finish anything in 2017. I started and stopped project after project, optimistically declaring I’d have something finished by one date, only to see it come and go while I promised myself I’d meet the next deadline. Needless to say, it didn’t happen. So why would this project be any different?
It started out a little something like this:
Me: *sadface* I want to publish something before the end of the year, but we aren’t going to finish editing Untamed, Unhinged, and Unchanged (aka U3, our 100k+ word book) in time. How ‘bout we try to write something else?
(I may have done a little more begging, then I cheated and tempted her with a character concept I knew she couldn’t say no to. Maybe.)
Morgan: Like what?
Me: Oh, I don’t know. Some light-hearted erotica, maybe? Something short, 20-25k words.
Two weeks later, I hit publish on an angsty romance that topped out at over 50k words. What. The. Fuck. Even. This was nothing like what we’d planned. We’d even outlined! From page one, our characters decided to troll us as hard as Morgan trolls me. So instead of a fluffy yet kinky and sexy erotic short, we ended up with this angst-ridden romance that was twice the intended length. (This is the part where I maturely skip the opportunity to make a “that’s what he said” joke. Just pointing out how immature I could’ve been.)
Right, where was I?
The book, which has stepbrothers with more than brotherly feelings, loves, just saying — and a nice dose of hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers, urban fantasy-ish and dystopian-esque elements, and even a happily for now ending. This thing was not only the antithesis of what we’d set out to write, but it was also different from anything I’d ever written. Not that that’s anything new; my muse gleefully decides to explore different feels every time I write something. I spent a good bit of time pondering just what it was, exactly, then handed off the writing of the blurb to Morgan. I say that as though it’s something new, but really, she’s been writing my blurbs for a while now. Ironic that someone whose shortest work was around 50k words can write short blurbs like a pro, while I have a hard time reaching 50k and can’t write short blurbs. In case you haven’t noticed, I ramble. A lot.
I digress. (I do that a lot, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.) The point of this blog post is that I managed to do something I thought was impossible. That was the theme of 2017 in general for me, really; I accomplished things I never thought I could. I wrote something I’m incredibly proud of with a talented co-author. Morgan and I managed to hit publish on it after only two weeks to fulfill my seemingly unreachable goal of publishing something before the end of the year. This was her first ever published work, guys, so there are not enough words to thank her with.
We did the fucking impossible, and we did it together. Imagine what all of us could do if we worked together just a little more.
Love,
Raissa.
P.S. Amazon, jubilance is still a word. Screw your spellcheck.
P.P.S. Shameless other plug. The Fate of the Fallen series is set in the same world as Spoiled, and the first book is free at:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fNXY4d
B&N: https://goo.gl/BiiBzm
iTunes: https://goo.gl/Yd2WuD
Kobo: https://goo.gl/qodjKw
Smashwords: https://goo.gl/wa1NEx
Blurb:
The capture of an arms dealer’s spoiled lover should’ve been a win for the humans struggling to survive their harsh lives in the slums. Powerless and outnumbered, it seems like only a matter of time before Romulus betrays the Butcher. But when Kieran realizes their prisoner is none other than his stepbrother, he has to face the harsh truths he’s been avoiding for too long. Torn between loyalty for his new family of humans and the witch he has more than brotherly feelings for, Kieran must make a decision that could leave him with nothing.
Though Spoiled is set in The Fate of the Fallen / Status Quo world, this is a standalone work. These characters do not appear in the FotF/SQ books, and there are no spoilers for the series.
Buy Link: http://amzn.to/2zWNI1i (also available on Kindle Unlimited)
Author Information:
R. Phoenix (code name: Raissa) has an unhealthy fascination with contrasts: light and dark, humor and pain, heroes and villains, order and chaos. She believes love can corrupt, power can redeem and that the best of intentions can cast shadows while the worst can create light. She agrees with those who say that the truth is best told through fiction — even though fiction has to make sense while reality can be utterly baffling.
She loves chatting with readers, though she often awkwardly rambles. No matter how much she tries to keep her bad and often perverted sense of humor in check, it seems to escape at the most inconvenient moments. (Thanks, universe.) Feel free to friend Raissa on Facebook and chat or send her an email!
Fluent in sarcasm and double entendre, devourer of cookies and champion pizza consumer. Pantser who doesn’t play by the rules. The Kraken has been released, so long and thanks for all the fish!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morgan.noel.71271
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