“The Dark Proposal” – on tour at Bewitching Book Tours

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authors, blog tour, Book tours, books, paranormal, paranormal books, PNR, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampire fiction, vampire novels, vampires

Hey everyone!

This week, “The Dark Proposal” is out on tour at Bewitching Book Tours! This is an opportunity to get the word out about my book, as well as stir up excitement for “Between Light and Dark”.

Special thanks to Roxanne Rhoads for arranging this tour 🙂

Here’s a look at the schedule. Please stop by to show your support!

January 15 JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder (Interview)

https://jbbookworms.blogspot.com/

January 15 Fang-tastic Books (Interview)

http://fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com

January 16 I Smell Sheep (Guest Blog)

http://www.ismellsheep.com/

January 16 Paranormalists

https://paranormalists.blogspot.com/

January 17 Roxanne’s Realm (Guest Blog)

http://www.roxannerhoads.com/

January 17 Share My Destiny

http://sharemydestiny.blogspot.com

 

January 18 Urban Fantasy Investigations (Guest Blog)

https://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com

January 18 Lisa’s Loves Books of Course

http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

January 18 Supernatural Central (Interview)

http://supernaturalcentral.blogspot.com

January 19 SImply Kelina

http://simplykelina.blogspot.com/

January 19 Lisa’s World of Books

http://www.lisasworldofbooks.net/

January 22 Lisa-Queen of Random

http://www.Lisas2900.blogspot.com

January 22 Rabid Readers Book Blog

https://www.facebook.com/RabidReadersBookBlog

The Dark Proposal – 50% Off on Smashwords!

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abusive relationships, authors, book characters, book promotion, books, eBooks, explicit content, fiction, graphic content, NA, New Adult, New adult books, promotion, reading, Smashwords, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampires

Click here to purchase on Smashwords

I’m a little late in Smashwords’ summer promotion sales, but hey, better late than never!

My book, “The Dark Proposal” is 50% off the eBook site. This promotional sale will run until July 31st, before it goes back to its original price of $2.99.

If you’d like to purchase it on Smashwords, here is the promo code: SSW50

As you may know, “The Dark Proposal” is about a college graduate who thought she met perfect boyfriend, until he reveals to be a malicious vampire with a sinister proposal.

The book begins at the end of the summer, so this may be good timing!

Happy reading!

Well….Hey There!

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authors, books, eBooks, how to write a novel, Indie books, novelists, novels, paranormal, self-published authors, the writing process, urban fantasy, vampires, writers, writing

Hi everyone!

Gosh, its been such a long time. Maybe too long 🙂

It’s been a long while since I took a look at this blog, and its also been some time since I’ve been checking out my author platform elsewhere online.

Yikes, it feels so strange to see all of this now.

It used to feel like I was looking at a blog, or Twitter account or Facebook page that belonged to someone else. And to see my book on Goodreads was like seeing something from a past life.

But lately, seeing all this is like seeing an old friend. And maybe even like rediscovering an old part of myself that I’m excited to be in touch with again.

It’s been over a year since I announced that I was going to take a break from writing fiction. I had been having doubts about whether I wanted to continue with creative fiction, and I was feeling lost writing the sequel to “The Dark Proposal”. So I took a break, but I still flirted with the idea of writing fiction.

Starting last summer, the idea of writing “The Dark Proposal’s” sequel arose now and then. I was inspired by a couple of things, such as a song by Evanescence and a few personal experiences. In January this year, I realized what the sequel could really be about, and what kind of person Claire would be in her second story. At that point, the character of Claire McCormick began to finally slowly take shape, as well as the other characters.

I felt as if I could finally see Claire and get to know her as a person. I began taking notes on her upbringing and her family life to better explain the person she was during “The Dark Proposal”. I had felt I could’ve done better in her character development, but I feel those notes greatly helped me form and shape her.

The same goes for Hilde, The Black Roses, Casames and even Daniel to some degree. I became to know them more through my note taking, and they appeared to be flesh-out human beings (despite being vampires 😉 ) who were as complex and flawed like anyone else. It was a joy to see them as this.

Finally, this past March, I checked out my book’s page on Goodreads, and saw – to my surprise – there was a new review! It had been a long dry spell of any ebook purchases, let alone reviews. So I was thrilled to see my book was still being read, 18 months after I had published.

Seeing that review, which was positive and displayed excitement for the sequel, gave me the final boost to get started on the second book of my long dormant trilogy.

Yes, I am going to work on the sequel to “The Dark Proposal”. And I am as happy as many are 🙂

However, it won’t be an overnight thing. I can estimate it will take me 2 or 3 years to get the sequel published for the world to read. That is because I already have a busy life (you may recall that I wrote my first book while unemployed with plenty of time to write), and also, there may be a chance that I’ll self-publish this book. I don’t know. I have to wait and see. Maybe I can get a small publishing house to do so.

But even more so, I am going to take my time writing this book. Before, I was kind of rushing to write, while probably triggered my writers’ block. But I want to do this slowly so I can produce a novel that I will be pleased with.

I also will writing this book much differently as compared to its predecessor. I see this book as being darker in tone and in emotion. I also see it getting more into Claire’s mind and heart, and also capturing the essence of the vampire world and what is at stake.

I’m starting to read short stories that have a goth tone to them. I’ve read “The Raven” a few times to absorb its goth prose, and now I’m scouring for other goth literary pieces to get an idea on the tone I will be needing for this sequel.

I may even tweak a few things or mention somethings that should’ve been mentioned in the first book.

Basically, a lot in the sequel will reflect “The Dark Proposal”, but there will also be quite a few changes because of my new approach as a writer, writing this trilogy.

So, slowly but surely, I will be writing the sequel to “The Dark Proposal”. When I complete and what I’ll do with the final product is so far off that I am not really thinking about it. Just learning and growing as I write this. I have great ideas for this story, and some things to say about the human experience. I won’t say what they are now – that will come later.

So, good to see you all again! I will probably blog twice a month, just to keep everyone updated and to talk about my developments as a writer.

But until then, it is good to be back, and I look forward to taking you all on this journey with me, and I can’t wait to speak to everyone all over again!

Cheers! ~ Megan Cashman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie Review: The Mortal Instruments – City of Bones

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Jamie Campbell-Bower, movie reviews, movies, The Mortal Instruments, The Mortal Instruments City of Bones, urban fantasy

I was interested in seeing “The Mortal Instruments – City of Bones” when it first released earlier this year. I was curious about it’s urban fantasy theme with human-angel hybrids with some vampires thrown in, so I watched it on Netflix this week.

Click for the film’s page on IMDB

Now, I’ve never read the books, so I may be missing out on what “The Mortal Instruments” is all about. But at the same time, I felt the first half of the movie moved too fast. The scenes ran quickly and I felt as if a lot was thrown in. I understand the first book of the series is long, so to squeeze a thick book into a two hour movie is always a challenge. But I wish things went slowly at this part.

I really liked the whole human-angel hybrids hunting demons, but I felt it wasn’t developed enough. While Jace, played by Jamie Campbell-Bower was telling Clary, played by Lily Collins, to never trust anyone, I felt that idea could’ve been expanded more because I got curious on what it is like to not know who is a demon or not. I also liked Clary learning more about who she is, but it was rushed and hard to absorb that way. The possible romance between Clary and Jace was kind of forced to me, as well as Simon and Clary. I liked learning about Clary’s mother, portrayed by Lena Headey who also appears in “Game of Thrones”, and how she fled Clary’s father, Valentine, played by Jonathan Rhys-Myers.

But overall, I felt the movie wasn’t developed enough and I wasn’t sure if I understood everything. I thought there was too much of an emphasis on Clary and Jace. I mean, if the story was really about defeating Valentine and having Clary understand who she is, why all the YA romance that was never meant to be anyway? Probably because Jamie Campbell-Bower is popular with teen girls (Although I have to admit he is good eye-candy).

I don’t know if Jace and Clary are really brother and sister. I heard they actually are not, but if they are, yeah incest is twisted, but Clary’s mother did it in a past life (wink, wink on that Game of Thrones reference)!

I will see the sequel because I like the angel-demon world that is largely invisible to ours. The fight scenes are awesome and the acting is pretty good. However, does Jonathan Rhys-Myers play the same character in all his projects?

 

 

Why My Vampires Are The Way They Are

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fictional characters, paranormal, scientific explanation, traditional vampires, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampire novels

No two vampires are the same. What I mean by that is, it seems like vampires in each book, movie or TV show have their own appearances, powers, and blood drinking requirements. Sometimes these characteristics are based on folklore (the Eastern European of the vampire has had a big influence on how we see vampires these days) or at times, the author creates their own version (I never heard of vampires sparkling before “Twilight”).

Click here for original Flickr image

So I say it is safe to say writers of vampire stories got their ideas from various sources – as did I. In this post, I will discuss where the characteristics of my vampires in my book, “The Dark Proposal”, came from.

Firstly, let me lay out what those characteristics are:

• very pale skin that turns into a healthier tone after feeding,
• the ability to read minds and erase thoughts,
• move at a very quick speed (think True Blood),
• turn into mist,
• no need to sleep in coffins,
• being able to walk around in daylight or even overcasts after many centuries,
• superhuman physical strength,
• heightened hearing and seeing,

Some of my vampires also have difficulty stopping themselves from consuming blood from a person, which leads to suspicious deaths among humans.

So how did I come up with these traits? Allow me to explain:

Very pale skin that turns into healthier tone after feeding: Almost white skin I think is one of the hallmarks of a vampire. Having one without pale skin is like not giving a vampire fangs. It also comes from Slavic folklore that a vampire was spotted by its pale skin that turned ruddy after feeding. Plus, for my trilogy, there needs to be something suspicious about their appearance. Without the skin issue, there’s no hint that something is off someone.

The ability to read minds and erase thoughts: Many vampires have done this and I think it can come from the heightened senses these undead creatures have. If they can hear and see things humans cannot see, why not human thoughts? And since I have my vampires inherit supernatural abilities, why not also erase human thoughts if necessary? If you are wondering why my vampires do not hypnotize people, like Dracula did or the vampires on True Blood, well, I did think about that. But it wouldn’t have worked for my book. If Daniel was able to make Claire say and do things through hypnosis, then my story had no point, would be boring, be done in 50 pages, with the whole idea down the drain. Plus, I didn’t want my vampires to be too much like their True Blood counterparts.

Speaking of True Blood…

Move at a very quick speed: Honestly, I gave my vampires this skill because I think it is so cool to see them zip around a room in a blink of an eye. Also, when I wrote the scene where Daniel proved to Claire that he’s a vampire, I just had to have him to do that. It worked so perfectly.

Turn into mist: Comes in handy, basically. I loved the 1992 flick, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” by Francis Ford Coppola, and the way it showed Dracula turning into green mist. While the mist in stories aren’t green, it is still a fascinating ability to have. It adds to the mystery and fear of the vampire.

Click here for original image

No need to sleep in coffins: I really didn’t like the idea of a vampire sleeping in a coffin, even if it is basically a dead creature. It was just too archaic for me. I was also inspired by one of my favorite vampire books as a young teen, Christopher Pike’s “The Last Vampire” series. His vampire heroine, Sita, didn’t use a coffin and slept in a bed like anyone else.

Which leads to the next trait inspired by Mr. Pike’s books…

Being able to walk around in daylight or even overcasts after many centuries: This was something Sita was able to do, although not every single day since the sun would exhaust her after a while. I also had always wondered if a vampire could walk around during a cloudy, rainy day. After all, there is no sun to fry him, right? But I do think being able to deal with some sunlight is best for more mature vampires because age does make them stronger. At least for mine.

Superhuman physical strength: Because my vampires got their traits from ancient tribal gods, why wouldn’t they have the power and strength of those deities? Same goes for heightened hearing and seeing. Vampires are supposed to be, to me at least, creatures that we fear. We fear them not simply because they can kill or torment us, but because they have the supernatural ability to hunt us down easily, get us to do things other humans aren’t able to, and go mostly unnoticeable in everyday life. It’s hard to fear something or someone who isn’t two notches stronger or skilled than you.

Lessons One Year Later: Marketing & Promotions

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authors, books, eBooks, marketing, New Adult, novels, paranormal, promotions, self-published authors, self-published books, self-publishing, urban fantasy, vampires

As summer came to a close earlier this week and the first fall chills came over the area where I live, I realized something: this month will be one year since I self-published my first book.

Wow! A whole year has gone by since I officially became an author! It was my life-long dream to publish a book and I finally did it last year. I was thrilled and excited when I got the email on the morning of September 14th from Amazon Kindle, telling me “The Dark Proposal” was live. A new era in my life had begun.

But I had much to learn about being an author, publishing books and getting the attention of readers worldwide. And I think I still do. Although I researched like crazy on how to promote my book, I was not sure if I was doing it right. There seemed to be a million different ways to do promotions and marketing, and some I wasn’t so sure would work but tried anyway.

Here’s what I’ve learned about marketing and promotions, one year later:

Blurbs are so important: Duh, right? Blurbs give readers a summary of what the book is about, while using the correct words to lure the readers into at least reading the preview. I thought I had a good idea on what was a good blurb, but boy was I wrong! I actually rewrote my blurb a few times after my book’s release once I realized that a few words made “The Dark Proposal” sound like a paranormal romance, something is definitely is not (one reader has called it the “anti-Twilight’). I was embarrassed that I probably misled my audience and I totally regret not having my blurb checked with my editor. Lesson learned, painfully learned.

Choose the right sample to display: When I did my blog tour upon my book’s release, I chose the first chapter to be used as a sample. I wanted to show potential readers what kind of person Claire was, what motivated her to first speak to Daniel, and what kind of person he was when he first appears. I figured this way people would have a good understanding on what was going on, and understand Claire before all hell broke loose, plus not give away any spoilers. But I think I should’ve gone with a different scene then. I realize now that any sample I use needs to give the reader a good idea of what the whole book entails, not a more innocent time. The sample I use now is enough to show who Claire is, as well as what goes on in the story.

Social media is not the only way to promote: So many self-published authors say promoting your book on social media is the best way to spread the word about it. That maybe true for some, but I didn’t sell numerous copies on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. I got some buzz on my blog tour, which was only for five days. But nothing stellar happened. So when some author swears social media is the best way to sell books, be skeptical. Especially when they say to flood Twitter with the same tweets every 15 minutes saying “buy my book! buy my book!” I never did that, thankfully, because I saw a few authors do that before I released my book and saw how tasteless it was. Oh yeah, no DMs on Twitter when you get new followers.

Be careful who you ask to help promote your book: Because I so dearly wanted word to spread about my book, I searched for various avenues to do that. I found some indie book promo company – if that’s the right word – that promised to tweet indie books for a whole month and feature it on its website for a fair price of $20. So I signed up and paid, but nothing came of it. Even worse, the tweets they did were embarrassing. The tweets included the line, “not your grandmother’s vampire story!” Oh boy. I asked for them to change it, since after all I was paying them. They were a little reluctant but they finally did. So that was $20 wasted. Learn from me: research like crazy to make sure anyone who can help promote your book will actually do a good job and be worth every penny.

Be flexible when it comes to giveaways and free days: Even though I signed up for the Amazon KDP Select, which allows five free days, I was reluctant to give my book away for free. I had worked hard on it and I wanted some compensation for all the money I spent editing, getting a book cover, copyrighting, etc. But when I read about how free days and giveaways can help spread the word about your book, I gave in. For the sake of Halloween, I made “The Dark Proposal” free on Amazon on October 30th and 31st. Whoa, did I get a response! This is when I got the vast majority of my downloads. I was amazed and excited to see my book do so well. I saw a boost in sales this past June when I re-released “The Dark Proposal” – sans typos – and had it on sale for 99 cents. These days my book is back at $2.99 on both Amazon and Smashwords, and I’ll put it on sale again soon. Hey, this is the sacrifice self-published authors have to make. We all want to see our work and investments pay off, but that’s a tough road. You have to gain an audience, and sometimes in order to do that, you need to be flexible on how readers can get your book. If selling it for 99 cents or for free does the trick, then so be it. If all goes well, you wouldn’t need to do that for long.

So that is what I’ve learned from marketing and promoting “The Dark Proposal” one year later. I had read a lot of author blogs on how to do this, mainly from author Catherine Ryan Howard on her superb blog, Catherine Caffeinated (please check it out, she’s great!). But a lot of it I had to learn on my own. Granted, I’m the type of person who dives into a new task without reading the directions properly, which is a bit of a personal flaw of mine. But I’ve learned a lot. Some of the things I did right I’ll apply again the next time. As for the others, hell no!

Character Interview: Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez

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book characters, fictional characters, interviews, New adult books, paranormal books, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampires

When my book was released in September, I went on a blog tour via Dark Mind Blog Tours (now Dark World Books) One of the stops I went on, KY Bunnies, requested that I do a character interview. At first I wasn’t sure how to do it because of the dark overtones in my book. But then I decided to interview two secondary characters – Claire McCormick’s roommates and close friends, Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez. Good choice because it avoided to potential gloominess if I had interviewed another character.

I ended up having a lot of fun with this interview, especially since those two have distinct personalities that are fun to watch/read.

So, without further ado, here is that interview:

Q: Great to meet you Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez! Okay, tell us about yourselves, and how you became friends with Claire McCormick?

Samantha: Claire, Monica and I met during our first year at Richmond College, which is on Staten Island in New York City. The three of us hit it off right away, though I’m not so sure how.

Monica: (slight giggle) I think it’s because our personalities simply clicked. Even though we’re different in a lot of ways, we also benefit and learn from each other.

Samantha: Yeah, Monica is the quiet one, Claire is in-between, and some people say I can be loud. Anyway, we became friends in college and right before we graduated, we three realized we didn’t want to go back living with our parents and regress into children. We wanted to be adults so we got ourselves an apartment not far from the college and moved in together.  It was really awesome that our landlords took us in because we were college graduates without full time jobs, but I guess they needed whatever help they could get to pay their mortgage.

Q: Signs of the times, I suppose?

Samantha: You’re not kidding. Neither one of us could get a full time job after we graduated. Monica substituted a lot, but she was going for her master’s in education at Richmond. But Claire and I could not get real jobs for the life of us. I studied finance, but I got stuck bartending four days a week. Claire majored in English Writing, but kept working part-time in the English department that had lousy pay.

Monica: She also did some freelancing, but it wasn’t easy for her.

Samantha: We argued so many times. There was so much stress going on.

Q: When the fall semester began, Claire met Daniel Bertrand, who was an adjunct professor at Richmond. It began with him helping her getting more freelance work but then it turned into something more.

Samantha: Yeah, we thought it would be cool for her to go out with him. He was hot looking, rich and successful. Why not?

Monica: He was a really cool guy when they first dated. He was friendly and a real gentleman. He also made her smile a lot back then.

Samantha: (rolls eyes) Back then.

Q: When did you notice something was wrong with their relationship?

Monica: Thanksgiving Day. Claire was all dazed and withdrawn. She said she got into a nasty fight with Daniel the night before. She also even asked me a weird question about vampires.

Samantha: It was all downhill from there. First they broke up, and then she accused Daniel of assaulting her before their break-up. He didn’t seem to be the type who would hurt someone, but you never know.

Monica: Then she got back with him which didn’t make any sense to us.

Samantha: We tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn’t hear it. She even said she made up the part about Daniel hitting her, which was bizarre.

Q: It wasn’t long after Claire got back with Daniel that she moved in with him.

Samantha: Boy, did that come without warning! I mean, we knew they were talking about moving in together before they broke up. But after they got back together, almost right away did she begin packing up! I got the impression Daniel made a “my way or no way” type of deal, and for some reason, Claire went along.

Q: Was this normal of her?

Samantha & Monica: No!

Monica: She actually was never that strong. She was never a doormat, but she did have weaknesses that she needed to work on. I also think there was something about Daniel that we couldn’t put our finger on.

Samantha: Well, we kind of did. The night he came to get Claire’s things was like seeing the real Daniel, or part of it. He came across as cold and calculating, nothing like the nice guy we knew before. He and I almost got into an argument, but I outsmarted him.

Monica: I was really worried about her when she left that night. It was like she was afraid to say no to Daniel, and was heading for something we couldn’t get her out of.

Q: Have you spoken to her since?

Samantha: We’ve spoken once or twice on the phone. She sent us a few emails, sent us photos of her in Paris, where Daniel took her for some romantic vacation. But we have yet to meet up.

Monica: It’s really sad that our friendship came to a sudden end like that.

Samantha: Sad? I’m pissed. But I don’t know what to do. It’s Claire’s life, her decision. We told her we would be there for her. I hope she never forgets that.

Q: Thank you ladies for giving this interview.  I hope everything works out for Claire.

Samantha: Don’t worry. I don’t think this is the end of everything for her. Really, I just don’t.

Latest News on “The Dark Proposal”

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eBooks, Indie books, Kindle, NA, New Adult, paranormal, self-published books, Smashwords, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampire novels, vampire trilogies, vampires

Here is the latest updates on my novel, The Dark Proposal.

First off, it is finally available on Smashwords! I was free to upload it on that site on December 12th, after my time with KDP Select was over, but life got in the way. But it is finally there to be downloaded to Nook, Kobo, Apple and all the other eReaders. It’s only $2.99 and offers a 15% sample!

Also, you may have noticed a slight change to the information regarding The Dark Proposal on Goodreads and Amazon. Originally, I referred to this book as the first in The Claire McCormick Trilogy – but all the while, I wasn’t comfortable with that name. I always thought The End of Eternity would be better, but also thought it might give away how the trilogy turns out. I even considered that title for the third and final book, but I don’t think that can be done.

That’s the thing about doing trilogies or a series – the name has to represent all the books involved, of course. And having the collection share the same name as the final book doesn’t make much sense. The Twilight Saga got it’s name from the first book of the series – that is why it’s not called The Breaking Dawn Saga.

I don’t know, I just planned that the final book will be called The End of Eternity, and in my mind it still works. But I also have ideas for what that book can be called. Yeah, I know what you are thinking – I should’ve figured this all out before I ever published The Dark Proposal. Believe me, I’m banging my head against the top of a table right now.

It was just that I knew calling my trilogy The Claire McCormick Trilogy did not work, because that implies the books are all about Claire and her life. While she is the main character of the trilogy, it is not all about her; the vampires are just as important. So The End of Eternity works, it sounds better, and I don’t cringe when I see the other name on Goodreads or Amazon.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a good title for Book #3. Right now, I am certain Book #2 will be called Blood Ties. It definitely works, and I’m thinking about posting the opening scene someday to get all of you excited for the follow-up to The Dark Proposal!

But until then, let me work on it and I’ll keep you posted on how the writing is going 🙂

New Excerpt from “The Dark Proposal”

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Book excerpt, eBooks, excerpt, horror, literature, October, paranormal, scary stories, scary story, urban fantasy, vampires

Still thinking about reading my urban fantasy book, The Dark Proposal?

There’s a new excerpt to be read and it could be found at Mywithshins for Susan’s October dedication to scary stories. If you are writing or have something published that falls under the scary story genre, feel free to contact Susan to see if she’ll feature you. She’s very approachable and enthusiastic about this homage to October, so don’t hesitate to ask!

It’s a short excerpt, but unlike the one used for my blog tour last month, this excerpt is taken from the middle of the story – where everything is different for Claire and Daniel.

 

What’s In A Name? Tidbits on “The Dark Proposal”

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book characters, eBooks, Kindle, name meanings, names, novels, paranormal, tidbits, urban fantasy, vampires

I’ve always wanted to do a post about the tidbits and little things about my  book, “The Dark Proposal”. It’s just an opportunity to share with others with what went into creating this story and its characters.

I was reading an article on the Huffington Post about some old fashioned names making a comeback, and that made me want to talk about how I came up with the names of my characters. Names are fun to discuss for some people, so here we go:

Claire McCormick: main character
Meaning:  “Bright”
Reason Behind Name: When I picked the name for my main character, I wanted it to be related to vampirism and her journey through the vampire world. Since Claire is related to the word, “clarity”, there is a sense that the main character will not be a dimwit during “The Dark Proposal”, nor the two follow-ups I am working on now. Also, Claire means “bright” which brings up thoughts of light, and vampires are rarely out in the sunlight, so there’s the vampire connection. Furthermore, her Irish last name, McCormick, means “son of Cormac” an Irish name that means “raven”. Ravens have dark connotations, perfect for this urban fantasy book. Also, McCormick has the family motto, “without fear”, which also works in this tale.

Trivia bit: Claire’s original last name was not McCormick but Maguire, which means “white” – hence vampirism! I had to change the surname when I discovered there is a Claire Maguire in Great Britain who is a rising indie singer. Not wanting anything to go wrong, I changed the last name.

Daniel Bertrand, neè Poncher: second main character, Claire’s boyfriend turned vampire-tormentor
Meaning: God is my judge
Reason Behind Name: I wanted to make sure I was choosing a name that only reflected the character, but also was common even back in medieval France where Daniel originates. I did a little research and found that Daniel was a regular name among French men in the 1300s. That was perfect because I also didn’t want to have an entirely different name for this character when his true nature was revealed. A different last name was fine, but not a first name as well. By the way, Bertrand is a very common French surname, while Poncher was the surname of a Parisian bishop in the Middle Ages. I wanted a name from that era, and Poncher seemed to work.

Samantha DiCarlo: One of Claire’s two roommates
Reason Behind Name: Samantha is a vivacious person, and I think when we hear this name, we think of someone who is full of life and doesn’t mince words. Claire’s roommate/best friend doesn’t. For her last name, I gave Samantha a simple one, DiCarlo, so no one unfamiliar with the pronunciation of certain Italian names, would not be confused.

Monica Alejandrez: Claire’s other roommate
Reason Behind Name: I didn’t want a name too popular among Hispanics, like Sofia or Isabella, or too stereotypical, like Maria. I saw Monica was common among this group, so that was a good choice. For her last name, however, I was insistent on not giving her a too common Hispanic surname, such as Diaz, Hernandez or Rodriguez. To give her one of those names would take away her individuality and kind of allow her to be stereotyped as just another Latina. When I came across the surname Alejandrez among the list of Mexican Olympians during the 2008 Beijing Games, I knew it was perfect. Monica became her own person that way.

Ava McCormick: Claire’s infant niece and goddaughter
Reason Behind Name: Besides Ava being a popular name in the United States these days, it also means “life”. I think that is perfect given the circumstances the baby’s Aunt Claire faces in “The Dark Proposal” and will face in the two follow-ups. There is a sense of irony to have someone with the name meaning “life” in a book about vampires, but it will work out in the end.

As for the other characters, there wasn’t much thought given to their names. The two vampires who created Daniel – Hilde and Michel – were created on a whim, though I wanted the female to be German because I felt there were too many French overtones in this book (I am a bit of a Francophile, that’s why). As for the names of the other vampires, Antonius, Carys and Yvette, also on a whim.

When it came to Claire’s family, I wanted names that reflected the times they were born in. Her parents, Frank and Judith, are in their mid-fifties, so those names were common in their day. Claire’s older brother, Zachary, has name popular with boys born in the late 1980s. Same with Kristina, Claire’s sister-in-law, though I wanted to put a twist to it and use “K” instead of “Ch”.

Oh, if you are wondering about where on earth I got the names of the Five Brothers, the original vampires, well sometimes a little creativity can come in handy! 🙂

So, that is a behind-the-scenes look at my novel, and a chance for me to talk about names because I am so fascinated with name meanings and how they relate to the people who have them. I may do this again with all my future books! 🙂