Inspiration

I love fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast is probably one of my favorites. Last November I wrote a book called The Looking Glass. It's the story of a girl who gets into the world where fairy tales actually took place. At the time I knew I wanted to take things further with my kingdom of Aeroth, but I had no clue what I was going to do. Were other kids going to get into Aeroth and discover things about themselves and build character, or what? I thought about rewriting some fairy tales, but decided against that. Cameron Dokey has already done a marvelous job with that - how on earth could I compete???? I figured it out. I'm not even sure where the idea came from, but on Sunday I wondered, "How long was the Beast in the castle before Belle came? And what did he do?"
That was just the beginning. After a long drive from the Denver area back up here to Steamboat (lots of time to think!) I couldn't wait to get down to business and work on a series. The Kings of Aeroth. I'm so excited about it! The Looking Glass is going to be a prequel to the series. My focus is going to be on the GUYS in the fairy tales. And it's been tons of fun so far! A lot of work, though. I've found that it's hard to
1. Get into a guy's part. How on earth do guys think? Most of my books are about girls.
2. Figure out the Beast. His history (the way I see it) kinda helps me understand his character, but he is SO moody and unpredictable
3. Stay in Aeroth. Because the Beast is such a rebellious teen and has so many issues, I find it easier to put him in a modern-day earth sort of setting. It's hard to keep him in Aeroth... speaking the way he should speak, etc.
Another thing that I'm doing that I never did before is to write in first person. Several authors that I have read say that this is difficult. In some ways it is. But in many ways it's easier. I just have to focus on being one character (yeah... I actually have to BE the character for it to work out.) With The Looking Glass it was sometimes hard to have to get so familiar with so many people. I had to know the way they were on the INSIDE to make it translate to the OUTSIDE. Working on the Beast's story, I still have to know some of that, but what's going to come out in my writing is the appearance of things... the way the Beast perceives Belle, her father, his family, etc.
Anyhow... now that you're all bored to tears, I'll wrap this up. =D