Many of these exterior entities are either manifestations or projections of what we fear. When we face our fears, when we accept the parts of us we don’t necessarily like, we become more “whole” (at the risk of using psychobabble), more complex, and more interesting.
As a writer, manifesting fears does two things -- one, it provides
a physicalization of what remains unnamed, helping me create a character and
therefore giving it a form that is more easily understandable than a
theory. For instance, when kids at
school tease my godchildren and tell them, “Santa doesn’t exist”, I remind
them, “Yes, Santa DOES exist. Santa is
the personification of giving. Every
time you give someone a gift from the heart, no strings attached, you ARE
Santa.”
Unpleasant stuff also exists.
Blood sacrifice has been around for centuries, and many of those
sacrificed didn’t choose to be the sacrifice.
Exploring the concept of immortal life through someone else’s blood sacrifice
-- vampirism -- is a way to go deep into the fears and the somewhat taboo
pleasures the power of taking someone else’s blood presents.
My protagonist in the Jain Lazarus series, which starts with HEX
BREAKER, is a practical, butt-kicking heroine who handles paranormal
anomalies. In this particular book, it’s
zombies. I am not a fan of zombie tales
-- don’t like reading them, don’t like watching them. Yet, BECAUSE they are one of the
manifestations that makes me squirm, I wanted to explore them in a book. I wanted to explore the different
possibilities involved in making a zombie - and in potentially curing one. I had to give Jain a previous high, personal
stake in the matter in order for her to have had the motivation to work on
these aspects. Both in HEX BREAKER, and
in the second book, releasing shortly, OLD-FASHIONED DETECTIVE WORK, the theme
of having one’s choices taken away and having to fight and take action to get
them back are central to the conflict.
We are afraid of losing choices -- that’s why elections have become so
important and contested. We want control
of our own destinies. Yet, since ancient
times, the concept of “other” having more power over us than we have over
ourselves, whether as a way to refuse responsibility or fight for what we want,
is deeply ingrained.
Setting the book on a film shoot came naturally. I worked backstage on Broadway and in film
and television for many years. My
paranormal romantic suspense, ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT (written as Annabel Aidan),
takes place almost entirely backstage at a Broadway show. I’ve worked on film shoots similar to the one
in HEX BREAKER - it was comfortable territory.
I used the comfort of a familiar setting to explore aspects of
human/non-human that were unfamiliar.
One of the exciting things about being a writer is that, once you
start personifying these ideas and ideals, they evolve into complex and
interesting individuals. Billy Root, the
actor who’s always the “sidekick” wound up being more complex and interesting
than I ever expected, and with hidden talents revealed during the book. Originally, I toyed with the idea of having
Billy or Nick, the lead actor, be Jain’s main foil in the book. However, Wyatt walked in, and it was all
over. The chemistry between Jain and Wyatt
is undeniable, and only builds throughout the series. Billy, however, became a fan favorite. He’s got his own blog now (http://billyrootblogs.wordpress.com),
and is central to the third book in the series, CRAVE THE HUNT, where he really
comes into his own.
Writing is about exploration, about manifestation, about
discovery, and about learning what makes us human -- even when what teaches us
isn’t.
Bio:
Devon Ellington is a full-time writer, who publishes under a half
a dozen names in both fiction and non-fiction, and teaches writing all over the
world. Her Jain Lazarus Adventures are
handled by Solstice Publishing (http://hexbreaker.devonellingtonwork.com)
and her romantic suspense novel, ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT (as Annabel Aidan) is out
with Champagne Books. “Sea Diamond”,
featuring Fiona Steele, is included in the DEATH SPARKLES anthology, released
in Fall 2012. She’s published hundreds
of stories, articles, speeches, and scripts throughout her career, and is on
the Board of Directors at the Cape Cod Writers Center. Visit her blog on the writing life, Ink in My
Coffee (http://devonellington.wordpress.com)
and her website, www.devonellingtonwork.com.
HEX BREAKER BLURB:
Hex Breaker Jain Lazarus joins the crew of a cursed film, hoping
to put to rest what was stirred up before more people die and the film is
lost. Tough, practical Detective Wyatt
East becomes her unlikely ally and lover on an adventure fighting zombies,
ceremonial magicians, the town wife-beater, the messenger of the gods, and
their own pasts.
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