At least once a week from now through the August 25th release of Dark Legacy and into September, we’ll be talking up dreams and dream symbols. Oh, and “partying” with my ongoing Dream Flutters scavenger hunt contest–look for a new post and new questions later today. Check back regularly to share in both. You never know what’s going to happen out here ;o) I’ll be spotlighted on Borders.com, running off on “blog” tour where new prizes await those who visit and comment on hosted sites, Dark Legacy will be spotlighted in the Romantic Times issue that hits newstands in August, and I’ll even have a special giveaway for those who visit me at a Barnes and Noble signing my publisher’s set up in Lincoln Center, of all places…
To start things off in our spiral into release-day mayhem… A topic I’m frequently asked and haven’t yet tackled in my Dream Theories blogs… Where exactly did the idea for Dark Legacy come from???
The original idea for Dark Legacy was based on the sibling rivalry between Dark Legacy’s twins, and how I could use their conflict to give readers a fresh look at the traditional themes of good vs. evil, light vs. dark, redeemable vs. forsaken. The symbols in the dream world that emerged (a parallel place that at first mirrored my characters’ realities, then overtook them, then began to weave a new existence for my twins where their brokenness could finally begin to be whole again) quickly took on marvelous lives of their own. My characters and plot and dream sequences and relationships were transported to a places I couldn’t have imagined when I first embarked on my “Legacy” series.
Sure I’d planned to use a raven and a haunted forest and recurring storms to play up the “dark” metaphor I was going after.
But it wasn’t until I dug into dream theory (a two-year journey, before I finally sold the series to Dorchester) and began to draft the first novel that the true power of what dreams could do for these characters became clear. Dark Legacywill be shelved in Paranormal Romance, but on the PR material my sales reps are using to pitch the book, they’re using terms like sci fi and fantasy and thriller and “boundary-defying”–because, well, the dreams took over and refused to recognize those boundaries I’d so carefully planned for my first stab at paranormal romance.
Suffice it to say, I believe now that anything I can dream I can make reality, at least between the covers of a manuscript. And, well, yeah, beyond them, too. Dark Legacyis the first manuscript that totally took the reins out of my hands and ran with the story. The world is bigger, the characters are more vivid and their journeys are more complicated and intertwined and magical than anything I’ve ever attempted. And the foundation I’ve laid for the sequel, Secret Legacy, (which I’ll be drafting between now and the end of October), and the future stories I’m already dreaming of for the “Legacy” series is an amazing thing. Why? I truly believe, it’s because my mind is more open now to the almost-reality happening around us every day.
Writing Dark Legacy brought back my childhood love for fantasy, and how I once daydreamed of larger-than-life and first tuned into the voices and other worlds floating around my mind (bwahahahaha). Seriously, writing with more of an edge in key scenes was a thrill, because some of my favorite contemporary authors don’t pull their punches when the going gets tough for their characters, and finally I didn’t have to, either. And I’ve been a sci fi fan since birth, if my mother’s to be believed, and her I am able to ramp up the uniqueness of my make-believe world by creating tools and scientific methods that don’t quite exist, yet somehow (hopefully) will feel all-too-real on page. And then there were the dreams…
This whole project is a dream-come-true for me, so it’s no surprise that I took to dream science like a hyperactive child in a candy store and mined for amazing imagery and explanations for the twists and turns in Dark Legacy’s plot.After all, how likely was it that I’d ever get to publish something this cool??? If that’s possible, there’s really nothing I couldn’t (and didn’t ;o) dream up for the story itself. It’s pretty amazing even to me as I go back to read key scenes that I am threading into Book 2’s design, how deeply my characters’ dream worlds became enmeshed in their realities. How destructive and healing and spooky and redeeming and lost and loving the relationships and the dreams that fueled them became.
Yes, my twins’ story could have been told without dream theory at its core. But then the beauty and vastness of their world and the possibility for all the other stories that can now bloom from Dark Legacy’sbeginning wouldn’t have happened. And I don’t think the Temple sisters’ experience would have swung from such heights to deep depths and back up again–truly, the possibilities for Secret Legacy are so bountiful I can barely contain them while I plan out a synopsis for my editor to use until she has the full manuscript.
Just like our lives could be lived without dreams to reflect back what’s most important and what’s yet to be dealt with and what’s holding us back or pushing us forward. But I’m not sure I’d really call that living. Our dreams and fantasies show us how to become larger than we are. They expand our limits and paint new realities for us to explore and break through boundaries we can’t see with the naked eye. Dreams are the journeys we want to take, sometimes the difficult paths we HAVE to take, that once conquered define all we’re meant to become. They are the promise that tomorrow can always be better and bigger and more fulfilling than today’s reality would have us believe.
Yes, Dark Legacy is a dream come true for me. Secret Legacy is already promising to surpass it’s “twin’s” capacity for surprising me. And it’s in the midst of promoting the former and writing the latter that I hope you will find and pursue and believe in your own “little” dreams. Because it’s the mysterious power of our own minds that sustains us through our own highs and lows and the various lulls in between. I’m a true believer now, as I hold an ARC of Dark Legacyin my hands and contemplate how the Legacy stories will continue… Some dreams really do come true, and some fantasy journeys were meant to live on, so we never forget that magic is truly possible in every life…
I think it is iteresting that you write Super Romances and yet you feel that “The world is bigger, the characters are more vivid and their journeys are more complicated and intertwined and magical than anything I’ve ever attempted.” Were you able to do that because you have written the Supers?
This may be a topic in one of your future blogs but I am curious as to what you think of lucid dreaming. Some sleep doctors believe that it doesn’t exist.
I seem to remember this book from somewhere.
I’m really looking for to this book. You’re such an inspiration!
Jenni
I can’t wait to read this story. Odd as that sounds coming from a dude who usually only reads plot-driven stories about tough dudes doing tough stuff.
I didn’t realize DARK LEGACY was to be the beginning of a series. Of all that I have read so far, it certainly has potential. I look forward to reading it.
I am so happy for you. You are holding the realization of your dream in your hand. It must be a truly wonderful feeling. Good luck with SECRET LEGACY.
So many people just dismiss their dreams. “oh it was just a dream, not real”. They are limiting themselves when they do that. We all need to folllow our dreams, think about what they mean and never dismiss them. Sometimes they are our guide to what we need to do. I know that many times I was at a crossroad in my life and my dreams helped me to make the right choice as to which way to go. Have a great day and hugs to all.
When I can remember them, I usually can understand where bits and pieces of real life entertwine with my dreams but I’ve never been able to use them for future inspiration or clues to what I should do. I think it’s wonderful that you can get so much inspiration from dreams.
I’ve had a couple of recurring dreams over the years, enough time to be able to build a couple of story lines. I’ve not done any thing with
them and probably never will, but I’ve seen that dreams can be used as
a basis for a story. These two would be contemporaries, one with a
sports theme and the other a medical.
Pat Cochran
Unfortunately most of my dreams seem to revolve around issues I’m having or worries and they come out in dreams.