Living in Two Worlds

Since announcing the release of The Fallen, the first novel in my second series, I've been asked if it's confusing to live in two worlds at once. While I tend to focus on one novel at a time during the writing process, I will alternate what I'm working on when I get to a logical stopping point. (When I finished the most recent editing phase of Sovereign, I then move onto the second novel in the Fallen series.) I find this clears my brain and keeps me from getting lazy while editing. It's not confusing to me at all. Different people, different situation, and different social (or magical) rules. Where I do struggle is with names. I find that I'm drawn to certain "sounds." Anna and Antonia. That one made it too far for me to correct. Most of the time, I'll catch the similarity and then go in and change one of the names.

However, if you ask me about Anna and Antonia, I can tell you about each individual. They'll all as real to me as you, my readers, are. To compound the creative craziness, I also dabble on two additional series you have not heard about and have sketched out novels in the Retribution series going years into the future. (Twenty years, to be exact.) Often, I'm so enamored by a character or a story line that I'll find myself writing chapters in books that are nowhere on the horizon. Take Ivan, for example, Richard's right hand man in Retribution turned Arthur's replacement in Contrition. He's got a great personality. He's quiet, loyal, honorable, and completely devoted to a young woman you may not meet for a couple of decades.