Nearly three years ago, I decided to change genres. I had eleven published Historical Romances, but I desperately wanted to write a Paranormal Contemporary Romance. I just needed a little inspiration to get me started since this was a big change for me. No, let’s make that a huge change, because switching genres has been way more difficult than I ever imagined it could be and I’ve rewritten this book more times than I care to remember. The idea was there, but the change in writing style has not been easy for me.
Just about anything from a line in a song to a tree in a field can inspire an idea for a book in my head. But, before I can actually start writing I always need to have a clear image of what my hero will look like, because when I write I become my heroine in my mind. So, all of my emotions, desires, and feelings of undying love will be only for this very special man. He has to be perfect for the part. Once I can envision him clearly, then I can begin to imagine how my heroine should look, too. Luckily for her, I’m only her in heart, spirit and soul; she doesn’t have to look like me, so she gets to be young and beautiful. Ha! Ha!
I don’t really remember where I first found the picture of this man, but the moment I saw him, I knew he was Mateo Two Moons, the virile Apache vampire hero in my new manuscript. Every time I’ve stared at the pages of Superstition on my computer screen for the past several years, it has been this man’s dark, brooding and drop-dead gorgeous face that has driven every scene and emotion. I learned his name only a week ago…Filip Gustavsson. He will never know he has inspired some very sensuous love scenes and over three hundred pages of the most erotic book I’ve written to date. So, here’s to book heroes and to those gorgeous men whose pictures set my imagination on fire and motivate me to create an entire world of fantasy just from one glance at their dangerously handsome faces. What would I do without them? I sure hope I never have to find out.
Veronica Blake, Writer 