Birthing A Story

It's 44 degrees and snowing, go figure. Five minutes ago the sun was out. Welcome to spring in the Northwest.

I recently sold a new story to Loose ID which has spawned a spin off and probably another after that. This fascinates me because I'm not known for tie-ins, but this particular process feels natural. Quite possibly no one gives a fig (my grandmother's term) about how Storm Howl came to be and what is happening to Wind Howl as I write it, but I'm intrigued so unless you click out of here, you're going to get to follow along.

As best I can remember, the muse woke up while I was reading a newspaper article about the return of wolves to Oregon. They are thriving in Idaho and it was only a matter of time before they started crossing the border. I've written nonfiction articles about the pros and cons of re-establishing wolves where they'd been hunted into extinction (and no, I'm not going to jump onto any soapbox here although I'm tempted). Between my professional need to stay on top of the situation and my long-running fascination with the predators, I put down the newspaper and started asking myself questions. The primary one was how could I incorporate the wolves' return into an erotica story. I wanted to steer clear of werewolves and shapeshifters because there are so many thus themed stories on the market. At the same time, I felt drawn to their mystique and larger than life reputation. How can I exploit those qualities, I pondered. On top of that came the vital question of where to set my story. Obviously it needed to take place in the wilderness, but I wanted the setting to resonate both with readers and myself. Well, as someone who lives within sight of the wilderness, that didn't take much work. I settled on a spot less than fifty miles from here that both draws visitors and provides employment both for Forest Service personnel and loggers. The river also does some incredible things there thanks to an ancient lava flow.

Wolves and setting dispensed with, I needed some characters. It was no stretch to choose a hero who has spent his entire life in the woods, an outdoorsman who understands its appeal and dangers. Ah yes, danger. Gotta have a spark of that. Because of something that happened in those woods, he has a love/hate relationship with the wilderness. Next I went in search of a heroine, setting on a woman I felt would initially be my hero's opposite. She isn't at home in the wilderness. This isn't her turf, and she doesn't believe she could ever understand it.

Enter the wolves. Okay, call them a plot device, but I've been having a ball putting my mysterious and mystical wolves in the role of facilators. Via them, my characters break down their emotional barriers. Not only to they confess their insecurities, even their fears and disappointments to each other, they learn more about themselves in the process. Bottom line, the Howl series is going to be about emotional journeys which I love.

And because this is Loose-ID and erotica, they're going to have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.
Vonna
www.VonnaHarper.com