When I sat down to write the first Lords of the Underworld book, The Darkest Night, I knew that I wanted to write about the grim reaper, knew he had a group of friends and they lived in Budapest. Oh, yeah, and Pandora’s box would play a part. I got three chapters into the story – dying heroine determined to steal the box, hero supposed to take her soul to hell but can’t -- and realized I’d gone in the wrong direction. Nothing was working for me and every word had to be pulled from me (painfully). So I ditched those chapters and started over.
Before I tell you how the new chapters began to formulate in my mind, I’ll admit that I’m not a plotter. Usually I know only the bare bones about a story when I sit down to write it and everything falls into place as I progress. I realized, though, that I couldn’t do that with these new books. The complex world building would require some type of solid foundation on my part, right from the beginning. So I set out to get to know the warriors.I had to ask myself why Lucien, the incarnation of death, had been chosen to be a grim reaper, why he and his friends had isolated themselves in Budapest, who those friends where, why they hung around him, what purpose they served, and so on.
The answers delighted me. They had once been warriors to the gods but stole and opened Pandora’s box, unleashing the demons inside. The gods then cursed them to host a demon inside their bodies. Demons like Death, Violence, Lies, Misery, Doubt, Disease, Disaster, Wrath, Pain (and many more)
The warrior possessed by Violence fascinated me most.Maybe because he was the most tortured of all. Crazed by the demon, he killed Pandora and was given a second curse: to die every night as he killed her, only to awaken the next morning knowing he had to die again later. I was obsessed with him. I had to meet his heroine and witness his journey to happily ever after.
It was a book I couldn’t walk away from. I had to know what happened. When I finished, I finally got to write Death’s story (The Darkest Kiss) the way it needed to be told (as it turned out, his heroine was not a human, but was indeed marked for death. She’s the goddess of Anarchy, and his opposite in every way.
Old school meets new school and I’ve never had more fun with a story.) I followed that book with the warrior possessed by Pain and forbidden to know pleasure (The Darkest Pleasure). And now, I’m working on the fourth book in the series, Doubt’s story (The Darkest Whisper). His heroine is. . . unlike anyone I’ve ever written. I’m loving her! She’s just what he needed, though he had no idea he needed it LOL
I hope you’ll join me on this journey through the Underworld! For more information about the books, visit: http://www.lordsoftheunderworld.net/
Gena
http://www.genashowalter.com/
