Blood & Bones:
Some bonds are stronger than blood. When eighteen-year-old Ava and her boyfriend attend a party on campus, things turn from fun to deadly rather quickly. As Ava bleeds out on the concrete floor, the angel of death comes...only he’s not an angel. And he isn’t quite dead either. Cassius Aurelia finds a young college student fighting for her life on the floor of a frat house basement, and he can’t turn away. His bite will save her life, but it will also bring forth a litany of consequences for the both of them that neither may be ready for.
Blood & Bones is technically a prequel to my book In The Blood, which is the second book in my main series, the Forevermore Series. When I wrote my first book In The Cards, Ava was such a vibrant, vivid character in the story- even though she was a supporting character. I originally wrote In The Blood to be a reader magnet, but Ava needed her own book. Thus, In The Blood was published, and not long after, I knew Ava and Cas needed their own series. A spinoff series that followed these two throughout the years from the beginning.
Blood & Bones is an origin story, but it is also a story that is heavily inspired by the things I like to read, and the stories/characters I grew up watching. Characters like Buffy Summers, Dean Winchester, and even Xena. When I wrote In The Cards, I knew the elements I wanted to write about, and despite them all being different I knew somehow I'd make them work. And I think for me, that process of picking the ideas first and trying to mold a story around it is what helps frame my stories, my characters. I like to flip tropes, and like to blend things.
The Forevermore Series itself is a genre-blended series that mixes paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and historical romance into one long sweeping tale of love and immortality- it is built of interconnected standalones, and the Ava Crowley Vampire Slayer Series is the first spinoff in that world. I Goerge Lucas'd myself when I wrote In The Blood FIRST. In The Blood was my Stars Wars Original Trilogy, and suddenly I had a prequel to write, and I was terrified it was going to be the Phantom Menace. I was tied to what I'd already written, of course, In The Blood being the END of Ava and Cas's story and where they ultimately end up (although there are more Forevermore books coming, and they will show up there!) I knew I wanted to incorporate the night Cas bit Ava, Ava becoming a slayer. But the parts I wasn't sure how I was going to weave in were things like Ava and Mals relationship, the other hunters, the age gap romance between Ava & Dallas, and the murder mystery part combined with urban fantasy. Nevertheless, I threw them in the pot and turned the heat up, and out came Blood & Bones.
My writing tip is to think outside of the box. Write down all your ideas, even the ones you think won't work, and treat it like a prompt.
Ask yourself how you can flip the narrative. How can you look at it from another angle? There are hundreds of stories about brooding, dark, grumpy vampires who are possessive because they want to save the FMC, but what about a gentleman vampire who bakes, has a sense of humor, and is wracked with guilt over what he is, and the choices he's made? Writing prompts also help me sometimes, even if it is just to give me ideas of what I could mix into my cauldron of ideas.
Ariel Dawn grew up as an avid reader and is a creative soul. What started out as writing reviews for indie romance authors led to featuring quirky, stereotypical, and weird covers on her Instagram Wrong Turn Romance, which gave her the courage to finally decide to live her dream and become an author.
Ariel writes plot-driven paranormal romance and hopes to venture into fantasy and rom-com in the future. When she isn't writing, she can be found cosplaying, attending conventions, creating all sorts of artwork in her studio, or editing photos for her photography business. A self-professed geek and foodie, she loves hanging out with family and friends and playing video games and board games with her retro gamer husband.
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