Snowflake - Writing A Series By The Seat Of My Pants - Cynthia Sax

Snowflake, my Christmas story for 2012, is the third story of a trilogy about the fairy killing Christmas demon (Nerva, the hero). All of the stories (Bitsy’s Christmas Demon, Clothing Optional, and Snowflake) can be read on their own. When read together, however, readers see the terrible things Nerva has done and why he questions whether or not he deserves love.

Being a pantser (a writer who writes by the seat of her pants, with no plot decided upon before she starts writing), I had no idea how this series would end until I wrote Snowflake. This process is fun yet scary. The first two stories had been published. What if Nerva died? Or worse, what if he couldn’t be stopped?

But the flipside is… I couldn’t wait to write Snowflake. I wanted to learn more about Nerva. I wanted to meet the female who would love a bad, bad demon like Nerva. I wanted to find out how it ended. This ended up as my favorite story of the series. Both the heroine and hero are deliciously bad and wonderful together.

SNOWFLAKE
By Cynthia Sax
Now Available From Changeling Press

Merry is the manufacturing plant slut. The Christmas Fairy performs her unofficial duties as a Santa's Helper on her back, bringing holiday cheer to the hard-working elves.
Nerva is the ancient demon known as the fairy killer. He pulls the wings off fairies, searching for a cure to his age-inflicted madness.
When bad meets bad, Christmas miracles happen.

Buy It Now At:  http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1959

Pants or No Pants...

WHAT? Oh dear! Can somebody please tell me where that came from? Pants or no pants indeed! Well, I suppose we should continue on and find out if this post has anything to do with pants. I thought it was going to be about inspiration since I was recently asked where I get the inspiration for my characters; whether I use people I know, or create characters I might want to be… The truth is, my characters seem to find me! Sometimes I will see aspects of people I know in them but the characters are definitely their own individuals. A scene might flash into my head or I may hear someone say something, have a person walk by and the way they are swinging their arm… Whatever it is, it will stick in my head and, before I know it, there’s a story forming.

“Arms of an Angel” began with the first sentence just popping into my head. That sentence is “Claire wasn’t exactly the type of girl a guy would normally choose to take home to meet Mamma.” I visualized this woman sitting in the passenger seat of the guy’s car, but that’s all I got until later in the day when the dots began to connect. Now, I am what they call a pantser – I write by the seat of my pants. (ah! There it is...the pants!!!) I don’t use an outline and I don’t always know where the story is going. The characters tell me their story, though I often know the ending well before I get there. Sometimes, as in the case of “Arms of an Angel”, I have to put aside what I am working on and go ahead and write at least part of the story that is knocking to be let out. These characters can be so demanding that sometimes it's hard to tell who is wearing the pant!

website: LindaBoulanger.com

blog: Writers Shelf Life