Why I Wrote Blood Thirst

Someone asked me why I wrote Blood Thirst.  My immediate answer was, "because I'm a writer" but really its much more than that.  You see, sometimes there is no option.  I HAVE to write.  A story, a character, a situation builds and builds in my head until it has to come out.  It's that simple.

Blood Thirst was my answer to a dream I had about an old black guy tooling around Charleston in a beautifully refurbished 1957 Chevy, candy apple red and white and those big fins.  Don't as me the model, I don't know, but it was a cool car, and that's what started the story.  I had no idea who this old black guy was and as I let him invade my mind he told me his name and his backstory and then he became a vampire.

From there the story grew to include Ainjul and Matthew, but honestly Elijah was the original character of Blood Thirst.

When I wrote him, I painstakingly researched the Gullah language.  I wrote it very precisely and it was the first thing my editor had me change.  She said, "the average reader will not take the time to read this."  And I had to admit, she was correct.  So using the examples she sent me, Elijah's Gullah dialect became instead plain ole "Southern".

An exciting fact about Blood Thirst is that I had sent a copy to Anne Rice.  Her vampire stories inspired me, (and I'm sure she inspired a LOT of vampire authors) and I DID mention her books in my book, my character, Ainjul, actual reads The Vampire Lestat.   Anyway, my agent at the time was representing Katherine Ramsland  (She wrote the biography of Anne Rice. )  My agent had made a trip to New Orleans and had stayed at Anne Rice's home.  She called to tell me that my book, Blood Thirst, was on the nightstand in the guest bedroom.  Boy, that was such a thrill to know that not only had Anne Rice received the book, she had it on the nightstand!  I have to laugh today... she probably didn't read it, LOL.  But one never knows.