Released from prison to find a murderer, a prison-hardened Varek Leale is convinced no woman deserves the man he’s become, but his Aeveren destiny makes him succumb to sweet and sexy Callia Reynolds. To catch a murderer, he and Callia must find an Aeveren with the power to control time. But Amon Kalins isn’t a man to trifle with, and when he wants something, he’ll use his powers, devastating charm, and good looks to get it.
When Amon manipulates time and seduces her away, Varek must turn to the people who set him free for help to get her back. But the Council doesn’t do anything without requiring something in return, and what they want is Amon Kalins, one of the most powerful Aeveren ever. Varek will do what he must to capture Amon and find Callia. If he doesn’t, she’ll be lost to him for untold lifetimes.
Writing Stolen Destiny was a labor of love for me. I fell in love with the characters the minute they came to life on the page. However, I quickly found that because my Aeveren lived many lives through reincarnation and remembered their past lifetimes, the typical POV structure for romance novels was insufficient and would have resulted in a 500 page book. The necessity to keep each scene only one point of view while trying to relay a relatively large story just wouldn't work. After editing as much as possible, I was still left with scenes that fell flat because they were only from the hero's or heroine's POV.
At that point, I decided that the POV style popular with romance novels had to go. I needed something more. Cue Nora Roberts. If you've ever read Nora Roberts' books, you know that she doesn't use the typical romance POV style either. One read of a Nora book and I found the solution to my POV problem. Many people who prefer the romance style POV insultingly call what Nora and many others do "head hopping." To them, this is confusing to read. I beg to differ. Read the classics, adventure stories, mysteries, and crime stories and you'll find this is the style used. In fact, it's only really in romance and erotica that the far simpler style of POV is used.
Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against that style, and I use it in my novellas as it works particularly well for shorter stories. But for me, it just didn't work for my novel length book.
Some people have told me that the style I used in Stolen Destiny, with sometimes three points of view in a scene, is refreshing. I love hearing that because I find the style very dynamic. It allows the reader to experience the story through more than just the heroine and hero, and with characters who have many lifetimes behind them, it creates a fuller story, overall. Some people have said they weren't crazy about it, and I respect their opinions. For them, the romance style POV is what they like.
The great thing about writing in these new times of indie publishing and ebooks is that walls that were once so high only a few could scale them are coming down. I look forward to a time when the idea of "right" and "wrong" when it comes to POV is a thing of the past, a relic of a time when minds weren't open. For me, the more dynamic POV style is what I enjoy writing for my Aeveren.
Does this mean all my novels will be in this style? I don't know. The beauty of writing is that I never know what's going to come out of my imagination. My novellas are in the typical romance POV and cover subjects such as vampires and BDSM, while Stolen Destiny is about a new breed of paranormal characters, as will be the sequel, Destiny Redeemed. I've recently begun a new novel that's about one of the characters in my novella, Vampire Dreams, and that novel will be written in the typical romance style POV. For me, having the choice of how I want to write a story is one of the best parts of being an author.
In the end, I think the most important thing about writing is to tell a good story. Readers will relate to characters and plot no matter what POV a story's in. Thanks again to the Broads for letting me chat about this. To learn more about my books, visit my blog at http://gbisset.blogspot.com/
To buy Stolen Destiny, visit http://www.bookstrand.com/stolen-destiny
Thanks for having me here today, ladies. It's a pleasure! :)
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