To give you just a little insight about just how amazing her imagination is, Cherie is going to share with use today where her idea came from for her latest book. So without further ado, welcome, Cherie!
Reaching the Stars, or the Idea
My space fantasy romance novelette Defying Gravity had an interesting start. The idea started with a character: Linia. In my novelette, she’s a Persean, but she didn’t start out that way. About eight or nine years ago, my friend Shannon decided to create a Star Trek role-playing game. She invited me to join, but although I’ve watched some of the shows, I couldn’t say I knew much about it. So she sent me to a list of aliens on Memory Alpha and I came across the B’Saari. Several things intrigued me about these aliens. One, they were very intelligent. For two, they had a technique for reviving the dead. Bingo! That’s just way cool, so I took that and created my linguist Linia who was young and inexperienced and finds herself sucked through a wormhole to a new planet.
The role-play didn’t last long, but the character remained with me. I just didn’t know what to do with her. Then in fall 2009, Pill Hill Press announced the Fire and Ice anthology. They were looking for romantic suspense, but it could be crossed with other genres. I’d wanted to write a science fiction story and I thought it would be interesting to combine it with romantic suspense. My thoughts went back to Linia, and I knew I had something here, but she shouldn’t be from B’Saari. I love Greek mythology and wanted a Romeo & Juliet type feel to my story. Bingo! Perseus and Medusa, or the planet Persea and the planet Medusa. All the ideas seemed to zoom in at once.
Defying Gravity started in Linia’s point of view and was around 8500 words long. It was short-listed for Fire and Ice, but they didn’t get enough submissions, so the anthology was cancelled. I revised the story in 2011 (added around 2000 words) and resubmitted it to a small publisher where it sat for nine months before I withdrew my submission. Since December 2011, I added Alezandros’s point of view and another 5000 words. Through multiple edits, multiple sessions with my critique partners, it debuted on February 9th (officially on the 14th).
If it weren’t for Shannon, I probably never would’ve created Linia. Now her story has inspired two others in her Gravity universe (Fighting Gravity and Pull of Gravity, Forthcoming).
She’s allowed me defy gravity.
I think as writers we need to pay attention. You never know when someone will gift you a story idea.
Have you ever gotten a story idea or inspiration from someone else?
Thank you for having me!
Defying Gravity by Cherie Reich
Bored with his dying planet, Alezandros, a space cruiser pilot, joins the Medusan Army in his quest for adventure.
When the SS Perseid clashes with the Medusans’ space cruisers, Alezandros and Linia’s lives intertwine. Sucked through a wormhole, they crash upon a post-apocalyptic Earth and are captured by cannibals. In adjacent cells, Alezandros and Linia cast their differences aside for a common bond: escape. But when romantic feelings emerge between them, they might do the unthinkable because for a Medusan and a Persean to fall in love, it would defy gravity.
Book Links: Surrounded by Books Publishing
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Author Links: Website http://cheriereich.webs.com
Blog http://cheriereich.blogspot.com
Twitter @bookworm0753
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And Cherie, I wish you a ton of luck with this!
12 comments:
Huge science fiction fan over here, and that looks like a great read. Fantastic post, Cherie!
I think writers borrow bits from here and there to get our own practically-original ideas. :) And Hart gave me a great story idea once, which I turned into a book.
Best wishes, Cherie!
So interesting, it just shows you never know where inspiration will come from. Defying Gravity sounds excellent and I already have it on my to-read list, I know it will be great.
Your character was from a role-playing game? Now that is just too awesome!
@Hart - Thank you for having me! And I'll declare you an honorary Roanoker. :D
@Alison - Thank you!
@Elizabeth Spann Craig/Riley Adams - Yes, I think we must borrow bits of ideas here and there. And that's awesome you got an idea from Hart for a book. :D
@Julie - Yes, you definitely never know when inspiration might hit. Thank you!
@Alex J. Cavanaugh - Yes, my character was from a role-playing game. Yes, I'm that cool. ;)
Hi, Cherie, So nice to meet you. I have to read your book. Sounds very interesting. I love the title and the planet of Medusa. Yep, gotta read it.
Thanks, Hart for hosting.
I'm going to visit Cherie's blog now.
Teresa
Oh I now have amazing nerd love for Cherie. I would really like to take a peak at the rules for that Star Trek RPG. I wanted to play in one for so long but never found anyone that had any kind of rules to it. I eventually (in the 90's) found a group that did run star wars the rpg and that was kind of fun. But the Star Trek universe sounds like it could be amazing.
I have had some characters from Dungeons and Dragons that turned into stories, but nothing I've published. My current book has nothing to do with rpg's at all. I basically keep the sword and sorcery locked away for some other day to explore.
Such interesting roots! I love all those idea sources--they can be so varied. Fun, though, for a role-playing game to inspire a character--sounds like great stuff!
Thanks, everyone, for stopping by!
I always love hearing where people's stories come from. Yay for Shannon! DG is an awesome story and Linia a remarkable character. My protagonist in my current WIP is inspired from a role-playing game from way back when. I'm sure you remember Magena's roots! ;)
@Journaling Woman a.k.a. Teresa - It's nice to meet you too! Thank you!
@Michael Offutt - Aww! It's nice to be loved. *grins* If the old Star Trek RPG was still around, I would let you know. I believe she closed it down a long time ago. It was fun while it lasted. And I do hope you get back to sword and sorcery one of these days. It's fun to read.
@Hart Johnson - It is fun to hear other authors' source ideas.
@Christine Rains - That's why I dedicated the story to Shannon. Perhaps I should tell her. Hehe! And yes, I definitely know Magena's roots.
Isn't it amazing when a character sticks with us for that long?
I couldn't write about my D&D character (as she was Taarna from the movie Heavy Metal) but maybe from my days of playing Call of Cthulhu.
I love the way you had faith in your story and kept expanding it. And being a Star Trek fan, I think it's great you got inspired by a ST game. Best wishes -- I'll be checking out your books.
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