I am so excited to host Kelly Martin today to celebrate the release of Heartless. I worked with Kelly on this book as Editor (through Indie Books Gone Wild), and I'm so proud of her tenacity and passion for this project. It comes through on the page (or screen).
You can see my review of Heartless here.
Without further ado, some cool insight into Heartless...
"Jessup Hart Blackwell ate my
brain every night."
I'm not going to lie, that is one of the strangest opening
lines I've ever read--much less written. I've had the basic storyline of
Heartless in my head for about 4 years. In fact, it was the first story I ever
thought about writing. I remember being on the boat while my husband fished and
writing the first 2-3 chapters. Now, NONE of that ever made it into the final
draft. The only thing that came from the first draft, the first thing ever, was
the name Hart.Hart has been Hart since this story was an idea bubble four
years ago.Originally, the book was supposed to start during a dark and
stormy night while a man, Victor Blue, drove home from work. It was his
daughter, Violet's, birthday and he was going to surprise her. Unbeknownst to
him, on the hood of his car, two supernatural creatures were fighting it out--Alexander, the angel, and Hart, the demon.
Hart won.
For years, I've had this basic story in my head and I wanted
so badly to write it. I'd sit down every once in a while and try to make
something happen. I loved Hart. I could see him with his red eyes and his
snarky attitude. I could picture Alexander (who turned into Lucien) as an angel
fighting his inner demons--who wanted to do good-- who was good-- but had to
fight all the same.
And then there was the girl.
I couldn't quite figure out the girl.
Then one day, like magic, it all came together as I took a
shower (as most good ideas do). When I got out, I quickly wrote down the basic
outline for Heartless (I tweaked it with some help from my friends along the
way) but the opening line since that day has always been "Jessup Hart
Blackwell ate my brain every night."
That one line...
That one beat...
That one thing made this entire story possible.
I had no idea where to take the story in the early days--
that sentence set it up.
It goes with the story so well: part horror, part humor, all
paranormal, all human, all feelings I think we all have inside.
Sometimes things just click.
To be honest, I was scared to keep that line in, but
everybody who has commented on it, seems to love it.
So... Jessup Hart
Blackwell ate my brain every night... I wonder what else happens... ;)
~*~*~*~
Wanna read about Gracen’s nightmares? Grab your
blankie and hold on...
About Kelly Martin
Kelly Martin writes paranormal, contemporary, historical, and YA fiction. She has been married for over ten years and has three rowdy, angelic daughters. When she's not writing, she loves taking picture of abandoned houses, watching horror gamers on YouTube-- even though she's a huge wimp-- and drinking decaf white chocolate mochas. She's a total fangirl, loves the 80s and 90s, and has a sad addiction to paranormal TV shows. {Basically, she likes creepy stuff.} Her favorite characters are the very flawed 'good guys'--and 'bad guys' who don't know they are evil. She loves giving her readers books with unexpected twists and turns, but (here's a hint) most of her books have the ending spelled out in the first chapter. See if you can figure it out.
If you ever have a question or comment, feel free to email her at kellymartin215@yahoo.com ♥ You can follow her writing adventure at www.kellymartinbooks.com.
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