Writing "Heart of the Emperor"

My mom has read every book I've published.   At one point she asked me if I could write a book without so much violence... towards the female.  I just stared at her.  The violence in my stories is because they're warriors, and that's pretty much what I told her.  However, my brain latched onto the challenge.  I already had a story that was brewing in my mind so as it started to come to life I held onto "write a book with less violence".    Yep, "Heart of the Emperor" is that attempt, and I think it turned out to be a wonderful story.

Now this story was created from an object I discovered while out shopping at a craft store.  (I wasn't actually the one doing the shopping, I went because I had nothing better to do.)  I remember picking up the object, knowing that my daughter would love it, it was pink and sparkly.  However, as I carried it around the store, I couldn't stop thinking how beautiful it would look on a cover for a book.  Now in order to put the object on my cover it would need importance, and from there, the story came alive in my mind.

One of my favorite parts about writing this book was that I had no idea who the underlying bad guy was, it could have been anyone.  (When I wrote this story, it was the first story where I hadn't seen the important part of the ending that helps me bring the book to a close.)  I remember making this comment to my cousin, excitedly telling him that I couldn't wait to finish it, because I wanted to know who the "bad guy" was.  He replied, "Aren't you the one writing it?"   I laughed and replied, "I'm the one writing it down."  I was to the last couple of chapters, and explained to him about the different characters and how they could be the bad guy, but until I wrote it down I wouldn't know who and why.  The people in my books are not always forth coming about who they are or where the story is going.  To me, writing is like watching a movie.  I see the images and I write it down. I hear what they're saying and I type it out. He smiles and says, "Ah yes, the voices."   We joke about "the voices" all the time.  Because honestly, it blows me away how I am able to write stories, and most times when I re-read them I still can't believe I wrote it.   This story was no exception.