Thank you, Delilah, for having me on your blog today.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to a prosperous New Year.

Hi everyone, I’m Janice Seagraves, and I am a published author of nine books, three of which are series, and five short stories published in anthologies. I write in various romance genres; contemporary, paranormal, science fiction, and fantasy.

Let me walk you through my process as I wrote a series.

First off, let’s talk about story ideas. I get ideas all the time. Watching the news can spark ideas or a trip to the mall. A walk through my neighborhood helped me develop a scene in Year of the Cat (my paranormal romance).

Do I get ideas from my dreams? Sometimes. If the dream is interesting enough to remember. Sometimes they’re not or they’re disjointed.

When I wrote Matrix Crystal Hunters it came from a dream. A woman was on another planet, there was these funny rocks she was examining, and she discovered they gave of energy. There was also a man who crept into her tent, and she nailed him with a frying pan. I had to figure out how these two things fit together and wrote the story.

And then I decided on the genre and setting, it was going to be a science fiction romance set on another planet. A desert planet.
I also had to figure out the what ifs.

What if… a team from Earth had fought a wormhole and landed on a planet and they were sick from radiation poisoning and their fuel exhausted?

What if… their team’s geologist, (I decided to call her Maya), heard of a crystal that would multiply energy.

What if… harnessing the energy of these crystals was the only way to go back to Earth?

What if… a native of the planet fell madly in love with our heroine (I named him Vach) and decided to creep into her tent late one night…

And she brained him with a frying pan.

Okay, I know that sounds bad, but you’ll have to read the book to see why it works.

When I wrote Matrix Crystal Hunters it was exciting. The story came together fast. I’d go to bed late and get up the next morning to turn the computer and write some more. I love those times. It feels like magic as I ride the wave of creativity and the story seems to flow straight from my fingertips and onto the computer page.

After I finished, I kept revising the story.

That’s what writers do, they can’t leave their stories alone and have to keep fiddling with it.

I read a meme somewhere that stated that “You can teach a someone to write, and then they’ll have a lifetime of paralyzing self-doubt.”

I don’t know about the self-doubt, but I do go over and over my finished manuscript until I feel it is as sanded and polished within an inch of its life.

After the first story was published, the characters kept talking.

I don’t know if you know this, but writers hear voices. If you see a writer or published author staring off into space, they are listening to their character’s voices. We’re not crazy… or maybe that is the definition of schizophrenia? *scratches head*

So, I kept writing. Book two came out, Matrix Crystal Christmas. It’s made up of two short stories. It wasn’t originally supposed to be about Christmas, but the Christmas season was coming up and I thought I’d add some Christmas elements to the last chapter of each story.

In “Crystal Flower Christmas”: Vach and Maya are on a mission to undam the Laonooco River for the drought stricken region. As heartache fractures their marriage, will the gift of a crystal flower mend their relationship or break it beyond repair?

In “Crystal Clear Christmas”: Plague has struck the village of Zama and the citizens blame the only human left on Zenevieva, Maya. Will Vach make the ultimate sacrifice to save his wife?

I actually thought I was done with Maya and Vach, but then their son wanted his own book and I wrote Matrix Crystal River.

It was the first time I wrote a shy character. Most of the women I write about don’t have a shy bone in their bodies. The stories theme is also a bit different.

What if… the humans came back, and their greedy Earth government wanted the matrix crystals to exploit?

What if… their geologist though talented in finding and shaping crystals was painfully shy?

What if… River Namaste wanted her and wouldn’t let anything, or anyone get in his way?

River’s story was published last year.

Aha, I thought I am done.

And then, Vach and Maya’s daughter is poking me in the shoulder and told me it was her turn.

Okay, fine. I wrote the next book, Matrix Crystal Rebels, and it was just published 12-19-2017. So just a few days ago.

Again, the ‘what ifs’ are a bit different.

What if…Earth geologist Steen’s mission is to look and act like a Zeeman, so he can locate matrix crystals.

What if… Steen’s deception fails, and the only one willing to help him is Rain Namaste? (Maya and Vach’s daughter?)

What if… Steen doesn’t realize he’s fallen in love with the lovely redhead until someone tries to claim her on Hymeneal Night?
What will he do then?

I’m proud of Matrix Crystal Rebels, I think it is my best work so far. I felt the same way I did while writing Matrix Crystal Hunters. I went to bed late and got up early to write some more. As I wrote the story, it flowed effortlessly.

This is why I love writing so much. *grin*

Matrix Crystal Rebels

Excerpt:

“Who are these for?” asked the shop owner.

“My brother,” She said without a beat.

“Which one?”

“Ah, now that would be telling.” She touched the side of her nose and added more clothes to the stack. “How much?”

He went through the stack, muttering under his breath. “Fifty ducats.”

“That’s a little steep. These are used. I’ll give you thirty.”

The proprietor rested a hand on top of the stack. “You’ve got a big pile of clothes here. Forty.”

“It’s okay I’ve got it.” Steen dug into his pocket. This was for him after all.

“Steven, you don’t need to,” Rain said. If she was play acting, it was flawless.

“Excellent.” The shop owner bowed and took the coins which he dropped into a carved box. He then bagged the clothing into several totes. “If any of these don’t fit, please feel free to bring them back.”

Rain frowned. “At a significant deduction on the exchange?”

“Of course, how else am I to make a profit?” He smiled, handing over both totes. “It was nice doing business with you.”

“Thank you. Steven, can you get the totes?”

Steen took the bags, surprised at how much they weighed. “Oof, heavy.”

“You’re a big guy, suck it up. We have more shops to visit.” Rain strolled out the door ahead of him.

“A little advice from a fellow male, she won’t be easy to woo,” the store owner told him. “Rain is a lovely young female, but she’s as difficult as her mother. Just ask Vach. Rain is like Maya, but more energetic. It’s like someone put way too much sweetener into her daily tea.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Steen followed Rain out the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Matrix Crystal Hunters: https://www.amazon.com/Matrix-Crystal-Hunters-Book-Crystals-ebook/dp/B00FJ10W26/
Matrix Crystal Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/Matrix-Crystal-Christmas-Crystals-Book-ebook/dp/B00GJCNBAY/
Matrix Crystal River: https://www.amazon.com/Matrix-Crystal-River-Crystals-Three-ebook/dp/B01MDOHI70/
Matrix Crystal Rebels: https://www.amazon.com/Matrix-Crystal-Rebels-Book-Four-ebook/dp/B078HL6113/
And since I mentioned it, here’s Year of the Cat: https://www.amazon.com/Year-Cat-Janice-Seagraves-ebook/dp/B0748CP9JH
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Find Janice Seagraves’s on:
Her website: https://janice-seagraves.org/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Janice-Seagraves-Author-117551164948239/
And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/janiceseagraves
Janice’s Amazon page, where you can see all her books: https://www.amazon.com/Janice-Seagraves/e/B0056D223Y/
Janice’s Smashwords page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Ladyjanice
And here is Janice on Barns and Nobles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/janice%20seagraves/_/N-0