Author Julia Mills and I hooked up when she was looking for a cover designer on her first book in the Dragon Guard series. It's an outrageously popular series that has taken the fantasy genre by storm, so I thought you might enjoy peeking into her writing world. After reading her post, I'm feeling quite forever indebted to her for her kind words about my writing. That always means a lot coming from someone who pens the most amazing stories! Enough from me though ... let's see what Julia has to say:
I was asked by the most
amazing cover artist in the world, as well as a tremendously talented author,
Linda Boulanger, to be a part of an author blog tour AND she let me hijack her
blog!! I was lucky enough to have met Linda when I was looking for a cover
artist for the first book in the Dragon Guard series last year. I had seen some
of her work and it was love at first sight. She did NOT disappoint when
designing my covers. Three books into the series and she still amazes me with
her ability to bring my crazy descriptions of characters and stories to life.
Then, I read her work and WOW! So if you haven’t read anything of hers yet…get
on it! You will be as hooked as I am. Surprisingly, she thought y’all might
like to know about my writing
process. I think it’s a pretty cool idea since writing processes are as
different and creative as each brilliant person that embarks on the incredible
journey of writing anything and let’s
face it…it’s pretty cool to find out how some of your favorite stories came to
life.
So here is how it works.
There are four questions and in my usually rambling, southern way I will
attempt answer them all. Then you can follow the tag to keep the tour
rolling.
Okay, here we go…
What am I working on? I have three projects going right now.
Something that is not unusual for me. I tend to write a lot on one story and
then take a little break and write on another. First of all, I am writing the
fourth book in the Dragon Guard series, For the Love of Her Dragon. Each book
in the series focuses on a certain Guardsman and how he meets the One the
Universe has made for him. Although the couple is the focus of the book, each
one includes all the members of the Force and gives the reader a great
sense of family and community.
The second project is
the beginning of the Knights of Blood series and as you can probably guess…it’s
VAMPIRES! I love all things paranormal so this one is a lot of fun! It is also
a little darker and very sensual.
Lastly, I am working on
a YA/Paranormal with an incredibly special young woman that has actually drawn
all the illustrations as well as a complete set of ‘my dragons’ from the Dragon
Guard series for the book as well as creating all the characters. Elizabeth’s Guardians
will focus on a young girl that has suffered loss and is now on the run from
evil. Her guardians are none other than….DRAGONS! All proceeds will go the
National Autism Association.
How
does my work differ from others of its genre? The main difference between my books and others in the genre is the
strong sense of community and family. All the characters are part of every book
in one way or another. As a reader, I always get ‘involved’ with all the
characters I read about and want to know what happened after their ‘starring
role’ so when I began writing I decided to make sure they all stayed involved
in one way or another.
Also, I have very strong female leads. They are not
size zero, millionaire, stay at home girls. They are real people with real
problems that have to learn to accept what fate has given them while
maintaining who they are.
Why do
I write what I write? This one is easy! I am a color
outside the line, sky’s the limit kind of girl and my writing is the same way.
I want to build a world where the reader really believes a man could turn into
a dragon and that the Universe has made that one special person that completes
him as no other ever can. Paranormal/Fantasy was not even a choice for me…I
just started writing it. We all deserve a place to get away from everyday life.
Reading has
always been my escape and I want my readers to have that too.
How
does my process work? Mine starts with a scene that runs
on a loop through my head until I can actually ‘see’ it when I close my eyes.
Kind of like that song you sing all day no matter how hard you try to think of
something else. From there I picture the characters. What they look like, how
they sound, who they really are and find a picture of what is in my head. I
write the scene that is driving the entire book and then go from there.
Sometimes it is the beginning of the book but many times it is buried in the
middle and would seem like nothing more than a blip on the radar but is
actually what spurred the whole thing.
The best example I can give you is this excerpt from
Her Dragon to Slay…
The different textures of the skin along his massive
shoulders she felt as she massaged the liniment into his beautifully battered
skin soothed her as much as she hoped it did him. They tickled the pads of her
fingers. There were patches of skin that felt softer on the surface but firmer
underneath, almost like a scar but different somehow. She imagined him as a
Guardian, a Commander of warriors, someone who had seen numerous battles, so in
her mind it only stood to reason that he had scars. She didn’t even question
where the image of him leading men into battle had come from. It was just a
belief planted firmly in her mind, the longer her hands were on his body. She
molded and massaged his massive muscles, his skin becoming warmer than its
already elevated temperature and some of what she believed to be scars became
more predominant. They seemed to take shape right before her eyes. As she
focused on a particularly intricate set of lines on his back, she swore it
resembled a large wing wrapping up and over his left shoulder. As she followed
the line of that powerful wing it swooped down into a large powerful body with
a beautifully massive wing coming out the other side. The longer she attended
to his wounds, rubbing her hands over his amazing skin, the more intrigued she
became by the picture taking shape right before her eyes. It was not until she
looked towards his right shoulder that she was captured by the most awe
inspiringly, majestic face she had ever seen. She met the creature’s eye and
for a split second felt a caress all the way to her soul, a flash of
recognition just like when she locked eyes with Rayne. It felt like the melding
of souls, the calling of like to like.
From this description of
his tattoo, the entire series started. Most think I am pretty crazy and they
are probably right…lol…but I have a lot of fun!
I have had a blast
talking with you and I hope it gave you a little insight into the wonderful
world of my goofy mind!
Always remember…Believe
in Magic! And Look for Dragons…They are everywhere!
Fate Will Not Be Denied!
Julia is tagging Sandra Love - YA Supernatural Author of the Broken Wing Series.
Her writing process post will run on April 21, so be on the lookout for that!
Thank you so much, Julia! I loved learning about your writing process.
Her wonderful books are available at
and at other book distributors.
