Guest Blogger Linda Winstead Jones

Today we welcome guest blogger and Maven, Linda Winstead Jones!

Some days, I feel a little like a dinosaur. My first books were written on a typewriter, and while I was eventually dragged to a computer (Kicking and screaming, btw. I thought my typewriter was more than sufficient) several of my first books never existed as a computer file. Not in my house, anyway. But I have evolved. I recently jumped into the self-publishing pool with two of my fairy tale romances from a few years back. Into the Woods and DeButy and the Beast were always two of my favorites, and I’m thrilled to make them available again.

A funny thing happened while I was getting these books ready for release. One of the most frequent questions an author hears is “Where do you get your ideas?” My instinctive response is “How do you stop them from coming?” It’s difficult to look at a book you’re still close to and identify the roots. But looking back several years, reading through the new files, I could see very clearly where the ideas for these books came from.

DeButy and the Beast is one of those rare books that started with the title. At a meeting of our writer’s group, we had a speaker who was a police officer. He was introduced; his last name was DeButy and immediately the title popped into my head. DeButy and the Beast. The story grew from there, the characters taking shape long after the title had grabbed me. Going back and reading the book now, I can see where some of my research came into play. I have a book (or two or four) about the Victorian era, and they are alternately horrifying and hilarious. Oh, the things we believed, the “facts” that were presented to us as truth. My favorite research book is “The Physician and Sexuality in Victorian America.” A few quotes, chosen at random: “Beware!! science pronounces that the woman who studies is lost.” And “Like novels and letter-writing, dancing was another source of impurity.” Then there’s “Overindulgence in romantic stories produced a flow of blood to certain body organs causing ‘excessive excitement’ and finally disease.” Is it any wonder my hero is a Victorian era physician with a few ridiculous ideas that need to be shaken?

Into the Woods came together very differently. I don’t remember where the title came from, if it was mine or if my editor suggested it. It was one of several fairy tale romances I wrote, and I can’t even remember how I decided to write a romance based on Hansel and Gretel. What was most important here, when we talk about what brings a story together, was the climactic scene near the end -- which I won’t spoil by giving details here. You’ll recognize it if you read the book. I had read a fantasy that I absolutely loved, but the ending sucked. In fact, the ending sent me into a

downward spiral of depression, it was so wrong. It was years after I wrote Into the Woods that I could see how I had taken that scene and rewritten it, giving it my own romance-friendly ending. Reading through the book again, I could also see the influence of some research books about old beauty remedies and aphrodisiacs. After all, the heroine is a witch, the witch from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. What better way to use her gifts than the creation of beauty creams and love potions?

I still have all these books. I actually have a pretty decent research library. Maybe I should head back to my office and browse a bit. You never know when, or how, inspiration will strike.

One commenter will receive an original paperback copy of one of these books!