Aug 27, 2012

Sometimes You Just Need A Little Magic...


Sometimes this life gets me down. It's not necessarily any one thing. It's not even necessarily a thing. Sometimes it's just a fleeting feeling. Sometimes it's learning the hardships of a close friend. Sometimes it's politics, sometimes religion, sometimes just all the harsh realities of life like poverty, starvation, disease, and war. Sometimes I just need a little magic...


Years and years ago, before I lost my way, I had started a series of books called Kaleidoscope Moon about witches and fairies and vampires. A supernatural story set in modern times. I poured over various reference books studying all I could about witchcraft and the like. I had always loved the occult, as far back as I could remember and even got my first deck of tarot cards when I was around 12 (that I read with astonishing accuracy which ultimately freaked me out so I gave it up).

However, my love for dark fantasy never wavered and, recently, I was presented with an opportunity to dive back in. Enter, Scarlett.

Scarlett is a good friend and talented writer who has been giving me excellent notes on Castaneda* and when I mentioned to her that I'd been feeling a little down and needed to write something fun, she mentioned a year old project of hers that she's been mulling over: Saurimonde, erotica with a twist. Fairies, demons, witches, necromancers, beautiful women and strapping young men, a make-believe world in a medieval setting, gory elements of horror, and explicit sex. I was hooked.


Since she lives in France and I in California, we met on Skype to discuss. She sent me an outline and character sketches and I immediately began writing. I just took to the material like nobody's business.

Since then we've each written several pages and continue to meet, discuss, and brainstorm. It's fun watching the story grow as the characters become more whole, eventually telling the story themselves. Sometimes I feel like I'm just along for the ride and some other force is telling the story through me... Like magic.

I just needed a little magic.

I haven't abandoned my other projects*, no, just pushed them to the back burner to do something fun for awhile. Something not based in reality. No pressure. No rules. Just pure, unadulterated fun.

Oh! The other thing, the whole reason I'm even blogging about this now is (I get easily distracted - look, a squirrel) that at first I was going to write this horror erotica under a pseudonym, like Anne Rice when she wrote her erotica novels, but then I thought, wait a minute, do I really need a pseudonym? I mean, it's not like I have some pristine reputation I need to uphold nor do I ever plan to run for office, so why bother, you know? I even had a name all picked out. I still dig that name and may use it for something someday, but, hmm, I think I just might use my real name to write erotica. Why not? Life is short, might as well live a little! Also, I'm really proud of what we've written thus far, so why not take credit?

Also, for more on the project, including inspiration and reference materials used, check out Scarlett's ongoing blog here: http://scarlettamaris.blogspot.fr/


[*For a brief history lesson, my non-fiction projects include: Medicated, a follow-up to In The Now that chronicles my descent into pharmaceutical madness, so it gets pretty heavy and emotional a lot and Castaneda (working title), a script based on Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda by Amy Wallace, a brutally honest depiction inside the secret life of a new age guru and his harem of witches, so that too gets pretty heavy and emotional (at least the first draft of that is done but I just need to get through the long rewrite process).]

Ok, now I need to get back to bodice-ripping, gore-filled, supernatural erotic fiction!