Well, before I could really get into posting about the story I was writing for Christmas, the story is all written in first draft and done. That’s one of the downsides to writing novellas and short stories. As soon as I’ve started writing them, I’ve finished, and I don’t post much about them on my blog because of it.
I started writing the first draft of Vampire for Christmas on Monday, and finished it on Thursday. It’s a vampire romance novella (25000 words) with a sexy vampire hero called Rafe and a sassy vampire hunter heroine, Shannon. They’re partners at a demon hunting agency and as much as Shannon likes to pretend she hates Rafe, she’s falling for him pretty hard. Hard enough that she doesn’t want this last mission to be… well… their last mission. Two years of working with Shannon is enough to have Rafe crazy about her, and he’s determined to show her that they belong together, and to make her overcome her denial about her feelings for him. It takes a slimy monster and some serious soul-searching, but it might just work out good in the end.
I’m pretty pleased with the result. The tension is good, the UST is there too, and the slimy demon provides room for amusement (what’s not funny about a heroic vampire rushing in to save the day only to slide harmlessly off his enemy and land in a pile of goo on his face?). I think readers will enjoy it, and while it has a serious side too (with the heroine overcoming her past horrific encounter with a vampire in order to accept her feelings for Rafe, a less horrific more sexy and evil-to-all-but-Shannon vampire), it’s a warm fuzzy light sort of romance, with a bit of heat thrown in. Perfect for keeping readers warm in winter!
Now all I’ve got to do is edit the beast. It’ll have to sit for a bit before I dive into doing the second draft but the release day for this one is already looming. I want to get it out in November. As soon as I have the cover and blurb, I’ll post it.
Oh, and it’s a stand alone, so will be released under my Felicity Heaton name. Yes, yes, it’s about time we had another F E Heaton release… say something in the Vampires Realm series. Well, that’s what I’m working on next 🙂
