The Genesis of The Mark of Abel
What you see as The Mark of Abel went through several versions. Spring 2010, The Fallen was complete. Like any good author, I stuck it in the closet (literally) to give myself some distance so I could edit it. In a matter of a two days it mutated.
With the book complete, I rewarded myself with some History International (now H2). The program was on the Roman Empire, one of my favorite topics. The last fifteen minutes was about the First and Second Dacian Wars. The Romans wiped the poor Dacians off the face of the map. Dacia existed where Romania does. That just screamed to be in a vampire story. I was writing a vampire story. It was tucked away in my closet. Not for long. There were tons of historical events I’d love to incorporate. There are tons of people throughout history who barely get a footnote. I woke up the next day with the idea of Janie’s reincarnation. The Grigori’s role came shortly after that. From there Cain and Abel fell into place and The Mark of Abel was born. |
Favorite Time Periods
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Enter LuciferThe story has always been about a vampire being rejected. The initial idea came to me spring 2003. It was a scene where a vampire bites his girlfriend, wanting to give her the world, and she freaks out and rejects him. Lucifer wormed his way in because what rejection is bigger than Lucifer’s expulsion?
I fell in love with the story, but it needed to gel. One area of history I love is early Christian history and the evolution of Christian thought. It should have been no surprise Lucifer and God found their way into what was once titled Rejection: A Vampire’s Tale. If I was going to reframe Christian stories from Lucifer’s perspective and re-imagine him to the point where he is a hero, I better do it right. It took me several versions to work out his arc. |
copyright-free image done by John Coulhart.
Visit his site at: http://www.johncoulthart.com
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Janie Takes Over
by VoVo Tzeng
With Lucifer worked out, I needed a powerful story for my heroine. That kept escaping me, until I watched that show on Dacia.
I love history. I love research. I love writing. Put those together and you have one very happy Viola. You also have a lot of scenes to write.
Whenever I felt the book was sagging, I wrote another flashback/dream. Basically “How can I torture Janie?”
The book was no longer Lucifer’s. I even renamed it. The series was still The Mark of Abel, but the first book was Endless Lives. That is not the story I wanted to tell. I’ve posted some of those scenes here.
Enjoy.
I love history. I love research. I love writing. Put those together and you have one very happy Viola. You also have a lot of scenes to write.
Whenever I felt the book was sagging, I wrote another flashback/dream. Basically “How can I torture Janie?”
The book was no longer Lucifer’s. I even renamed it. The series was still The Mark of Abel, but the first book was Endless Lives. That is not the story I wanted to tell. I’ve posted some of those scenes here.
Enjoy.
