Deciding to add shifters to one's vampire tale wasn't as easy as I assumed it would be. The dilemma in one word... Twilight. One does not want to venture in and end up developing characters that share the same characteristics as such a well-known book.
Aside from my book being ripped to pieces on Goodreads, it's just not a smart practice.
Book II of my Drakkar Coven series Oleander, Son of Drakkar provided me with such a challenge.
For example, my vampires do not glitter in the daylight as Stephenie Meyers' did, and mine are not tidy diners, considering humans to be little more than livestock. So, going to high school amongst them... not going to happen. Unless they were famished and looking for a smorgasbord.
Then there are Twilight's werewolves. I love wolfen shifters and want them in my book, but what characteristics and abilities do I give them without stepping on any proverbial toes?
My initial tactic was to chicken out and introduce a raven while my subconscious ruminated over the wolf issue. Luckily for me, I loved the raven shifter character I created. The intelligent, mischievous personality and habit of stealing shiny objects gives a writer plenty of fun things to work with.
But then I met Alexander, once the love of Oleander's life …and a wolfen shifter. I couldn't deny my overwhelming urge to find out more about this majestic creature. He's a beautiful character. Caring and compassionate, but tortured by the circumstances that will forever keep him and Oleander apart.
I added a twin, his sister Alexis, and created a species of wolfen shifter that roams the woods within fables and stories told by the traveling minstrels. The great white wolves of lore.
I added a twin, his sister Alexis, and created a species of wolfen shifter that roams the woods within fables and stories told by the traveling minstrels. The great white wolves of lore.
Silent, invisible—deadly.
Their snow-white coats blending into the territory they call home. Beyond the most northern vampirical coven. A Prince and Princess as stunning in human form as they are in wolfen. Alabaster skin, crystal blue eyes—exuding sex and seduction.
Silent, alluring—deadly.
These are my wolfen shifters. Like no other wolves within their roaming grounds, or any surrounding them. They are unique, they are mythical—they are unstoppable.
The third book of the Drakkar Coven series is the tale of "Alexander, Prince of the North" where I shall endeavor to free him from the pain of his devastating heartache.