Behind The Witching Pen

It actually started with a domain name (thewitchingpen.co.uk) -- one that I would use as an umbrella for all my writing, so the idea for the story didn't come to me straight away. It was about a year after I bought the domain that the story began to take shape in my head.

I started to write it out, and it was still vague, but two chapters in and I suddenly had the plot. I had the whole thing from beginning to end explode in my mind and I knew where I wanted to take both the story and the series.

And as I thought of the series, I realised there are so many places I can take aspects of the story, that another two series were born (in my mind, anyway -- they have yet to be written) -- The Last Angel series and Project Veil.

Probably the most 'serious' of all the series will be Project Veil -- they're also likely to be novel length books. But for The Witching Pen Novellas, I wanted something more light-hearted: high adventure, fast-paced, a bit quirky, with elements of sexiness thrown in. In my head, I saw something that was a bit "Buffy" in nature, although featuring adults. Most adults I know are young at heart and I wanted that portrayed in my stories; none of us really grow up, we just get given more responsibilities. We all still think naughty thoughts that would be deemed childish if anyone heard them. I don't think we ever grow out of that.

I also wanted a Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy series that was set in the United Kingdom, for no other reason than every other series I read is not! Most writers of this genre that I come across are American and their stories are also set in the U.S.  That's great, but I want to show off my own country -- I love it! Elena and Karl live in Wimbledon and work in West Kensington, Amy lives in Croydon. The showdown happens in Hyde Park. The Last Angel series will probably feature York quite strongly and we're back to London and Hyde Park for the Project Veil series, albeit five hundred years in the future.

All of the characters came to life straight away as I started to write them, and I can reveal that book two will focus on Amy and Pueblo; and book three will focus on Katherine and her past/present, and Gwain.

In a way, the title of this post is deceiving, because it's not just about what's behind The Witching Pen; it's about what's behind all of the three series. They all merge. I recently wrote in an author's interview, that there will definitely be three books in The Witching Pen Novellas and probably no more than six -- that still sounds about right.

What you can expect from The Witching Pen Novellas in the next few books:

1. More demons. I wrote about seven demon tribes in The Witching Pen and I want to make use of them.
2. That each book will contain more in-depth info about the characters, and that each book will focus on two characters.
3. An unfolding storyline that will lead readers to The Last Angel series and to Project Veil.
4. That the 'romance' of each story will be complete in itself, even if there are potential future problems hinted at.
5. That I'll try to make each book stand in its own right, so you don't have to read every book if you don't want to.

The Witching Pen (eBook) is currently at the introductory price of $0.99 (publisher's list price $1.99), available from

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Smashwords
• Barnes & Noble