Ever wonder how writers get their start writing stories? What makes them want to jump in and start writing?
I always did.
Especially since I got started in such a strange way.
I was fourteen. Grounded from the television, the Nintendo, the phone, reading for fun, and from travel anywhere. My grades sucked. I had a "D" in a couple of classes. English and Algebra, I do believe. Wait, the "D" was in English, there was an "F" in Algebra. My grounding lasted the whole third quarter in school.
I seriously had nothing to do but get up, go to school, come home, do homework, and go to bed. Since I couldn't read any books (a serious heartache, let me tell you -- which is why my parents took the books away from me), I started writing my own stories. If I couldn't read any, by gosh, I was gonna at least write some!
So I started writing. I wrote a lot. Some were what we now call "Actor Fics" in the fan fiction world because they made up stories about meeting my favorite celebrities, and of course, falling madly in love with them. They included all the cliche's like becoming a famous actress, winning Oscars, chased by photographers, the whole bit. (What can I say, I was imaginative.)
Then came Jasmine Storm. I met her when I was 20, getting over an ex-boyfriend, and I'd just finished reading a Star Wars novel, and frankly, I thought Luke Skywalker needed a love interest. How does a boyfriend figure into this? Easy, the name Jasmine Storm came from him. He'd mentioned it once in passing, thought it was a cool name, and I kept it with me.
Over the next ten years, Jasmine Storm evolved from simple beginnings. She always had white irises and no visible pupil, and long brown hair. And she could kick anyone's butt. From the beginning, she was always some kind of cyborg; originally with no visible metal parts, and eventually evolved into having "the sleeve" of listeele that covered her right arm.
I wrote about her everywhere -- in bars, in restaurants alone (a hobbie of mine when I was younger, eating dinner alone, just to practice good table manners -- I never said I was right in the head), on a typewriter, anywhere I could find a chance.
I remember sitting at the computer desk at home, working feverishly on something and all of a sudden, hearing my dad come in and read her name, and start laughing. I don't know what he found funnier, the name, or the fact that I was writing. I think it was the name. He'd always say "Jasmine.." and start laughing. Ironically, between him and my brother, I think there's probably 20 copies already sold of Unified Souls, Jasmine Storm's debut novel.
She evolved and grew and deepened and became an unstoppable force. She plowed her way through Unified Souls, busting up anything and everything in her path. Oh, and she found love on the way.
Now she's coming out this fall from Aphrodite's Apples.
It's been a long time coming.
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