A-Muse-ment: The Inspiration
Behind Manifesting Destiny
M Pepper Langlinais
Like many writers, I birthed Manifesting Destiny by braiding together
a couple different things in my life. For the first strand of the braid, we
have to go back a bit to when my oldest son, now ten, was just about three
years old. He had seen Sleeping Beauty (the
Disney animated film), and it had made more of an impression on him than I’d
realized. One afternoon as I was getting frustrated with him over something, he
cried, “Don’t let your dragon come out!”
My dragon?
It took me some minutes to
understand he thought I, like Maleficent, was going to transform into a
fire-breathing beast. After getting over my shock, I rushed to assure him that
would not happen. But years later, after his little sister and brother were
born, my oldest would tell them that I’m secretly a dragon.
So there’s one thread.
The second strand comes from
a flash fiction piece I wrote via a blog prompt called “Secret Admirer.” That
piece established Cee and Marcus as high school friends, and that Marcus had
“someone else” inside him. I always knew I wanted to do more with that story,
but I let it marinate as I continued with other projects.
The time became right when a
couple of things happened. 1. I joined a writing group and needed a project to
work on and submit for regular meetings. 2. My kids were finally at an age
where I wanted to maybe write something they could read and enjoy. This perfect
storm is what brought me back to those two strands and got me braiding. (Yes,
braids take three strands, but you get my meaning.)
While looking for something
to write, I opened the old flash fiction piece. And I thought about the now
ongoing family joke that I’m a dragon. And the elements came together. Manifesting Destiny is the result.
* * *
Manifesting DESTINY
(Changers)
M Pepper Langlinais
Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy
65K, Evernight Teen Publishing
Sixteen-year-old
Cee has a hopeless crush on her best friend Marcus. Unfortunately for her, he’s
gay. In the wake of Marcus’s older brother leaving home to join the Aerie,
Marcus has become increasingly distant. When Cee discovers she has a
troublesome dragon named Livian living inside her things grow even more
complicated.
Marcus urges Cee to go to the Magi to have Livian
removed, but the more Cee becomes attached to Livian, the more she questions
the decision. Should she change her natural self for the crush who will never
love her anyway?
Excerpt:
Heat spread through her. Cee’s face elongated, her
arms extended, her nails formed into claws, and her feet became suddenly very
heavy. The bony spires erupted from her shoulders, and Cee was compelled to
double over to allow the wings to grow.
Throughout, Cee fought the urge to resist, though her
instinct was to do just that. She wondered what she looked like, caught a
glimpse of red scales, and realized her eyesight had become sharper. All the
details of the trees around her impressed themselves upon her brain: the cracks
and flakes in the bark, the saw-tooth edges of the leaves, and every little
spot and insect thereupon.
How big was she? Cee realized she was at eye level
with the middle of the trees. She looked down and saw her friends pushing
themselves even harder against the trunks, making way for Cee’s—or Livian’s,
she supposed—tail as it snaked by.
Yes, we’re very pretty, said
Livian impatiently. But we don’t have time for showing off just now.
The massive wings began to move, slowly at first,
gathering speed that put the force of the helicopter’s artificial wind to
shame. Cee realized she had no control over what was happening. It was all
Livian, and she was housed inside him, somehow, along for the ride.
It was equal parts thrilling and petrifying, bursting
through the treetops and being free of gravity. Cee would have liked to spend
more time experiencing it, but there was the helicopter, like a massive black
bug, and Livian went right for it.
About the author:
M
Pepper Langlinais is an award-winning screenwriter, produced playwright, and
author. Her latest novel CHANGERS: MANIFESTING DESTINY, first in a new YA
fantasy trilogy, is now available from Evernight Teen.
M holds a Master of Arts in Writing, Literature and
Publishing and a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film. She has a love
of Shakespeare, having both performed and taught his work, and has also
interned on Hollywood film sets. M worked for Houghton Mifflin and Pearson
before deciding to devote her full time to writing (and occasionally
parenting). She lives in Livermore, California with her family, cat, and
hamster. Find out more about her and her books at PepperWords.com.
****
Giveaway: $25
Amazon Gift Card
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Awesome threads of inspiration! I still think it hilarious your kids think you're secretly a dragon. Good luck with your new release. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting!
ReplyDelete