Inspiration in the Darkest of Times?

As I prepare myself to view (for the possibly hundredth time), the wonderful world of Harry Potter, I am jolted, once more, by a desire to write.

It is no secret that the Harry Potter books were what inspired me to finally write (and finish) my own stories (up until then I’d only written and completed poems, nothing more), and when I closed The Deathly Hallows, I was struck with an intense…I wouldn’t call it a desire, more like a severe…impulse, to merely write my own story. Now, I had already known what I would write about (Vampires) and I explain all of this and more in my About the Author Page, but just the fact that this…simple story could inspire me (and so many others, I’m sure), is something that has not left me. Not even to this day.

Whenever I am lacking the inspiration necessary to continue my own story (and it just so happens I find myself in a lethargic rut regarding my current work-in-progress, The Immortal’s Guide), I reach for any one of the Harry Potter Books perpetually ready at my side. I read. I read. And I read. More often than not, they give me greater insight into the colorful world I see in my head about my own story and just how exactly I can give it the right touch to make it appear on paper.

Doing this (not every time I find myself tapping my forehead against the wall, mind you), has helped put me on the right track enough to quickly put whatever book I use for inspiration down and to continue writing my own story.

Excerpt from The Dark World.

This brings me to any piece of fiction with colorful characters and wonderful worlds. Lord of the Rings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and many more all give me that sharp desire to continue to flesh out my own characters, their own stories. I am motivated by the magic in others’ creations. And isn’t that the way it should be?

Since publishing my first book The Dark World, I’ve gotten kind words and emails from friends (and people I don’t know) asking me, not only how I went about publishing my book, but by how I inspired them to continue writing their own stories, or giving them that push to finally start their own at last.

It only shows me that creation constantly breeds inspiration and it makes me feel a bit better about being stuck in my current creative rut. Because I know, like the many that came before it, that it won’t last, inspiration will come, and the words will flow.

For now, I lift my late afternoon cup of tea into the air, nod my head in acknowledgement of all the writers out there, stuck in their own writing, their own heavily-burdened thoughts, and I wish them the best. For we are not alone.

And as one brilliant Wizard said,

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.“

Inspiration is always there, is it not? We need not go high and low over the valleys of some lost terrain to find it, we need only recognize that it is always there, in many forms, in many ways, to remind us that what is deep within our hearts can always come forth if we will just let it.

-S.C./Sheron Parris

The Process, Thoughts, and Mind of S.C. Parris

Pen names, writing tools, different genre ideas, how these are to be implemented, it's all a matter of choice, isn't it? As I'm knee deep in the middle of Chapter Fifteen of The Immortal's Guide, re-visiting previously written sentences, dialogue, structure, and character thoughts, ideals, and needs, I'm hard pressed to think about all I have done thus far, all I have accomplished, and the long road ahead that will require much more stamina and dedication than the last book required.

First page of The Dark World novel.

S.C. Parris came to me by simply initializing, quite literally, the initials of my first name and the then middle name of mine (I've since then come to realize I have no middle name; thank you birth certificate; no thank you, mother for misleading me for all these years), and my mother's maiden name and voilà! The pen name for my Fantasy series was born.
Since then, I've worked on other novels, other short stories, and other books, but I've decided to go with Sheron Parris for them. Why? Well I feel S.C. Parris is a part of me that loves the macabre, shuns the mundane, relishes in the struggle, delights in death, mourns in life, and above all FEELS. I think you'll be hard pressed to find any work of mine that does not deal with life or death situations, drastic change, the parting of ways, or the intense joining of two or more souls. S.C. Parris, I like to think, is my writing mind - the place I go to when I sit down to literally pen, or type my latest fantastic thoughts, or my Vampire's troubles.
Sheron Parris however is quite mundane, but with just a touch of fantastic ideals. Her characters shall be realistic with a bit of grandiose ideas thrown in for good measure, but I deem their adventures to be fairly simple - well as simple as adventures can get. They will be the characters and worlds of the modern day and age, but if there are secrets and just the sliver of the different and drastic, then there they are - for one cannot admit real life is any bit less than the fantasy worlds they create can they?

So there you have it. The reason behind S.C. Parris. So when you see another book I have out there, perhaps Judgment shall be next or another version of X, don't be surprised when it's under Sheron Parris; you'd already know what to expect from it. :)

And one last thing before I go, a lovely friend of mine by the name of Leah has recently started talking to me about a book she's writing. We've been sharing ideas and such as well. :) Here's her blog:

A Literary Inferno

A Literary Inferno

Don't be a stranger, now. She'll be writing about her process, her thoughts on writing and such as well before she self-publishes. Help her out some?

Ah yes, and I plan to do a few videos regarding my books, and a few regarding acting and my music when I have any more down time. (Or I just stop being plain lazy.) :)

Keep it tuned, lovely writers. :) And never stop writing!

-S.C./Sheron Parris

Excerpts from The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel

He looked up just in time to see two large figures flying overhead, their blue and black cloaks flapping wildly in the wind.

They landed with no sound at all upon the pavement of Xavier’s manor.

“This is not normally our job—”

“Never been asked to do it before—”

“But General Vonderheide requests your presence at his manor—”

“Instantly, it would seem—”

“Rather important—”

“Very grave—”

Xavier stared at the Erasers in front of him. He had no trouble identifying who they were for it was stitched clearly against their cloaks. The Erasers flew across seemingly every inch of their cloaks, done with white thread most brilliantly.

“Victor requests my presence?” Xavier clarified, for it was hard to understand them before; they jumped upon each other’s sentences, finishing the previous one for the other.

“Most grave,” the taller of the two repeated. His face lined with a dark expression, telling Xavier that these two were not joking in the least despite the manner in which they spoke.

“Of what priority would you say this is?” Xavier asked them.

The shorter of the two, with a small face and short red hair, pulled out a small piece of paper from his cloak. He cleared his throat, reading it with the air of someone addressing Dracula himself, “Is it not something I can discuss in front of the Erasers, Xavier, but you must go to my home the moment the Erasers have read you this note. Lillith will be there, filling you in on what has happened. I, after acquiring the Erasers to locate you, am heading to Damion’s manor. I fear the human woman is in grave danger. And yes, she’s been found Xavier. All will be explained by Lillith, I’m sure.

“ -General Victor Vonderheide,

“Secondary Lord of the Vampire Order.”

-The Erasers: Chapter Sixteen; The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel

Available here.

Read on to view another excerpt after the jump.