Author: Brea Essex

Blog Schedule Announcement!

As of today, I will only be blogging three days a week on this blog. I will continue with Why I Love Wednesdays, Short Story Saturday, and Six Sentence Sunday. My Escape posts will still go up on my Team Promethiad blog. You can find the link under the “My Team on Escape” tab at the top of this page.

Although I do love blogging, I need to spend more time focusing on my novels. I am, however, going to be opening up this blog for occasional guest posts by other authors. If you’re interested in guest posting, please contact me via email by using the email icon on the top right side of the page.

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Character Archive: Casting Rhiannon Sorenson

Today I’m going to be sharing my “casting” of Rhiannon Sorenson from my new series The Zayin Chronicles. I thought there would be no one better to be my inspiration for Rhi than Blake Lively.

Now, ever since I “cast” Chace Crawford as Logan from my Shadow Imperium series, I’ve become a little addicted to Gossip Girl. It might seem like a silly show for an almost-30-year-old to watch, but hey, I write for teenagers. What better show to watch to help me remember the drama of high school? (Although, I have to say, there is WAY more drama on that show than there was in my high school.) When I saw Blake Lively, she just screamed Rhiannon for me. She’s exactly how I pictured Rhi.

I couldn’t find any good video clips of her “in action”. I guess YouTube is really cracking down, even on clips. Sorry!

© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.
*Disclaimer: I do not own the photo used in this post.
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Six Sentence Sunday

I’m returning to “Foreshadow” this week for another six!

           A dark fog eddied and swirled around his body.  Lightning crackled at his hands.  He raised his arms and flung them forward.           

            I cringed as the lightning surged toward us.  I couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the way.  I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the shock.  




© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.

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Short Story Saturday: "Bemused" Part Six

            “Brother?” Lorelei asked.
            “Twin, to be more exact,” Delia clarified.
            Lorelei looked back and forth between the two of them. She did see the resemblance. She just hadn’t noticed before. They had the same thick black hair and stormy grey eyes. “Didn’t you say that you hadn’t been here that long?” she asked Darien. “Your sister seems to have been here a lot longer.”
            “I did arrive a while after Delia. The Temple only began accepting men to study recently.” He paused. “Accepting men as students, I suppose I should say,” he amended. “They don’t study men here.” He laughed.
            “So, how did you two meet?” Delia asked. “Last I saw you, Lorelei, you were planning on hiding in our room all night.”
            Our room. So she and Delia were going to be roommates. Delia had failed to point that out earlier. “Well, Darien somehow ended up in the room. Apparently he walked into the wrong one.”
            “That’s funny, considering the men’s dormitories are one flight up,” Delia said, raising an eyebrow at her twin.
            “I was looking for you!” he exclaimed. “When I found Lorelei instead, I assumed I had the wrong room.”
            “Men aren’t supposed to be in the women’s hall,” she reminded him.
            “I was looking for you,” he repeated. “It’s not a crime to try to find my sister, is it?”
            “What did you need me for?” she asked.
            “I can’t remember.”
            Delia laughed. “I guess Lorelei could have that effect on you.” She turned to Lorelei, who had remained silent during their exchange. “He likes pretty girls.”
            Lorelei laughed uncomfortably. She didn’t know how to respond, but Delia continued. “Well, since you’re out of the room now, let’s find you some food. You’re probably starving and we’ll need to get to bed soon.” She took Lorelei’s elbow and stared at Darien. “I can take it from here.”
            He grinned. “I’m sure you can, but I’ll still be joining you.” He winked at Lorelei. “That is, if you don’t mind.”
            She quickly nodded her assent. She wanted to get to know him better, even though his sister seemed to be against it. It was definitely an offer she couldn’t refuse.
© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex. 

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Fun Fact Friday: No Sophomore Slump

On Sunday, I typed the last words of the first draft of “Overshadow”. If you haven’t heard me talk about “Overshadow” yet, it’s my second book (book two of the Shadow Imperium series). I was even more excited and nervous about it than I was about “Foreshadow”, my first novel and the first book in the Shadow Imperium series. I was excited because I really wanted to continue Raena, Logan and Andrei’s story. I was nervous because it’s my second novel. I had a hard enough time completing the first one. Could I do it again?
I’ve heard it said that a lot of people want to write a book, but very few (2%, research says) actually do. Even fewer complete a second book. Some do, but the second book just isn’t quite “as good” as the first. They call this the “sophomore slump”. Granted, no one has read “Overshadow” yet. Even my beta reader hasn’t finished it. I don’t know if it’s any good. I hope it is. All I know is that I had a lot of fun writing it, and I cried when I finished it.
It probably makes me sound crazy to say that I cried when I finished writing “Overshadow”. I didn’t cry because it was over. I cried because I got so caught up in Raena’s emotions that I felt as though I were experiencing everything with her. She’s become so real to me. If that makes me crazy, so be it. I’d rather be a little crazy if it means I’m able to bring readers a believable character.
“Overshadow” is far from being done. It still needs editing and expanding. This was just the first draft. I’m already outlining book three, tentatively titled “Queen of Shadows”. I’ll probably cry when that one’s done too. Hopefully by then, you will all be able to follow Raena’s story with me. I hope you love her as much as I do.
© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.


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Thursday Photos: Foggy Passage

This is another photo that I shared on my Facebook page recently. It was taken in Capitola, the same day that I took the photo I shared last week. I took it just before sunrise, standing underneath the pier and facing the ocean. You can’t even see the water with all the fog. Also, with the heavy, low-hanging fog, it almost looks like a creepy passageway into–well, who knows what? Maybe if you followed it, it would lead you to the Shadow Imperium.

© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.

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Why I Love Wednesdays . . . Why I Love Adrian Ivashkov

Today’s Why I Love Wednesdays post is about a misunderstood character. Now, I know I’ve been posting a lot about various epic fantasy books/characters lately, so I thought I’d deviate from that and talk about a YA character that I love.
My first thought was to post about Logan or Andrei from my Shadow Imperium series, but seeing as that series isn’t out yet, I thought I’d go with a character a little more familiar to some people: Adrian Ivashkov from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead.
Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Dimitri, but I’m totally Team Adrian. If you’ve read my blog much, you know exactly how I feel about those boys who are full of themselves, but really have hearts of gold.
If you haven’t read the Vampire Academy series yet and plan to, or if you haven’t finished the series, you might not want to read the rest of this post. I might get a little spoiler-y.
Adrian first appeared in the second book of the series, Frostbite. While his clove-smoking, alcoholic ways aren’t exactly endearing, his confidence certainly is. I don’t know what it is with me and these “bad boy” characters—my husband is definitely not like that. Never has been.
I love the way Adrian pursues Rose, even though it’s frowned upon in their society—a Moroi (living vampire) dating a Dhampir (half vampire, half human) is just not done. He doesn’t care what society thinks, especially his parents or his aunt (who is the queen). He also doesn’t care that Rose is in love with someone else. He wants her anyway.
The series ended with me feeling extremely sorry for Adrian. He fought so hard for Rose and lost. I can’t wait to read the spin-off series, Bloodlines. I’ve heard rumors that Adrian’s in it and I hope he finds someone even better. After all, who wouldn’t love a sarcastic guy who can sneak into your dreams and loves so much that he’s willing to go against everything he knows?
© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.
*Disclaimer: I do not own the photo used in this post.

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Writing Prompts: "Princess Pink"

Here’s this week’s writing prompt: drabble (100 words) * A Child * pink
“No, it has to be pink!” five-year-old Sarah exclaimed, stomping her foot.
“Why pink?” her mom asked. “Purple’s pretty too. Or, what about this yellow?”
“No!” Sarah shrieked. “Pink is prettier. Pink means princess.”
“Pink is for princesses? But princesses wear other colors too.”
“Pink,” Sarah insisted, sticking out her lower lip.
Her mother sighed. “But Sarah, they don’t have any pink.” She held up the purple dress in one hand, and the yellow dress in the other. “You have to pick another color.”
“I’m a princess and princesses wear pink.”
“Fine.” Her mom put back the dresses. She was tired of arguing. “We’ll try somewhere else.”
© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.
*Disclaimer: I do not own the photo used in this post.

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Playlist Archive: Fallin For You

I thought I’d share another song from my Foreshadow playlist today: “Fallin For You” by Colbie Caillat. I couldn’t find the full video to post, so I just posted one with the lyrics. I may have mentioned this before, but I don’t choose songs for each chapter of my books. I write really short chapters and that would be a lot of songs! Instead, I choose songs that go with overall themes of the books.

I put this song on my playlist for several reasons. I really like Colbie Caillat. I think she has a great voice and is really talented. I think this song really fits for when Raena starts “falling for” one of the guys (I won’t tell you who, because that would spoil things). I think it summarizes her feelings fairly well: she wants to tell him, but she’s not sure if she should–especially considering everything else that happens.

© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.
*Disclaimer: I do not own the video in this post.

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Six Sentence Sunday

Here’s another six sentences from “Ouroboros”, book one of The Zayin Chronicles!

“Well, I never wanted to get involved in—in—whatever this is!”  I jumped up and headed for the door.  There was a large, muscled man blocking my way, his back turned to me.  I reached out to tap his shoulder to ask him to move . . . and my hand passed through him.  I froze and turned toward Zac, wide eyed.  “Am I dead?” I whispered, my voice trembling.


© Brea Essex 2011 ~ No part of this site (written or artwork) may be reproduced in anyway whatsoever without express written consent by Brea Essex.

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