The Story Behind the Story

The origin: I was a graduate student in creative writing working on a novel with a very insular love story. I happened to be auditing a class about the narratives of the bible and I cam across the line in Genesis that talks about angels looking down from Heaven and falling in love with mortal women. I knew it was the seed of my next book.

The romance: I was writing the prologue to Fallen the weekend my husband proposed to me, so my personal romantic trajectory has been infused into the series from the very beginning. The coastal Californian setting of Torment is actually taken from the weekend getaway where Jason proposed to me–and Cam’s character is largely based on him. While Luce is not autobiographical, we do share the same tendency to get swept away by romance.

The prewriting research: I sat down with my divinity professor and together we scanned the bible for it’s limited angel references. From there, she pointed me to the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Books of Enoch, and critics like Jeffrey Burton Russell and Harold Bloom. I read for about three months before I felt comfortable with the mythology I’d created for my angels.

Books that inspired me while writing: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (surprising, inevitable, lovely);  The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (for its power and complexity and the way Faulkner deals with time); One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (for the way Marquez moves seamlessly between reality and the fantastical, making the impossible seem possible and the mundane seem linked to the otherworldly.) 

What inspires me now: In the beginning, I had to look outside for inspiration–my husband, books I read, angelology, couples I eavesdrop on at restaurants, etc. As the series went on, it’s been amazing to me that what I find the most inspiring these days are the characters themselves. I’m so devoted to Luce and Daniel’s story. Their journeys and their struggles and their love are the best inspirations I can hope for.

For more information on Lauren and her fabulous books, check out www.laurenkatebooks.net

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