The Blood that Flows (story behind a story)

Hi Ink Drinkers!

Today, as I announce chapter eleven of The Blood that Flows, I thought I would take a moment to tell the story of how this book came to be.

One night I had a dream.  In my sleep, a story played out in front of my closed eyes.  It was one where vampires were hauling off my sister and I had to save her.  The details are a bit fuzzy, but the dream did not come out of left field. During that time, I had been arguing with my sister about her life choices, some of which made me very unhappy.  

In order to cope with my frustration with my sister, I decided to write out the concept of the dream in a short story.  Dreams do not usually provide good material for books as they don't follow traditional story-telling patterns.  Usually, they're just a jumble of images your brain spits out when you're passed out.  If anyone comes up to me saying, "I have a great idea for a story.  I had this dream last night!"  I roll my eyes and wish I was dead until they trail off because what was so vivid five hours ago is little more than a wisp of memory now.  In truth, I don't remember anything more about my dream than there were vampires and my sister was in danger.  

I made up my own story and it ended up being much larger than a short story.  The finished manuscript is actually 46,000 words long, which is a novella to some people and a full-blown novel to others.  By the time I was finished writing it, my soul was at peace.  My sister could do whatever she wanted and I could love her without controlling her.  

I hope you all enjoy the story!

Stephanie Van Orman

Novelist