Guest Post: Where Ideas Begin by Jennifer Cloud

Jennifer’s Unleashing Darkness is available from Violent Ivy Press, or you can check out this awesome giveaway for a chance to win a free copy!

Many people have asked me why I wrote the book Unleashing Darkness. I’ve never been good at faking clever, so I usually shrug and claim ignorance on the place where my ideas spring. In actuality, Unleashing Darkness, came from a very negative place.

I’m sure everyone has had one of those days. It seemed like everything I touched turned sour. Even the people I encountered seemed angry or despondent. I imagined it was me causing the strange events and from there sprung Lotty Black.

Lotty has a gift and a curse. She can cause every sin committed to rise in the transgressor’s mind and torment their soul. Imagine such a power. For once, when someone wrongs you, you could cause them to feel the damage they’d caused. There would be no waiting for Karma to kick their butt, you could watch them actually be sorry for what they’d done.

Then again, what would it do to someone to watch another’s torment? The entire thing would be a complete mind f@@k.

For some reason, a love interest sprung to life in these pages. The simple act of taking a lover would be entirely different when the power of touch could cause a suicide. Trust would go beyond little bedroom games. A slight to a woman with that sort of power could have dire consequences.

To make matters worse, I found people out to kill Miss Lotty Black. The knowledge that someone wanted her dead, bothered her. She’d often questioned her existence and perhaps the right she had to live.

Just like with all of us going through a difficult time, Lotty questions her contribution to society and her worth. I think there were days when I too easily tapped into this character. Then again, a novel was born in those dark places.