A half hour after midnight:
Well, on the 18th (yesterday by a half hour, I mailed out the last of the prizes for the Twin Fox Ring Contest and the Forbidden Game Contest. The last of them are sent, now, except for one person who lives in England. Abbie R., I have written to you about clarifying your address.
It's so sad . . . but what with customs forms and possible custom charges to the winners, I may have to confine my contests to the USA and Canada. I'd hate to do that, but I'm running into brick walls with other foreign countries.
I'm already thinking of a contest, to see who wants who to pair off. I mean, should it be Delena? Stelena (okay, I made that up, but it's what my publishers want), or Bonnie and Damon? Don't send in your entries yet, because I want to make a real contest of this.
I had a serious fashion attack and went out and bought all sorts of clothes. I don't know why I'm writing about this, but it seemed important when I started.
Again, anybody who comes up with a name for the new arc of Vampire Diaries books (the three after The Return) will get not only a book, but a lovely ring with one black and one white flower, from Eve's Addiction. It's no toy ring, either! But better yet I got a real black and white diamond ring for those who are stuck between Circle Daybreak and their ties to the Night World. Gotta do a contest for those!
Okay, one more thing: Delena fans, you are depressing me. Read my lips. You have NO REASON to think that Stefan will win the girl. But this is a series, and with three new books coming you can understand that I can't have Elena choose one of the boys just yet. There wouldn't be much of a love triangle left if I did. So be patient, continue to be polite (thank you for the fact that nobody's being snarky), and smile. I can't make promises, but you have no cause to be sad. Hooah? :) Smile! :)
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I woke up today feeling efficient and romantic. I have no idea what that means, but I thought I'd put it together by putting up the answer to a question I got not long ago about how I had used the "silver cord" image in many of my trilogies. I searched what's left of my memory and tried to trace the usage.
By the way, for those of you who are still entering The Forbidden Game Ring contest (or, dear me, The Twin Fox Ring Contest) the winners have been randomly selected, informed, and have written back. I hope to mail the Forbidden Game rings (with Tiffany chains and a personal note from me) out today. Then I'll post the winners' comments.
And if you're wondering why I've been too busy to mail them yet, I've just emerged from a very intense session of negotiation with the result that, barring my publishers rejecting Midnight, there will be a new arc of three books in The Vampire Diaries series. My choices for titles are Phantom, Evensong and Eternity, but first thing this morning my agent informed me that they are looking to me for suggestions for a name for the entire arc (the last one they called The Return). If anyone has a nice title and no use for it, email me. The books are about Elena and Stefan et. al. starting at Dalcrest College, and finding themselves playing the role of Spirit Hunters (already suggested by me) or just plain hunting serial murderers who may or may not be mystical. If you do think of something, and we use it, I'll send you an autographed book!
Here's the email I sent:
Hi R.--
You pose a very interesting question about the origins of the silver cord and the soulmate principle. Back in the 1990s when the first four Night World books were written, I took two legends and put them together. One was the myth (prevalent in the Far East) that all people in love have a red string that connects their little fingers together. At the same time, in the western countries, a New Age idea had come up that people who have out of body experiences are connected to their bodies by a silver cord. I thought that the silver cord sounded more romantic than a red string, and that it should connect the lovers from heart to heart instead of pinky to pinky. So the soulmate principle was born--but I didn't know it yet. I actually don't remember if I used it way back in 1990-91 for the first four Vampire Diaries books--I don't think so. But I did use it in Shadow Souls, the second of my new trilogy of Vampire Diaries books, the arc called The Return.
As for the Secret Circle, that was supposed to be a one-off usage of a metaphor for Adam and Cassie's love for each other. That may be when I actually created the silver cord for the first time, and it was connected to the chalcedony rose that Adam gave to Cassie. The two were connected, so that the person who had the rose was the true person Adam loved.
Still back in the 1990s, I wrote the Night World series, and there everything came together. I wanted to have the silver cords bind only soulmates together--not just lovers, but those who were born to be like half of a puzzle piece that could only connect with another half. So the soulmate principle was born. You can love your soulmate, as Poppy loved James, or fear your soulmate, as Hannah did Thierry, or even hate your soulmate, as Mary-Lynnette originally did with Ash. But the soulmate principle will bring you together, regardless of your everyday feelings. Imagine how Sarah Strange of Strange Fate, the last, LONG overdue Night World series when she sees two silver cords connecting her to the two guys she loves best in the world. Can I say confused? Maybe flummoxed is better.
And the silver cords have an additional function that won't be explained until Strange Fate finally comes out--I hope and pray in 2011. Something that may make it all make sense at last.
Thanks, R, for a question that led to a whole new blog. I'd never really thought it through before . . . and watch me get two hundred emails the day after I post this saying that I did too use it in the first Vampire Diaries books. So much for my memory.
