Please provide a brief overview of the Blood of the Drakon setting and storyline.
Drakons are the result of a mating between a dragon and a human female over four thousand years ago. They have the preternatural abilities and instincts of a dragon combined with the intellect and emotions of a human. A deadly combination. The first four books in the Blood of the Drakon series are about four drakon brothers—same sire, different mothers—who are under attack from the Knights of the Dragon, a group of murderous humans who want to capture and control drakons (or as they call them, dragons) and use their powerful blood to prolong their lives indefinitely.
Is there one character in the series which you would date and why?
That’s a tough question as I love all my drakons. But if I had to choose just one it would probably be Ezra Easton from Drakon’s Plunder. As a water drakon, Ezra is able to explore any part of the ocean and even has his own private island off the coast of Maine. I love to explore the beach for treasure. I think we’d have a lot of fun together.
There is a lot of history included in the books due to the age of the Drakon characters; do you do a lot of research before pulling the information into your world?
There is always some research for every book. I know some writers will throw themselves into it for weeks before they start writing. I’ll do minimal research at the beginning. As I’m writing I’ll have a better idea of what it is I need to know. Then I’ll go digging to find what I need.
The upcoming book, Drakon’s Past, is Nic’s book; can you tell us a little about him and why he was the last brother to face the drakon hunters?
I have no idea why Nic’s book came last. It was just the order they came to me. I’m more of a pantser than a plotter and simply allow the characters to dictate whose book comes first.
Drakons live a very long time. As a result, they can be prone to a condition they refer to as the Deep Sleep, where a drakon goes off somewhere isolated, lies down, falls asleep, and eventually turns to stone. No one knows if they’ll ever come alive again. Nic is fighting off the temptation to fall into the Deep Sleep. It’s why he spends a lot of time in Vegas gambling, as well as buying and selling artifacts. He needs something to keep him interested in life. You know what they say—be careful what you wish for. Nic’s life is about to be turned upside down by a woman, some artifacts, and the Knights of the Dragon.
Since he is the last for these brothers, is there a plan for more in the series like another set of hunky drakons looking for the one?
There are more drakon books on the way. Drakon Unchained and Drakon’s Tear have already been contracted. You’ll recognize characters from the original four books, plus there will be new ones introduced.
How do you come up with your storyline ideas and characters?
It always starts with the characters from me. And honestly, I’m never quite sure where they come from. They mostly appear when I’m ready to start a new book or series and tell me who they are. The storyline ideas always come from there. Inspiration is everywhere—TV, movies, overheard snippets of conversation, non-fiction books, magazine articles, on-line quizzes. There’s no limit to imagination.
Who were your favorite characters to write about in any of your published works?
It’s impossible to pick a favorite. I love them all for different reasons.
Do you have a preferred environment to do your writing?
I’ve written pretty much all my books on a desktop computer in the corner of my living room. I need quiet to write so I can hear my characters speak. I basically sit there and take dictation.
Do your characters speak to you and sometimes take you to unexpected places?
My characters are always surprising me, doing or saying things I really didn’t expect. When I write I let the story unfold as it wants to, allowing the characters to take me where they want me to go.
How did you get started in your writing? How long did it take you to get started in writing?
Honestly, like a lot of writers I was an avid reader first. One day I had the thought that I could do this, so I did. I wrote two books, tried to sell them, and then put them away in a drawer. Six years later, I started writing again because of an online contest I saw. When I finished the book, I submitted it to a then fairly new online company (this was in the early days of ebooks) and it was accepted. That was back in 2004 and I’ve been writing ever since.
My first published book was Uncovering Annabelle (originally published as Annabelle Lee). And the two books that I tucked away in a drawer—they were rewritten and eventually published as the first two books in my Jamesville series.
Finally, is there anything you would like to tell the readers about you, your books, or future plans?
I want to thank all my readers. They’ve followed me through all the romance subgenres I’ve written in—contemporary, ménage a trois, sci-fi/fantasy, suspense, paranormal, shapeshifter, vampire—always willing to take a chance. I’ve mostly written paranormal romance these past half dozen years or so and have no plans to stop, but I may go back and dabble in some of those other genres again, just for fun.
In the near future, there will be more drakon books and another book in my Salvation Pack series. I also have a contemporary novella in an anthology being released this summer. As well I’ll be bringing back some older books that have been out of circulation for a while. And I’m already thinking about my next series, whatever it might be.
Drakon’s Past
Blood of the Drakon, Book 4
Constance Owens has a gift for finding unique items in the most unlikely places, which comes in handy since she buys and sells artifacts and antiques for a living. When she purchases a set of four dragon statues, she has no idea just how unique they are, or that finding them will thrust her into a world of secret societies, men who think nothing of kidnapping and murder to get what they want, and dragon shifters.
Nic hasn’t survived for four thousand years by letting his guard down, and he doesn’t trust anyone except his drakon brothers. The loneliness haunting him has been getting worse since all his brothers have found their mates. And when he finds the woman his drakon recognizes instantly as his fated mate, he doubts he’ll ever have what his brothers have, because it seems she’s involved with the secret society of hunters who have been hunting and capturing his kind for hundreds of years.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0786R7LSM/
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iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/drakons-past/id1324091386
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/drakon-s-past
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
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