Sunday, July 12, 2015

Danse Macabre: Dark Awakenings cover?


As some of you may know I've been having cover issues. This is the latest mock up I got. I don't like it as much as the first one my friend did but I'm pretty happy with it, though I am curious as to what others think.

Music! And Other Random Bits of Inspiration.

Nothing Quite Inspires like Ondine

Sometimes I start with a picture, like the above.  There's a tone to it, a mood, a fluidity of movement that tickles my creative juices. It's so interesting because she's the ethereal creature, but in the gif it seems like he's almost a vampire admiring a mortal, closing in... possessing her.

And then there's Music!
Music is always important to me. More often than not it keeps the story going in my mind, and a lot of my characters and chapters have had themes...

 Nine Inch Nails-- With Teeth

Autumn & Aleksi Theme Danse Macabre 2: Dark Awakenings 


Golden State -- Obsession
Autumn & Nikolai Theme Danse Macabre 2: Dark Awakenings


Placebo -- I Feel You
Garrett & Evan's Theme


She Wants Revenge --- Tear You Apart
Aleksi & Autumn theme in Danse Macabre (It's even Aleksi's Ring tone for Autumn)



Placebo -- Taste in Men
Evan's Theme


Adam and the Ants --- Kings of The Wild Frontier
Danse Macabre 2: Dark Awakenings  Chapter 7



Hozier-- Take Me To Church
Aleksi's Theme


Beyonce -- Crazy in Love (FSOG remix)
Almost every sex scene 



Beyonce --Haunted (FSOG remix)
Every other sex scene 





Denmark + Winter -- Crazy
Autumn Theme Danse Macabre 2: Dark Awakenings



Rasputina -- Hunter's Kiss
Autumn's Theme Danse Macabre



Foo Fighters -- Darling Nikki
Garrett's Theme



Imagine Dragons -- Gold
Vlad's Theme



Natalia Kills-- Wonderland
Leslie's Theme


Clint Mansell -- Perfection (Black Swan OST)
Colette's theme

Happy Listening :) hope these songs inspire you some and maybe give a little insight into the characters.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

A sneak peek at the Next update... enter vlad... :)

This is very rough. But it's almost polished... sooo sneak peek :)



When I came to, the light in Tristian’s office seared my retnas. But somehow I could still make out that terror inducing form looming almost in the center of the room. That lean, muscular body, covered in scars stood like a monolith, broad shouldered and clutching that length of black velvet to his narrow waist. My pulse thundered in my ears as I found myself too terrified to even close my eyes—let alone look away. That tall imposing figure was no longer a lurking silhouette in the shadows. Vlad—the mythical Uniter—was awake; and he did not look pleased. Tired, intensely blue eyes gazed on Colette with such profound sadness that even I was moved in spite of the excruciating pounding at my temples. But she didn’t seem to see him as she leaned against… Aleksi? No, he’s dead. That’s Nikolai. A low guttural growl rumbled from Vlad’s throat as he turned away from Colette’s delicate form—it was like he could smell her madness. All of that profound touching sadness boiled to rage so hot I could feel it pressing in on me from the shadows.  My eyelids rose and fell in a slow motion flutter as a sharp pain abruptly clawed behind my eyes, wrenching a whimper from my tight and terrified lips. That pain would not be ignored. It intensified until I could hear it. I had to shut my eyes against the shrill high pitched ringing that accompanied those phantom talons shredding through my brain.  Familiar hands caressed across my shoulders, hands I shouldn’t have felt—Aleksi’s hands—and the pain and the terrible noise stopped abruptly, like someone had pressed mute.
As I opened my eyes, I was hoping, praying that Vlad would be gone like the pain and the terrible noise. But no, Vlad was still there, only now stalking about the room, the heavy black velvet drape slithering behind him like the tail of some dragon...the tail of the red eyed beast on the Dracul crest. He paused in front of the terrified, haggard looking figure with the black hair and immaculate posture. It took a handful of those slow motion minutes for it to fully sink in; the form leashed to Colette wasn’t Aleksi. Vlad’s head tilted from side to side as he assessed the collared traitor in Aleksi’s clothing. He stood inches from that trembling, terrified form. Still Nikolai didn’t see him; those pale pleading eyes were locked on me. And then Vlad, that terrifying specter, turned his attention to me. Look away. He took a step towards me. Look away. Look away. Look away.
My hazel gaze dropped to the floor as a pale freckled hand waved in front of my eyes and Evan stepped between me and Vlad. Muted protests were spoken to me as I stood and backed out of the room. I practically ran down the hall, but I ran in the wrong direction.
 Before I knew it I was standing in that tomb… and so was Vlad. My gaze dropped to the floor as I heard footsteps behind me and the world sped back up to real time. Don’t look up. My body trembled visibly as I watched that heavy velvet slink across the floor.
      “Père!” Colette’s happy voice chirped, followed by the tittering of her heels on the floor. I watched their shadows on the marble as they embraced and he cupped her face in his hands. The gesture was fatherly, and loving as he kissed her forehead. But all of that fatherly love abated as he grabbed the lead from her and yanked Nikolai to him. Someone’s hands closed over my eyes.
      “Don’t look,” Evan whispered to me, as Nikolai screamed…long, loud and blood curdling. Guilt crept in. Isn’t this what you wanted?

      “Papa don’t! I promise, I won’t whip Aleksi again! I promise! Don’t! Papa, je l’aime! Je l’aime! Arrêtez! Arrêtez!” Colette wined through high pitched sobs, chokes and shrieks of lunatic desperation. I leaned my head against Evan’s arm as I started to cry. Was this what I wanted? You wanted a horrible death for him. Isn’t this the second person dear to you that you’ve killed Seer? I swallowed in the dark as I remembered Kendra’s death and I couldn’t take anymore, so I pressed my hands to my ears to shut out the noise. That won’t stop it from happening. Remember what your mother said? Careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Why am I here? Who am I?... and an answer for why I'm so damn mean.

Hi, I'm Christina Quinn
I've never been good with blogs. Isn't that strange? I write, and by write I mean I spend hours a day wriggling my fingers across the keys--and yet, I suck at blogs!

So why then if I know I suck at blogs am I here? Well... the answer to that is that I stared a story a few months back which was supposed to just be a short, simple, titillating story. Now however, that short little titillating story has turned from the cute, little snake that accidentally gets flushed down the toilet... to the massive six foot long python that animal control gets called about six months later. And I'm okay with this. I'm having fun and sharing my work with people who actually enjoy it. I mean, I'm writing about Vampires and Ballet, two things that I LOVE. What could be better? (Other than Ginger men and freckles of course).  And I also want a place I can leave little tid bits of chapters if I'm going to take longer than normal to update. Or, some one offs that are too short to be posted elsewhere.  Also to share my inspiration pictures :)... because for those who know me from some of the sites I frequent I love and I do mean LOVE pictures.

Why Are You So Mean?

I have a nasty habit of torturing my characters, and I don't just mean in the way they like it (*cough* Nikolai *cough*).  I've made characters lose their grip on sanity, die in unsatisfactory ways, and suffer what seems at times to be needlessly. So why do I these things? The answer isn't simple... who the hell am I kidding, yes it is. Agent Smith in the Matrix said it perfectly: 
"Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from."
To me that suffering makes the story more real. Some people lose their minds when a loved one dies. Some people cannot be saved. All of these horrible things are what make the story more real to me...or maybe I'm just a little crazy.


Soo that's me, and that's why I'm here and that's why I'm so mean, lol.

... However I have no answer for why I cackle and giggle while I write these horrible things... ah well there's an answer for another post.