Behind the Book: Moon series by Lisa Kessler

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Behind the Scenes with the Moon Series Wolf Pack

At book signings I’m often asked about where I get my ideas, and do I plot out my books and series or write them by the seat of my pants, so I thought I’d tackle both questions today!

Wolf Moon is actually the 7^th book in the Moon Series. I do my best to be sure every book stands alone, so you can jump in at book 7 and you shouldn’t be lost, but I secretly hope it’ll make you want to go back and get to know the Pack from the beginning.

The Moon Series actually began with a short story. I’d been trying to get my first book published (Night Walker) and I was getting discouraged. I worked part time for a small literary paper at the time and we interviewed Ray Bradbury. He ended up coming to speak in San Diego and I got to meet him. Life changing moment!

When I asked him how I could improve my writing, he smiled and told me to write a new short story every week for a year. He said I’d be a different writer by the end of the year and I’d have ideas to last a lifetime.

So I did that. In fact, I had so much fun that I did it for 18 months! During that challenge, I wrote a short story called Moonlight. The story takes place during new moon so there is actually no moonlight, and she shifts into a jaguar. Cue the entry of a werewolf coming in to kill a jaguar shifter in their territory and you have Adam and Lana. And I couldn’t stop thinking about them. In the end, I kept writing new stories every week, but I also expanded Moonlight. I couldn’t let Adam and Lana go. I had to know what would happen next.

The entire Moon Series was inspired by one short story with a strong West Side Story feel. I finished the novel version of Moonlight and also Hunter’s Moon, book two in the series, all while writing a new short story every week. The short stories also gave me another series, The Muse Chronicles from another tale I wrote during that year.

And if you’ve read Beg Me to Slay, Lago, the demon informant in that story, was inspired by another demon I wrote in a short story. The inspiration from short fiction is always driving my longer books.

Now what about plotting? I still don’t plot out books before I write them. For me, the thrill of writing is finding out what’s going to happen next. I usually know how it will begin and end, but I have no clue how it will get there. For the Moon Series it has been an organic process that has been a huge thrill to write.

Wolf Moon features Luke Reynolds, the last man in the Pack without a mate. Readers got to know Luke in book 1 and had to wait 6 books to final get Luke’s story. As the writer of the series, I was getting to know him too, and wow did I ever fall for him!

As an author, there are certain characters that make you laugh, some that make you cry, and others that inhabit your heart like they’re flesh and blood. Luke was like that for me. He was willing to sacrifice everything, even his life for Raven’s freedom and safety. And when push came to shove, I got to witness him grow into a leader I never realized he would someday be while I was writing book one.

Those discoveries are my favorite part of being a writer.

So I hope you’ll come along on the journey of the Moon Series with me. There’s always room for you in the Wolf Pack!

~Lisa

About Wolf Moon:

As the last Pack member without a mate, Luke Reynolds has become an outsider. When he takes a job as the head horse trainer in Sedona, Arizona, he’s looking forward to starting a new life. But everything changes the night he finds a beautiful woman stranded on the side of the highway.

Raven Wood has been bitten and turned against her will. Luckily, her spirit is stronger than most, and she has every intention of escaping the Sedona Pack. Somehow. The sexy lone wolf who rescues her might be just the answer she’s looking for.

But the Sedona Pack Alpha has a mission, and unless Luke and Raven can stop him, they’ll lose everything.

Note: Each book in the Moon series is a standalone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order.

Find it online:

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Goodreads

About Lisa Kessler:

Lisa Kessler is an award winning author of dark paranormal fiction. Her debut novel, Night Walker, won a San Diego Book Award for Best Published Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror as well as the Romance Through the Ages Award for Best Paranormal and Best First Book.

Her short stories have been published in print anthologies and magazines, and her vampire story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award.

When she’s not writing, Lisa is a professional vocalist, performing with the San Diego Opera as well as other musical theater companies in San Diego.