The beginning of every idea starts in the strangest places. Amaranthine started with a chicken. Yep, a chicken. I had a little idea about what it would be like to have a pet chicken that someone else wanted to eat. The chicken quickly turned into a duck because I like ducks better and they are more charming. Then I came up with the story of how the duck appeared, the duck got a name. Who loved the duck? Astral. Why it was so important to protect the duck at all costs? Dead mother. It all kind of snowballed from there.  My original idea was that after fleeing her parents' farm with Sabie Astral meets and lives with Davn, which is the same, but in the original version she discovers his secret and, horrified, she flees and hides from him. She thinks he doesn't know where she is and she starts a new life. She has the 19th century equivalent of a boyfriend, she has a job, she's happy. Then one day she's in an accident, a carriage runs her over or something and as she's slowly bleeding to death Davn reappears and takes her away, changes her and slowly has to regain her trust and her love.

That story didn't have enough ooomph to it. It didn't have a clear villain. There was no climax at the end, it just sort of fizzled for the last 100 pages and there was no where to go for book 2. So it all got re-invented into the book you have before today. I like it a lot better. Saraid was born, Maksim came to life, Georgianna thumbed her nose on every other page and Helene cast her serenity and wisdom on everything. And now I have a clear path for book 2 and 3, so it all worked out for the best.

It's hard to believe a whole book can come from one little chicken.

I think the obvious main character in AMARANTHINE is Astral. The book revolves around her. It follows her. She's in almost every scene. But, sometimes I think the main character is actually, Davn. Just like in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the main character isn't actually the main character. Dr. Frankenstein is the title character, he's followed from beginning to end, he's in the book far more than his monster, however, the Dr. isn't really the main character. The book is structured to tell the tale of how the monster came to be. How he was shaped, how he was made, why he ended up the way he did, and why he did the things he did. The Dr. is the mirror that reflects the story of the monster, and so is Astral.  But at the same time she is the actual main character. The story is her story. But in telling her story I have to tell Davn's as well. Is it possible to have two main characters? It's very circular.

On a positive note, if I've told both sides of the story in the same book I won't ever have to re-write it from Davn's POV. Which, I'm sure I've mentioned before, is a shameless cash grab, and a cheap trick to write two books without having two ideas.