Guest Author and Giveaway: Nalini Singh on Inspiration and Influences

“Inspiration and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspiration and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today our guest is Paranormal Romance writer Nalini Singh. Nalini Singh is the creator of the hugely popular and consistently good Psy-Changeling series, as well as the new Guild Hunter series. Her newest book, Branded by Fire , the sixth in the Psy- Changeling world, will be released on July 7th. She is also one of Ana’s favourite authors and Ana loves Nalini Singh’s books so much she has become a Nalinisingh-a-holic.

Without further ado, please give the floor to Nalini Singh:

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Inspiration & Influences
a.k.a. In which Nalini rambles…

I once saw a little girl walking along the street with her mother. She was bouncing in that way kids do and her dress, a pink dress with a ruffle around the edge, lifted up with each bounce. Her shoes were white lace ups and she had on ankle socks. And her smile, it said she adored her mother more than anyone or anything else in the world.

One day, I’m going to write a story about that little girl.

For me, inspiration comes from everywhere, from pieces seen, life lived, and thoughts had. With my changelings, I remember being unhappy that in all the shapeshifter books I was reading at the time, all the movies I’d seen, being able to change shape into an animal was considered a bad thing, a thing to be fought.

Why??

Wouldn’t it be completely AWESOME to turn into a leopard and go prowling through the jungle? Imagine what you’d be able to smell, how fast you’d be able to run, the way the wind would ripple through your fur.

(Original Image from Wikipedia )

So my changelings adore both halves of their selves. And it doesn’t hurt for them to change—because they are both.

As for the way they move…I did a lot of research on big cats, but I also remember watching a neighbor’s cat prowl really, really slowly through the grass, stalking imaginary prey. I didn’t move myself until the cat pounced. A miniature predator not so far from his bigger cousins.

In Branded By Fire, you’ll get to meet some winged changelings. I think they’re completely cool. Flying’s probably the super power I would most like to have. So it was kind of inevitable I would one day write about angels. Thinking back – the first story I ever won a contest with, was a short story titled “Angel.”

I’ve grown and developed as a writer since then, but that passion for worlds beyond our ken has always remained. I think, for me, inspiration is not something you ever put limits on – it’s present all around us, every day, in different forms. Yesterday, I saw another neighbor’s cat racing down the road like a streak of white lightning…only to come to a stop for a man who appeared to be a stranger. She even let him pick her up. Who was this man? Do you think he can talk to cats?
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Nalini Singh is the NY Times Bestseller author of the Psy-Changeling series. Born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand, Nalini has been writing as long as she can remember. Her stories always held a thread of romance (even when she was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). She loves creating unique characters, loves giving them happy endings and she even loves the voices in her head. There’s no other job she would rather be doing.

You can read more about Nalini Singh on her website here

A HUGE thank you to Nalini for the article!

Giveaway Details:

We have one copy of Branded by Fire to giveaway to one lucky winner. The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada, and will run for 48 hours only – as we know how anxious you all are to read it! To enter, leave a comment on this post by 11:59 pm on Thursday July 2. Winner will be randomly picked and announced on this post on Friday morning.

Good luck!!

ETA: Thanks to all that commented!

The contest is now closed!