Tina Traverse, of Newfoundland, Canada, has written Destiny of the Vampire. She is a stay-at-home mommy of 2 boys, ages 11 and 2.
She says that she has never written professionally, but “have been writing 30 of my 38 years.”
Traverse writes in the “Supernatural/Romance/Drama/Horror anything to do with Vampires too!” genre.
In the author’s words, this is a synopsis of Destiny of the Vampire: Declan and Sebastian St. Clair head out on a fishing trip with their father when a unforeseen storm sinks their boat, carrying their father beneath the waves. The brothers wash up on deserted island where for 5 months they fight to survive and escape until an accident ends their life. They however wake up as immortal creatures of the night hungry for human blood. Declan and Sebastian are forced off the Island by their creator and live their lives carefree until a single catastrophic event forces the brothers to succumb to all too human destructive methods to numb out the pain of their dark secret.
Her characters have very detailed backstories: Declan St. Clair is the elder brother of the two and has been always very protective of Sebastian before and after his vampirism but sometimes he does not show it. While he was a responsible before his transformation, he was laid back and aloof and a little wild. After turning into a vampire, Declan becomes more wild and out of control, drinking excessively, having one night stands with multiple female partners who he uses for sex and blood. Is often sarcastic and hostile toward Sebastian and his aloofness turns into a full devil may care attitude and narcissism. However deep down Declan uses this new personality to hide his self loathing and shame of the dark secret he is carrying around.
Sebastian, is timid, shy and plays the part of the self martyr to the tilt often because he is so consumed by guilt from the secret he shares with his brother. To numb out the pain and guilt of this secret and blood lust, he becomes addicted to a very human fatal drug, known as blood wine. There is another side to Sebastian though, though he is sweet, kind and timid it is his love for Hope Serenity his long time/long lost love that gives him the strength to stand up to his brother, and to overcome the burden of his guilt.
Hope Serenity, is not only Sebastian St. Clair's long time love, but she is the psychiatrist who not only helps the St. Clair brothers with their addictions and the root cause of them, but she also becomes very close to Declan.
Oh yes, she is a vampire with a tragic past as well.
“Declan and Sebastian St. Clair were inspired by Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley's characters of Damon and Stefan Salvatore of the Vampire Diaries. I hope I done them justice.”
Traverse’s inspiration for what she writes just comes to her. “I really don't decide what to write, my imagination decides for me. Anything at all can inspire me, I could, like I did for Destiny of the Vampire, watch a TV show/movie and draw my own tale with my own characters. I can have a dream and plot out the entire story for several days or even weeks in my mind as if it were a movie. Or it can be something as simple as a picture, my favourite place I go for peace and quiet or even my own family, like my son Christian who has autism and I wrote a story about him to work out my feelings about his diagnosis.”
One thing that is challenging for Travers as a writer is, “ I have faced many nights of going to bed very late because I was so caught up with a story, and suffer a lack of sleep because I would then have to get up early with my sons. I have also suffered the cursed writer’s block after writing too much and coming up short and be stuck for days or weeks. This sometimes happens too when I have too many stories that I am working on at the same time. Getting peace and quiet with two screaming boys running around with their father working a lot certainly puts the crimp on my creative stride.”
When asked about favorite authors, Travers replies, “Oh, I have so many. So hard to narrow down. But if I had to say just one out of the long list it would be Stephen King. I love his work, how his stories can spook me to death but I still go back for more. Also it is his personal story before he was famous on how he and his wife struggled for so long with practically nothing, that inspired me to get back into writing after a hiatus when I gave up hope...and keeps me dreaming and working knowing that this labour of love may pay off. But if it doesn't, that is ok too because I love this craft so much that I do it for the joy of it.”
Traverse jokes, “No, I am just about perfect...NOT!” when prompted to reveal an interesting fact about herself. However, she does have coping mechanisms and support in place for when depression brings her down. “My bff and I suffer from depression and often we have a dark cloud following us, but once a week we get together and seek out something funny to experience like a funny movie, read a funny comic book, go out dancing and get a little crazy or go for a walk and when we know someone is behind us make up a crazy story to see if they listen...often they do and when we get home we laugh and laugh!”
Aspiring writers will be eager to hear the advice that Travers imparts. “This sounds like a cliché, I know, or like I am recycling the same old advice we all hear, but it does not stop it from being true. A very famous author told me once that if I truly, honestly loved writing to write every day, keep on working hard and never give up on my dream no matter how difficult or hopeless because in the end it will be worth it. She was right. It took me 30 of my 38 years to take it upon myself after rejection and uncertainty to take a tale I believe in and publish it. The only thing I would have done differently is to not wait so long and to not take criticism and/or rejection personally.”
We can find Traverse’s work online at:
https://www.createspace.com/3905972
http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Vampire-Tina-Marie-Traverse/dp/147764332X
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/destiny-of-the-vampire-tina-marie-traverse/1112280712
We can find Tina Traverse at:
https://www.facebook.com/DestinyOfTheVampire FACE BOOK PAGE.
https://www.facebook.com/tina.powertraverse PERSONAL FACE BOOK PAGE
WEBSITE/BLOG: http://tinasdestiny.wordpress.com
TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/TinaTraverse1
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15997064-destiny-of-the-vampire
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