About a year ago, I was inspired. I was inspired to write a supernatural fiction novel that was not like any other.
I wanted to create a scary vampire and include ethnic characters and thus….The Gray Ones was born.
What started off as simple research about vampires and their history, I discovered a brief (and I mean brief) tale of vampires known as the Asasabonsams.
The Asasabonsam aka Gray One
These creatures hail from African folklore and date back to the early 1200s, crazy right? There were described as creatures with humanoid features, long claws, slimy flesh, string white/gray hair and “unnaturally” long legs with hooks for feet. They also had massive bat wings and iron like fangs. They had originally preyed on farm animals and soon craved human blood.
What can I say? I was hooked when I found out about these vampires and then the process of developing a story began.
I started with my main character….Daniel. I wanted him to be strong but weakened by various pieces of his past.
Then I created Estelle, Daniel’s mother. A woman of Haitian descent with strong psychic abilities and a past darker than midnight.
Once I developed the son and his mother, I wanted a strong backstory that would unravel as the story progressed. So, I made Daniel a former ward of the state, an orphan in a way. After Estelle turned mute after she found out that her husband was killed. Estelle’s condition left the authorities no choice but to take Daniel and Estelle committed herself to a mental institution.
Daniel was only eight years old.
He goes on to spend the rest of his childhood life living in an orphanage in Rockford, Illinois, where at the age of eighteen he is released and begins to live life on his own.
What you learn about Daniel is his obsession with the monsters that plagued his dreams since he was born….The Gray Ones. His mother told him tales of them as a younger boy and he researched them as much as he could growing up.
It was when Daniel left the orphanage, that he decided to put the monsters away, become a man and see his mother. He sees his mother every day, in hopes that she will break her silence and answer all the questions he has about his father and his family.
Estelle’s silence kills him but he’s confident that his mother will speak when the time is right…..but he wants to know when.
Ten years after his “freedom” and Daniel still clings to his faith in his mother breaking her silence but Daniel’s simple life becomes complicated when he rushes to save an old friend and come face to face with his childhood obsession.
From there….the ish hits the fan with the addition of new characters, dark secrets and uncharted love.
I love this story; I fell in love with it when I finished my first draft of the plot itself. I spent the entire month of November writing the novel (Thanks NaNoWriMo!) and I took December off to give the novel a “rest”. I have been uber anxious all month long to dive back into the novel and start my first revision.
This novel is my baby (one of the many 
) and I feel so strong about this novel that I plan to pour my heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into its completion. I plan to blog about my progress with the novel, along with some brief introductions of the characters too on the following pages: Updates and Meet The Characters.
It’s going to a long process but I am so excited and I know that the Lord did not bring me THIS far with this novel to just let it sit and collect dust in a folder.
Never that!
If you have any questions about my novel or just want to show me some love and support on this journey, feel free to comment below or email me at geishacafefiction@gmail.com
Until next time all…..Stay blessed
