Interview with paranormal romance author Debbie Christiana

I am honored to welcome my friend and fellow Black Opal Books author of Twin Flames, Debbie Christiana, for my very first interview.

Thank you, Nana, for having me as your guest today. I love to talk about Twin Flames, past lives and writing, so you many never get rid of me. I thought it might be fun to add a few brief facts or theories about past lives before I answer the first question.

The idea of reincarnation appears to have been around since the Iron Age. The Greeks, pre-Socrates era held a doctrine of reincarnation as did the Celtic Druids. Hindus, Buddhists, New Age and several million others that don’t affiliate themselves with a particular religion or philosophy believe in reincarnation. That’s about a quarter of the world’s population. While it may seem to people living in the West to be a new, wacky religion, it’s really an old concept that many advanced cultures believed in or still do.

Do you believe in past lives?  

One of my characters in Twin Flames, Mariella Tremonti says, “None of us know anything for sure, but we’ll all find out one day.”  While that’s true, I find myself leaning towards a big YES!

I’ve had many déjà vu experiences - which I love when they happen. They pass so fast I wish I could hold on to that feeling and remember what it is that is so familiar about that moment. But I never do. I’ve also met a few people that from the minute we’re introduced, I feel I’ve known them forever, the conversation is easy and everything clicks. I’m still close friends with each one of them. On the other hand, I’ve met two people in my life that from the second I laid eyes on them, the hair on the back of my neck bristled. Not in fear but they made me extremely uneasy and agitated and we hadn’t even spoken. I also think it explains many issues in our lives; phobias, uncontrollable fear of certain things, our bad habits as well as many other things. I guess I’ll find out for sure someday J

Where did you get the idea for Twin Flames?

Well, I’m a bit of a romantic and I love unusual love stories. My mother was a big believer in reincarnation and books on the subject littered our house. I started reading them and became fascinated. Being an avid reader, I always wanted to write so it just seemed the natural thing for me to start with. I was in my favorite Italian restaurant in New York City at Christmas time and the waiter at the bar had a beautiful but strange tattoo that covered most of his arm. When I asked him about it all he would say was “It tells a long involved story.” That’s when I had it.

Some people say that the characters write themselves. Is this how writing Twin Flames was for you?

Yes. I had the story in my head for a while before I sat down at the computer so it just flowed from me. It was as if Marc and Natalia hired me to write their story. They dictated and I typed.

When Marc and Natalia were undergoing their past life regressions, I wanted them to open more doors.  The stories you told about their past encounters were wonderful and it made the connection between them that much stronger.  Sorry, no question here, just wanted to express my opinion on the matter.

Thank you, Nana. That was the hope when I wrote it. Marc and Natalia will be opening more doors, because I’m working on the sequel. I’ll keep you posted.

Where did you find all those wonderful quotes about past lives?

The internet can be a wonderful thing. I Googled quotes about past lives, reincarnation and soul mates and voila, there were hundreds to choose from. I love quotes so reading through them was a labor of love.

The grapevine (your blog) has it that you have a book coming out later this year. Please tell us a little about it?

Solstice is a romantic suspense that will be released by Black Opal Books. The heroine, Sofia, is a Strega or an Italian hereditary witch that must break a curse on her love, Armend’s head by his thirtieth birthday on the winter solstice. Their adventure takes them from New York to the ancient ruins of the Goddess Diana’s temple in Sicily and back to New York while being pursued by a psychopath who wants them both dead and the curse intact.

It’s a little darker than Twin Flames but it has its share of light and humorous moments, and it was a blast to write.

Before you go, please give an analogy of what writing is like for you. This is hard and I’m afraid I may have come up with a lame analogy but writing draws me to it like iron to a magnet.  I can’t stay away from it. Thank you again, Nana for inviting me today. It was a lot of fun.

Thanks for spending your time with me Debbie. I can’t wait to read Solstice when it comes out this year. Move fast on the sequel to Twin Flames because I’m getting antsy to read it.

TWIN FLAMES - BLURB

The last thing forty-year old Natalia Santagario expected was to be sitting on a Manhattan barstool ogling a man she has never met, but swears she knows.

The mysterious dark-haired woman at the end of the bar stops twenty-eight year old Marc Tremonti in his tracks. His head assures him she’s a stranger, but his heart tells him otherwise.

Their attraction instant and enigmatic, they travel back in time only to discover they have spent hundreds of lives together as lovers and Natalia holds the secret to Marc’s puzzling birthmark.

But their reunion in this life is complicated by a kind, albeit confused almost ex-wife, an unfortunate accident and a temporary bout of amnesia.  When a mischievous ghost from their past decides to help them, what could possibly go wrong?

Twin Flames is available through BlackOpalBooks.com, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble and Smashwords.

Contact Debbie:

www.debbiechristiana.com

Twitter: @DebChristiana

Facebook: Debbie Christiana, author