Guest Post: Author Rebecca Ryals Russell

Today I welcome author Rebecca Ryals Russell to My Reading Room to talk about her new book, Odessa, Book 1 of The Seraphym Wars series which came out March 29, 2011.

Creation of Myrna and her backstory

Ever since the idea for this story began, thirty years ago, I knew the protagonist was a teenaged girl. She always had waist-length black hair, slim but muscular figure, piercing emerald green eyes and non-stop badass attitude. The only things that changed over the years were where she came from and who she was, deep inside.

By the time I finished six to eight (lost count) rewrites and revisions, Myrna’s name and home location had changed about six times. Finally, she landed in Jacksonville, Florida, because I consider that my home and know it intimately. I know the climate, streets, neighborhoods—and they say write what you know. Although Myrna Ashlin Watts grew up in Jacksonville, she doesn’t spend much story-time there because she is immediately whisked away to the planet of the demons, Dracwald, where the story unfolds. However, she leaves a family behind—a family she worries about constantly and feels she must get back to protect.

At the time of the story, Myrna is seventeen-years old and a senior in high school. Two years ago she was walking home from a friend’s house one street over, but it had gotten dark. Despite her father’s warnings, she takes a short-cut through an abandoned property and is attacked by three red-eyed teenaged boys she doesn’t recognize. She is rescued by her younger brother, Quinn, before the boys could do more than terrorize and beat her up a bit. But, just before the story begins, she sees those same boys in a vision and is forced to watch as they do horrifying things to her brother Quinn. The next day, she wakes on Dracwald and is informed of her destiny.