Author of Twisted and Turned, T. Lyn Fletcher
Bite This! A Vampire Books Blog recently introduced readers to T. Lyn Fletcher, an emerging author in North Carolina who is currently finishing her upcoming supernatural/vampire book series entitled Twisted and Turned. Lyn also recently tantalized the crowd in attendance at the EyeCon Celebrity Autograph Convention in Atlanta – that one focusing on the TV series “The Vampire Dairies – and was overwhelmed by the eagerness and anticipation her future readers expressed.
Following is a Q&A with T. Lyn Fletcher, an author who is certain that her book series will take readers of the genre “on a journey unlike any they’ve every experience before.”
Q. We keep calling you an “emerging author.” Have you written fiction before?
A. “Actually, yes, I have. Many years ago, I took a stab at writing a novel. While I had a blast in the process, I let it fizzle to concentrate on my ‘big girl’ job. I’m a medical software program designer. I don’t actually write the software code, but I do create the premise of the program. Then I will match it with those people that know what they are doing, guide it and manipulate it until it is completed.”
Q. What inspired you to write the Twisted and Turned series? From where did the name arise?
A. “I could talk about these questions for days, but I will try to give you an abridged version to keep from rambling. The series was born from a dream. I went to bed, everything totally normal, not giving any thought to writing a novel – heck, not even writing a letter. But when I awoke on June 1, 2010, my brain was filled with information percolating from a very amazing and life-like dream — so life-like that I was told by my wake up service they called for 10 minutes before I finally answered the phone! Once up, I immediately transcribed the dream to paper, assuring I accurately remembered it. You’ll read the entire dream in the first book of the series, UnHoly Union, as its prologue. The dream is long and complex, but I can share a few key points to get your imagination on board. Just imagine a gorgeous, male vampire with dark brown, captivating eyes resembling Johnny Depp’s, coupled with the sight and smell of lavender-spice attraction candles.”
Q. Can you give us a synopsis of the story?
A. “I personally like to think of the series as a true love story of supernatural proportions surrounded by intrigue, mystery, and plain, old-fashioned demon hunting. The story begins when an archangel in heaven falls so deeply in love with a human soul that she arranges to be born on earth in the same place where this soul will be born. She falls to earth — not without notice, mind you, by the Powers that be — and is born into the powerful Fletcher family. The soul she so deeply loves is born into the equally powerful Gillespie family, but not as a single man. This soul becomes twins – stunningly handsome twin vampires. Yes, vampires can be born in my books, and the men, if they choose, can reproduce with the right partner.
“Yet this archangel is destined to find and fall in love with one of the twins – even though her most natural instinct is to destroy demons. To make matters more interesting, the vampire twin whom she falls in love with is every bit a demon, despite his ravishing good looks. In human form, the archangel even bears children from this unlikely and unholy union. And from there, the Twisted and Turned series spirals forward as a never-ending conflict between love and hate, good and evil, angels and demons, witches and werewolves, sorcerers and shape-shifters, and passion and control.”
Q. Where did the title of the series come from?
A. “You know how you just know something sometimes? Well, in this instance, that was not the case. I struggled with what to call the series. I have to tell you, as I work on book number three, I know why the name chose the series. The stuff that is happening in this book – wow! Once again, the series’ name came from yet another dream. I know it sounds corny, but it is fact. In this dream, I was standing in a bookstore and spotted Nicholas Cage – yes, the Nicholas Cage — standing stone still in one of the aisles. He was looking at a particular book, and without warning looked up at me, grinned, then slammed the cover shut, showing me the binding, which simply said ‘Twisted and Turned.’ As he walked away, I slid over and picked up the book. Instantly I recognized a drawing of a familiar New England mansion. It was then that I did simply ‘just know’ — and all thanks to Nicholas Cage!”
Q. Where does the content “come from”? Why the supernatural bent?
A. “Where the content comes from, well, I have no clue! Seriously, I just started writing about these characters and it’s been ongoing ever since. Maybe it’s the fact that I resonate so closely with the main character that keeps it flowing. I’m not sure. But what I am sure of is that there is absolutely no method to my madness. I never know what I’m going to write until I sit down at my computer and it reveals itself to me. It’s almost like I’m watching a movie in my head. And for those days that I can’t write, I simply feel ill. I just think it was the right time. I can’t hide, I’m not a ghost anymore. Fate has finally found me.
“That, and the fact that I grew up around the supernatural. It just makes sense to write about it.”
Q. What do you mean by “I grew up around the supernatural?
A. “Many of the characters are autobiographical. My main character’s name is even ‘Lyn Fletcher.’ The supernatural isn’t a foreign subject within my extended family. The names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.”
Q. What do you feel sets your series apart from other supernatural/vampire series?
A. “Twisted and Turned will lead its readers on a supernatural and occult journey unlike any they’ve ever experienced before. At the recent EyeCon Celebrity Autograph Convention in Atlanta – this one focusing one of my favorite shows, “The Vampire Diaries” – people seemed to be especially intrigued by the archangel-vampire connection. I’m also confident that my readers will be stunned by the many unexpected ‘twists and turns’ the books take, such as believing you know a particular character to finding out you didn’t know him, or her, at all.”
Q. Do you have a specific writing style?
A. “I typically write in third person. In essence, I write from every character’s perspective. However, there are a few times in the series that I am finding it important to write first-person. It depends on the situation. I simply write it as I see it.”
Q. What books, if any, have influenced you?
A. “Oh my, I love to read, but I have not picked up a book since I started writing. I wanted my series to be fresh, without carry over from anything someone else has written. Honestly, I have never read anything like what I am producing. I do have to say that the Harry Potter series happens to be one of my favorites, though.”
Q. Do you intend to write other books?
A. “Yes.”
Q. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in the writing?
A. “Stopping!”
Q. What are the challenges — research, literary, psychological — in bringing your characters to life?
A. “Sometimes It is hard for me to write what I see. There are very intense scenes in the series. And I promise you, I am so emotionally tied to this series that most of the time I am spent by day’s end as it is so thought-provoking and emotional.
“Research for me is paramount. If I write a spell, I want to make sure it works first. [The author winks here.] And if I write something about Ariel or Michael – the archangels – I want to make sure it is historically correct. My research has taken me to the book of Enoch, and all over the web. It is amazing what you can find and how hard you have to dig to find it.”
Q. What are you learning about yourself as you write the series?
A. “That I have a twisted imagination.”
Q. When will the series be completed?
A. “Book one and two are complete and in final editing. Book three? Hopefully within the next few months, if not before. I am seeing four on the horizon.”
Q. Will you seek an agent and a traditional publishing house or self-publish?
A. “Traditional.”
Q. Do you intend to keep writing after you finish Twisted and Turned?
A. Yes, I love this work! Why would I stop? I am sure there are many more stories that I will be lead to tell.”
To keep up with the progress of the Twisted and Turned series, visit the T. Lyn Fletcher website at www.tlynfletcher.com and follow Lyn’s Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/ioLPXF.
Scott Prussing is the author of the vampire romance / fantasy novel 
A medical software designer by day and a member of the philanthropic Fletcher family of Raleigh, NC, T. Lyn Fletcher began writing Twisted and Turned on June 1, 2010. The series is now with editor Jill Yris of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and illustrator Darla Yanko of Cary, NC.
Tracey was born in Australia, where she discovered her passion from writing. In March of 2004 she started going research into her own family history, and it was there that she got an amazing idea for a book. She states on her site that the “story came into my head, screaming to get out, about an Irish girl who works for an English captain as a governess/nanny for his children while their mother is very ill. Set in Australia in the early 1820s.”
