Virtual Book Tour ~ SEARCHING: DRAGONS OF NEW YORK by Rachel Graves

Searching: Dragons of New York (Dragons of New York, #1)
by: Rachel Graves
Series: Dragons of New York
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romantic Fantasy
Release Date: October 17, 2022

Bloodless bodies create a chilling pattern of deaths related to magical jewelry, forcing a dragon and a sorcerer to stop a magical serial killer.

A dragon terrified of being discovered by the government, Ravenna Drake is constantly on the move. When the woman who raised her gets cancer, Ravenna trades her nomadic work restoring black market magical goods for a steady job. But her cautious life ends after her name is found at the scene of a werewolf murder.

Dr. Ian Chen, a sorcerer bonded to a powerful relic, works for the government treating supernatural citizens. He insists on investigating when his patient’s body is discovered completely drained of blood. His search leads him to the beautiful but frustrating Ravenna Drake, who refuses to stay away from the case or follow his instructions.

As more bloodless bodies surface, threats from secret societies and corrupt politicians force the dragon and the sorcerer to work together. If Ravenna and Ian can’t catch the killer, the people they love the most may be the next to die.

Where do ideas come from?

Ideas gather like dew on fluffy rose heads, tiny drops of silvery idea juice that come together in the base of buttercups and on the wings of brightly colored butterflies. If you’re lucky, and you sleep in the right field just when the sunlight is a perfect golden buttery shade, those butterflies will dart by you, shaking tiny idea droplets into your eyes.

Of course, most of us aren’t that lucky, we have to rely one the Idea Fairy. She can be moody, not arriving on time or showing up at the worst time. She usually finds me in the shower, with shampoo in my eye and no way to write anything down. She might just be water based, as I’ve found her at the pool and walking along the ocean. In all of those spots, when a writer least expects it and is completely unprepared, she sprinkles them with bestselling ideas before darting away.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Sadly, actual writing ideas come from seeing the things around you and interpreting them in new and different ways. Ideas spring from asking ‘What if…?’ and spending time developing that wild idea. Reading books and considering how those characters would work in a totally different situation is one way to spark ideas. It works with characters from television shows or people in your life, too. Trapped at the Thanksgiving table with that one Uncle who won’t stop talking about fishing? How would he do against a killer mermaid? Even better, what about a swamp creature?

While it’s certainly not as pretty to picture as silver story drops carried by a beautiful winged fairy, ideas come from hard work. If you aren’t sure about who your character is, define them, what they like to eat, what scares them, who they love. Write out gobs and gobs of backstory, complete a D&D character sheet, find photos in magazines that match your character. Once you get to know them, imagine them in a situation, how would they react? What would they do?

Getting an idea isn’t the hardest part of writing, following through on it is. Once you get a tickle of an idea, start writing and keep going! Ideas flourish when you pay attention to them and spend time working on them. And that’s no fairy tale.

“Someone like me?” He raised his eyebrows at her. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” She spread her arms wide in defeat. “That’s just it, Ian, I don’t know. I want to know, but all I’ve got now are guesses and ideas. You use magic, and that’s great. But you aren’t going to use me.” She pivoted on one foot and started to walk away from him.

“Raven, wait.” He reached out and caught her arm, the muscles under his fingers hardened immediately.

“Do not grab me.” Her voice was an angry hiss.

“No, that’s not, I just…” He let go. “Last night was wonderful. This isn’t how this is supposed to go.”

“No, it’s really not.” She pinched her eyes shut for a second. “I thought we’d had this fight already.”

“We did. But something tells me we’ll have it again anytime I’m worried about you.”

“It’s not your job to worry about me, Ian. Not even a little.” Her head dropped down, resigned.

What’s so wrong about wanting to keep you safe? He scrambled for a way to explain something so obvious. A car pulled up, blocking the alleyway, and he tensed again.

“No, don’t worry, you don’t have to,” she put her hand on his arm, the touch gentle and reassuring. “That’s my ride. Ian, I… Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You, too.”

She nodded back, and he struggled between the need to see what Tony was up to and the desire to climb into the car with her and keep working this out. Because I know we need to get past this, but damned if I can think of how. You look sad, Raven, tell me why. Let me help.

Instead, she got into the car and he went back inside the shop.

Excerpted from Searching: Dragons of New York by Rachel Graves. Copyright © 2022 by Rachel Graves. Published by arrangement with Rachel Graves.