Wednedsay - A Writer's Words - Write What You Know - by Katie Salidas, author of Immortalis Carpe Noctem

A writer is all about words and guest author Katie Salidas, author of Immortalis Carpe Noctem is visiting today on her virtaul book tour with Pump Up Your Book. She is sharing with us a favorite writers quote and if it ties into the inspiration for her book?

"Write What You Know"

Katie: I think everyone has heard the quote “write what you know.” It’s probably one of the first things we as writers are taught. It makes sense too. You should be knowledgeable in the things that you are writing but that doesn’t mean you cannot write what you are not completely familiar with.
I write about vampires. I’ve never been one so I cannot write them from experience. What I can do, though, is take things and experiences I do know and translate them to the characters I create.

For instance, when writing Immortalis, I needed to describe bloodlust. What is bloodlust? Again, not being a vampire I have no real basis of comparison, but I do know a few other things that might come close.

I’ve struggled with quitting smoking for years (and still do). Addiction is very easily comparable to bloodlust. A vampire needs blood to survive and I am willing to bet, if they were real, missing a meal would be none too pleasant. For a smoker, that morning cigarette or that after dinner cigarette is something of a need too.
When quitting smoking and withdrawal sets in, you feel all sorts of terrible things. You become cranky, irritable, depressed, and short-tempered. Then this little voice whispers in your head that having one little smoke will make it all better.

So, in taking the “write what you know” quote into consideration I likened bloodlust to that of a person who is addicted to the substance. I make the need for blood like an addiction and the lack of it something like the effects of withdrawal.
So, as you see, writing what you know doesn’t always have to mean literally, it just means take what you do know and make it work somewhere in your writing.


About the Book:
Bleeding to death after brutal mugging on the campus of UNLV, Twenty-five year old Alyssa, is rescued by the cold and aloof, vampire, Lysander. Taking pity on her, he shares the gift-and curse-of immortality. She awakens as a vampire and is soon devastated by harsh realities of her new way of life: the loss of her friends, her independence, and her humanity.

As if having her humanity stripped away was not enough to make life interesting, Alyssa finds out her “turning”, did not go unnoticed by the rest of undead society. Old enemies; an ancient sect of vampire hunters, known as the Acta Sanctorum, as well as a powerful Vampire mistress, each set plans in motion to destroy both Alyssa and Lysander.

Only by accepting her newfound immortality, seizing the night, will Alyssa hope to survive. She and Lysander must fight together against two sets of enemies bent on destroying them both.



About the Author;

The youngest of four children, Katie has always had a desire to entertain. Since, early childhood, she's dreamed up fantastical characters and scribbled them into pages of various journals and notebooks. Taking an interest in vampires at an early age, she devoured every book, featuring those blood sucking creatures, in any genre she could find. She claims that, of all the monsters out there, vampires had always been the most interesting.

It was only natural that a love of reading about vampires, and a love of writing, turned into a desire to write her own stories.

A Las Vegas native, having grown up in the famed City of Sin, Katie loves to feature it as a recurring setting for many of her stories.

Follow along on Katie's tour with Pump Up Your Book


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