Elizabeth is an author friend of mine. We have a lot of interested in common. Today we hear how she accidentally created a podcast for the Paper Flower Consortium.
The Paper Flower Consortium is the universe where several of my vampire novellas are set. It is also the name of the largest vampire coven in Seattle and the title of my new Podcast. Every 1st and 3rd Friday, Loretta Fabron Onfoy, the current historian and librarian covers all topics concerning a vampire’s existence: legal and illegal transformations, vampire powers, crosses and the sleep of the dead, the importance of an Earth collection, and an eternity of taxes. She then recalls an applicable story from a vampire or enthralled human.
The podcast was not planned. It sort of developed out of a series of mistakes I made.
I created the Paper Flower Consortium Universe when writing my comedy-horror novella, Immortal House in 2018. Laurence Roch, the main character in the novel, is seeking his forever home within Seattle while trying to remain within budget. However, in the book, there are four segments when we learn about Laurence’s history and meet vampires of his acquaintance most who are members of the local coven: Paper Flower Consortium. This book was supposed to be a standalone. Something to clear my mind.
However, by pre-release reader’s response, even before Immortal House released, I decided to write a book following the character Norma Mae Rollins. However, trying to write a book about the too-young vampire in the same vein as Immortal House, proved to be a challenge. Though I wrote funny lines, this coming of age story wasn’t funny. After all, it starts with the attack and accidental transformation of a fourteen-year-old girl. I also knew since this was an illegal transformation, the Paper Flower Consortium didn’t just take the girl in, train her in her gifts, and held her when she got overwhelmed—though from Laurence’s perspective that is what happened. I also knew Norma never stopped missing her mother, her dog, her friends. And I knew Norma would always be an outcast.
So I had a not-funny vampire comedy with plot holes someone could drive a truck through, because it made the book even less funny. I set that book aside and wrote a novellas, about Norma’s vampire “grandpa” Derrik Miller, thinking that might help me fill in the gaps of Norma’s story. Nope. It just gave me more material. So I set that aside, but I still wanted to write a book about Norma.
I started fresh during the 3-day novel writing challenge. (Be clear I did not write a novel in three days! I wrote 19,000 words of garbage.) I thought about the story I wanted to tell: who Norma is today. Not her tragic past or who characters (and readers) think she is when they see her, but the fast thinking, fast talking, Norma of Norma’s Cleaning Service the most profitable subdivision of Paper Flower Consortium who employs a shade and watches out for the other vampires of the greater Seattle area. She is especially close to her vampire grandpa, Derrik, and his wife, Pascaline, but is an outcast within her coven due to her outer appearance. What genre of book makes sense for that Norma?
I decided to do something I do not recommend authors do. I moved this series away from horror comedy that was Immortal House and wrote three cozy mysteries: Death Pulls a Stake Out followed by Death Hears a Siren and Death Sticks a Pixie (and two more coming!) While working on The Norma’s Cleaning Service Mysteries, I wrote the other back stories for the vampires of the coven who helped Derrik raise Norma.
Agata’s story is told in Honor Among Vampires 2019 and Jakub’s story is in, Chivalry Among Vampires, 2020. There will be books for Pascaline, Loretta, Charles, Derrik, Xiao, and Alice for sure. Perhaps one for Norma’s creator, William. These novellas are being released in chronical logical order from oldest vampire to youngest, not in order written. Some are tragic, others are just adventures.
Even so, I still had a ton of material that didn’t fit into any planned or unplanned book, about the younger vampires, enthralled humans, merfolk, werewolves and zombies. I even have a story about a vampire horse and another about a ghost dog which Norma brought home. Not to mention the Initiation Guidelines and other laws.
What was I going to do with all this stuff?
Using the questions fans asked when I saw them at the 2018 and 2019 conventions, I realized all these little stories could be a podcast! As I already have a heavy outline of Loretta’s book (not yet written) As she is the historian and librarian, I knew it made sense that Loretta was the narrator.
The genre is paranormal horror, though some of the stories lean towards horror comedy, paranormal fantasy, or even Gothic horror.
I have twenty-five regular episodes planned and 3 bonus episodes for Summer Solstice, Halloween and Christmas Eve. I just have finished recording Episode 7: Crosses and Coffins which will release on June 19th (June 12 for patrons! https://www.patreon.com/paperflowerconsortium ).
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Listen to the Paper Flower Consortium on Buzzsprout, Spotify, ApplePodcasts, or on your favorite podcast player. Learn more about Elizabeth Guizzetti and the Paper Flower Consortium at her website.
