Steph Mangold“It happened a little more than 20 years ago,” Marlene said. Tension rose out of the Widener Center Lecture Hall as students sat on the edge of their seats as L.A. Banks read from her first book of an uncapped five book series. “Minion” has sunk its teeth into books sales since it hit the shelves. Banks said, “This started as a tragedy, a failed attempt. But I kept going and didn’t let anyone tell me what to do.”
Banks began talking to the students and professors about how this was “the road less traveled story.” Banks completed school in 1980 and then in 1991 went into an independent consultant career. At the time she was going through a dilemma and needed to stay at home to make money with a child who needed to be taken care of. Banks found a contest to submit 10 pages of short story content for $2500.
Banks said, “You want drama. You got drama. No problem.” Three days later, she had 75 pages and the book began to grow. “This was the only fun thing that was happening at the time. I was doing a chapter a day for six weeks,” Banks said.
“Writing what you feel is what’s important. Your feelings are valid. If you can’t pull from that experience it’s not real,” Banks said. Her goal was to have the reader get the best ride for their money. Banks tripped and fell into this industry but she said that once she got there she maximized her options. She commented about how she was a romance writer and was not into the vampire genre.
“Dracula has been rehashed as much as Romeo and Juliet. I was having philosophical problems with vampire genre,” Banks said. She went on and talked about how the first book, “Minion,” was 700 pages long and that her editor literally cut it in half. Banks also went on to say that promotions and marketing is the hardest part of this business, not the writing of the book itself. Because of such the huge interest in the books, there has been interest in the Hollywood camp and the television camp.
The book is about Damali Richards, who is a Spoken Word artist. Now her team and guardian stand-up against a group of rouge vampires who have been killing artists. The prologue will trap you in and revel in her world of twisted confusion, adventure and suspense.
“Writing is a timeless enterprise. That’s the beauty of it,” Banks said.
For more information, visit www.vampirehuntress.com
Posted to the web by Stephanie Mangold
