Jumping Genres by Stacy Eaton - 'Whether I Live or Die' Blog Tour!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Stacy Eaton to my blog. Stacy is a full time Police Officer, so she's able to write her  fiction from a real hands on perspective.

Stacy has a couple of things in her fiction that tie into mine - her first novel 'My Blood Runs Blue' is a paranormal novel about both law enforcement and yes, you guess it, vampires! The second is that her latest novel, Whether I’ll Live or Die, which was released on July 13th, is a fictional story about a young woman named Amanda who deals with the pain and emotional issues of Domestic Violence. As most of you know, this was also the situation of my own main character, Serenity. 

Anyway, Stacy is here today to talk about jumping genres, so I'll shut the hell up and let her talk! Take it away, Stacy!

 Jumping Genres by Stacy Eaton

I met Marissa Farrar after I read her novel “Alone”. A paranormal novel that I really enjoyed! The fact that it contained aspects of domestic violence really interested me too.

As a writer in the paranormal genre with two book published in the “My Blood Runs Blue” series, I jumped genres to write a more general drama fiction novel called “Whether I’ll Live or Die”.  Some people don’t believe in genre jumping, but I actually enjoyed it!

Since my life as a police officer is filled with everyday drama, I enjoy writing in the paranormal world. Taking a step away from real life and adding in tidbits of fantasy helps me alleviate the stresses in my life.  So why did I jump genres and write a general fiction novel when I am already known in the paranormal world?

Because this story needed to be told… that’s why.

Marissa did a great job in her paranormal series weaving the victim of domestic violence into her story, and I have praised her both personally and publicly with reviews.  I needed to take this topic a step further and dig deep to make sure that people understood the seriousness of this problem in today’s society.

I found that one of the biggest differences in writing the two different genres was keeping my mind in real life. Not adding bits of fantasy that are so regularly a piece of my thought process was a bit difficult at times, but this story is so intense and emotional that after I started moving through it, I never thought again about adding fantasy to it. This was a story that needed to be real, 100%!

There are some writers that don’t believe in jumping genres. They believe that you can only stay in one. To me that is saying, Hey… This is your ride at the amusement park, and I know when you are up at the top of your roller coaster, you can see all the rest of the rides, but you’re not allow to get on them. You have to stay here and keep riding this one. 

Guess what… NOT!  If I want to jump off this coaster and go jump on that twirling thing that spins me so fast I want to puke, then guess what I’m gonna do it!  And guess what… I did!

Whether I’ll Live or Die is a very emotional and gripping story about Amanda, a young woman, who is pulled from one relationship to another, always looking for love, but finding abuse instead. As her years pass, the abuse because much harsher.  Officer Nicole Nolan is a new police officer who has to learn the ropes of life on the streets and the legal ramifications of domestic violence in our society.

The story is intense… and there is one final destination, but will it be Life or Death?

As a paranormal fan, when was the last time you stepped off your roller coaster and tried a different ride? Don’t you think it might be time to try it out, just once?  Try it… you might like it! I know I did!

Thanks so much, Stacy! I know I'm a bit of a genre whore and not only write in different genres, but even in different names! It's a great way of stretching your writing muscles! I hope everyone will check Stacy's books out at Amazon: or Barnes & Noble:

You can find out more about Stacy by following these links to her 

Website: www.stacyeaton.com

Twitter: @StacySEaton

Blog: http://stacyeatonauthor.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacy-Eaton/191880767522183

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4826711.Stacy_Eaton

Video Trailer Link to You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg6hnujjhmk&feature=youtu.be

Life in a Box - A Post by Serenity.

I first wrote this post for Darcia Helle's campaign to bring awareness for women trapped in violent relationships. I thought I'd share it here as well. I also hope you click the link to take you through to Darcia's blog and read some of the comments left there. Some of the real life stories made me realize just how important it is to get things right in fiction when you're dealing with such a sensitive topic.

Life in A Box

 I live my life in a box.

On all sides rise sheer walls of fear. A roof of humiliation presses down on my head so I’m forced to crouch, to curl up in a ball. Bound across my mouth is a gag of shame. I cannot speak about what the person who is supposed to love me the most in the world does to me.

And I cannot escape.

My husband, Jackson, hits me in all the places no one else can see—the ribs, my lower back, my thighs.

Each time it happens he comes to me, curls up behind me, pressing his body against mine. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he tells me. ‘Why do you make me do these things to you?’ As though this is my fault.

Yet in many ways I feel responsible. The abuse didn’t start until after I lost our first pregnancy.

We’d both been so excited, but then I woke one morning with blood in my underwear—too much blood—and a visit to the doctor confirmed our worst fear, I’d lost the baby.

I blamed myself and saw the accusations in Jackson’s eyes. Ruining one of our pans while cooking dinner was enough of an excuse for him to take his loss out on me.

Afterward, he’d been so apologetic. We cried in each other’s arms and he promised it would never happen again. Except I would hear those words many times in the years to come.

Then I fell pregnant a second time and, once again, lost the baby. With the next I managed to reach twenty weeks gestation but, at the twenty-week scan, the technicians were unable to locate a heartbeat. That one had been the worst. I gave birth to the child, an impossibly tiny, doll-like baby my body had killed.

The next time I became pregnant, I kept the pregnancy a secret. When I lost that one at eight weeks, I sobbed in private and tried to act like nothing was wrong.

My life has no meaning. Incapable of nurturing a child inside of me, what is the point in my existence? My body kills my own babies; as though I’m poisonous, toxic. I hate myself for it.

Consequently, the beatings I receive on a regular basis are nothing less than I deserved. I can’t blame Jackson for hating me. After all, my body has denied him a family.

Ironically, Jackson doesn’t tell me he hates me. If anything he is vocal about his adoration. ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’, he tells me over and over, as though those three little words will heal my wounds.

I start each day judging the mood of my husband. If he’s in a bad place, his temper radiates from him like heat. On those days I do everything I can to avoid setting him off, but he’s a tightly wound spring and looking for a fight, a release to purge his anger.

One time, he dragged me out of the shower by the hair and beat me with the shower head until I passed out. I woke up naked and freezing on the bathroom floor. In so much pain, I had to drag myself to the bedroom. I couldn’t even get on the bed, so I just lay on the floor with a towel over me, trying to stay warm until Jackson came home. When he finally rolled back from the bar, I asked him to help me and he laughed. He told me if I behaved like a dog, I should sleep on the floor like one.

Do you know what really got to me?

To this day, I have absolutely no idea what I did to deserve that beating. I wracked my brains for weeks wondering if I’d left the breakfast dishes out or if I hadn’t cleaned the floor well enough. I was so paranoid, whatever cleaning I did, I checked, and checked, and checked it again to make sure I had done the job right. I didn’t question my husband’s state of mind to beat me as he did; I questioned my own ability to do the God-damned cleaning!

I know people will never understand my position. You’re probably thinking yourself, ‘Why doesn’t she get out? Why doesn’t she leave?’

All I can do is bring you back to that box, the one I’m trapped inside. I cannot see a way out so I hide here; hoping and praying one day things will change.

That one day, someone will help me out.

~*~

'Alone', Book one in the 'Serenity' series, is free to download from a number of different sites, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Giving Something Back: Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month in the States.

Domestic abuse can happen to anyone; whether the abuse is physical violence, controlling behavouir, or threats. In the UK, two women a week are killed by abusive partners and in the US, three women a day are killed by their spouse.

Even celebrities can be affected by domestic violence. In 2009, the world was shocked when pictures of the young pop-star, Rihanna, were leaked to the public. She’d been beaten up by boyfriend, Chris Brown after a Pre-Grammy party. Her injuries were bad enough to make her cancel her own performance at the event.

Rihanna’s experience got the world talking, but the truth is that thousands of women live with domestic violence every day, and for the most part the public turn their heads. One in four women in the States report being involved in some kind of abusive relationship at some point in their lives, and those are just the women who will talk about it! Many women refuse to admit or speak about what they are experiencing at home.

When I was younger, I was in a controlling relationship. The guy in question cheated on me and I found out. After I forgave him, (more fool me) he completely changed, turning the tables on me. All of a sudden, I was the one who he was suspicious of. He berated me with constant accusations and threats. I ended up never wearing make-up and always wearing baggy clothes to avoid the endless questioning about who I was dressing up for. I stopped going out or seeing my friends.

I’m not a weak person by any means. I’m outgoing and confident, yet this person managed to get around all my defences and I didn’t even realize what was happening. It wasn’t until he threatened, ‘If I ever see you with someone else, I’ll kill him and then I’ll come after you’ that something clicked. It was like someone took blinkers off my eyes and I remember thinking, ‘hang on, this isn’t normal. This isn’t right!’

I was lucky. We weren’t living together and I had a great support network around me so it was easy for me to give him the boot. But I can totally understand how another woman who might be married to this type of person, who has children and their lives tied to them, would struggle to make the break.

A while ago, I ran into my ex standing in front of a local supermarket. My reaction... I hid. I ducked down behind the nearest car and then crawled between the vehicles to get into my car and drove away. Even after several years, the person created an instant reaction in me. I’m normally someone who doesn’t take any shit, but from this man, I fled.

The main character in my novel, Alone, is a woman trapped in an abusive relationship. She was a challenge to write because most female characters in urban fantasy novels are strong, snarky, kick-ass heroines. My character, Serenity, was none of those things. She’s tortured, both physically and mentally, by her abusive husband, Jackson and can’t see an escape.

Serenity was difficult to write because I wanted the reader to be on her side without thinking she was a weak person. Her inability to leave comes from years of abuse and it’s all she’s ever known. She doesn’t know how to exist in a life without a controlling man. I wanted to make the reader understand how it feels to be in her shoes and empathise with her as opposed to dislike her for not having the strength to tell her ass-hole husband where to go.

I’ve had some complaints from readers about the violence in the book and how it made them ‘uncomfortable’. Good. Domestic abuse should make people feel uncomfortable. For me, these comments simply mean I did my job right and portrayed domestic violence as it should be – cruel, unnecessary and horrific.

The character in my novel does change and she also finds someone who will help her (in this case, a vampire!) but many women remain trapped in these relationships.

To give a little back, for the month of October I’ve decided to donate 25% of all revenue earned from the sales of Alone to the charity, ‘Refuge’. It might not add up to much, but at least it’s something and I hope everyone else out there will take this month to think about all the women (and some men) trapped in violent and abusive relationships and maybe even give a little something to help.

'Alone' is available to buy from Amazon and Barnes & Noble for $0.99.