My coauthor, Rachel Wilder, and I like to incorporate body art into our books. Many of our characters have ink that’s important to them for various reasons. We used it most extensively for our lamia, or snake shifter, clan. In mytholody, the lamia is depicted as a woman: half snake and half female human. We got to thinking: where are the male lamias? (Or, using the Greek convention, lamiae.) Baby lamiae have to come from somewhere, right? What if the male lamiae either are human males or male snakes, but no intermediate half man/half snake shape. And, since we write male/male romance, what if these clans of male lamiae stay separate from the females except during mating season? Poof, bachelor tribe.
Taking that one step further, we decided these shifters aren’t wereanimals in the biological sense, (if one can seriously talk biology when discussing weretigers and werewolves and werebears, oh my). They are shifters in a magical sense and their alternate forms were a gift from a god (Shiva, in this case). So how to they identify themselves in the murky hierarchy that is shifter politics?
Tattoos!
See? Wasn’t that obvious? So now, we got to think about what kinds of tattoos? As it happens, they have a large central tattoo, usually along the spine and up around the neck, identifying their specific clan. They add other images based on their age and preferences.
So that leads me to my question for you, Dear Reader: if money were no object, what kind of body art would you either give to yourself or, if you’re not into inking your own body, what would you give to a character and why? What meaning does that body art have to you?
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“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings
**New** SEALED BY FIRE is available from LooseId LLC. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!
The Chicagoland Shifters series:
Book 1 BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Book 2 TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!
The Persis Chronicles:
**Coming Soon!** Watch for EMERALD KEEP from Torquere Books, out April 2015!
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Check out "Seeking Hearts", available from Torquere Books.
Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.
Check out "Taking a Chance", available from Torquere Books! An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!
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