Please say hello to Eli Lang and
Skin Hunger
Escaping Indigo #2
Hello, I’m Eli Lang. Welcome to the blog tour for my contemporary f/f romance, Skin Hunger. Join in on the discussion in the comments and have fun! Thanks for stopping by!
Escaping Indigo Series Inspiration
I’m never sure what to write for these blog posts, so this time, I asked on Twitter for suggestions. :) One of the suggestions that I thought was really interesting was the inspiration for the Escaping Indigo series.
It’s funny—I never planned for this to be a series. I wrote Escaping Indigo as a standalone book. Of course, listening to music and going to shows was a huge inspiration. I wanted to write about how music can hold you up when you’re feeling down, how it can connect you to people, how it can make you feel not so alone.
I drew a lot of inspiration from musicians I know, too, and from having been a musician for a long time, and struggling to make that career work. So, for Escaping Indigo, I thought about those things and developed a few goals for the book. I wanted to write a book about down-to-earth musicians, people who were still on the cusp of being really successful, and still struggling to make it. I wanted to write about musicians who weren’t drug addicts. This is a popular trope in rock star novels—it’s legitimate and there are a lot of fantastic books about musicians that deal with this—but I wanted to write a different conflict. (Drugs and an overdose do play a role in the first and third books, though, so my best intentions went a bit out the window there.) And I wanted to write about Micah figuring out his path, once he knew he no longer wanted to be a drummer. It was so central to him, and I wondered, what would you do if the biggest part of your life suddenly and without warning became something you no longer truly wanted?
I hadn’t planned to write a second Escaping Indigo book, but I kept thinking about this story where the love interest was a ballet dancer, and how different that kind of creativity is from making music—and, at the same time, how similar. Around the same time, I traveled to New England to visit family, and that’s where I got the idea to write a book with a character who also travels home. And then it occurred to me that the perfect character for that spot was Ava, the drummer of Escaping Indigo, and that maybe I could make my single book into a series. After I got home, I started thinking about how to connect Cara and Ava. I went to quite a few shows in small venues, and the idea for Ava bumping into Cara, and the entire beginning of their relationship, is based off of that—and inspired by all the great music I got to listen to.
I had an idea, after writing Escaping Indigo and Skin Hunger, that I’d like to poke around a bit more with Quinn’s character, and see what his story might be. I knew he was the guy who took care of the band, and his family, and his friends, but I wondered what it was that drove him to do that. I played around with a few ideas, but I didn’t have a definitive idea of what Quinn’s story would revolve around, or the setting for the book. Then I watched Sonic Highways, a documentary by the Foo Fighters, where they travel around the US and visit a bunch of different recording studios. I was completely fascinated with the studios, the process of recording, and all that musical history the studios had seen. I wondered what it would be like if Escaping Indigo went to record, how Quinn would feel, and what that atmosphere—so much creativity, so much closeness—would mean for him and the band. I thought it would be intense, but fun.
So I guess it’s always just been letting ideas tumble together until I have enough to write a book. But music has always been the key inspiration, and I hope that carries through in the stories and the characters.
Ava should be living her dream as the drummer for Escaping Indigo. The problem is, she’s secretly in love with her bandmate, Tuck. But he’s fallen for someone else. Being a drummer is still the best, but for Ava, every day is also a reminder of what she can’t have.
With her grandmother moving into assisted living, Ava figures it’s a good time to head home and help out. And if it lets her get some distance from Tuck and his girlfriend, all the better. But Ava hasn’t visited her family in years, and home isn’t really home anymore. Instead, it’s the place she’s been running from, full of memories of everything her parents wanted for her—and everything she didn’t want for herself.
But on the airplane, Ava meets Cara, and the two women feel an immediate connection. And when they bump into each other a second time, it seems like fate. Cara offers Ava something she’s never had—someone to love who loves her back. But to be with Cara, Ava may have to change her whole life around, and that’s something she’s not sure she’s ready for.
Get the book:
About the series:
Micah, a drummer, is hoping to leave the memories of his old band behind by going on tour with Escaping Indigo as a stagehand. But there he meets Bellamy, the lead singer, and he finds himself tangled in a romance that makes him face everything he’s lost.
Ava, drummer for Escaping Indigo, is hoping that time away from the band will give her a chance to sort through her complicated feelings for her best friend, who’s in love with someone else. But a chance meeting with a beautiful woman leads to an unexpected romance that makes Ava rethink her plans for her future.
From unrequited love to finding your way, old friendships to lost dreams, surprising secrets to unexpected encounters, Escaping Indigo has a song to suit.
Meet the author:
Eli Lang is a writer and drummer. She has played in rock bands, worked on horse farms, and has had jobs in libraries, where she spent most of her time reading every book she could get her hands on. She can fold a nearly perfect paper crane and knows how to tune a snare drum. She still buys stuffed animals because she feels bad if they’re left alone in the store, believes cinnamon buns should always be eaten warm, can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the tardigrade, and has a book collection that’s reaching frightening proportions. She lives in Arizona with far too many pets.
Connect with Eli:
Giveaway:
To celebrate the release of Skin Hunger, one lucky winner will receive an e-copy of both Escaping Indigo, the first in the Escaping Indigo series, and Half, also by Eli Lang! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 18, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
Promotional post. Materials provided by the publisher.
Sounds good!
ReplyDeletejlshannon74 at gmail.com
Looks great!
ReplyDeletehumhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks for having me!
ReplyDelete