When I last posted about Valentine‘s Writing Roots I talked about the led to the creation of Valentine. The characters in the Miskako Kanna series and in Vengeance Angel Yuka paved the way for Val, Veronica, Lola and the others in the Valentine universe. Now it’s time to focus on the original version of Valentine.

Before the current version of Valentine, which I published via KDP, I published a version with Xlibris. Before that version, I handwrote a version that I didn’t intend to publish. I was just writing a story. That story evolved into seventeen books (nineteen by the time I’m done).

Valentine: 2007

The first handwritten version of Valentine was written in episodes instead of chapters. Why? Because at the time, I was thinking of Valentine as if it was an animated series (my writing style is similar to watching the story in my mind like a TV show or a movie and then writing what I see). The story is basically the same: Val Entienne, her father Vincent and her cousin Veronica live in an apartment in Chicago. Vincent has not returned home from his trip to L.A. to see his boss, John Rafferty. Val has decided to drive her Mustang to L.A. to find him, while Veronica takes care of things at home. Along the way she meets Melinda, gets chased by Jacob, and becomes a literal hero to several strangers. This version ends with Val finding her father, facing Rafferty and bringing Melinda home with her to Chicago. If you’ve read the published version of Valentine, you’re probably wondering: wait…where’s the rest of the story? Where’s Lola Vencent?

Valentine: Mark of the Valkyrie: 2008

The Entienne family moves to New York, and takes Melinda with them. Just as they think they can get back to normal, Veronica finds the word “love” painted on the side of her car. Later, Val encounters a young Black woman with lavender hair, who puts the word “love” on her forehead with a special ink. This woman is Lola Vencent: Valkyrie and hitwoman for John Rafferty. The word “love” is her way of marking someone for death: the LO is for Lola and the VE is for Vencent. She marks Val and Veronica because of Rafferty’s desire to have Val work for him in place of Lola. The confusion gets resolved and Val and Lola end up working together and becoming friends.

When I published Valentine I decided to combine both handwritten books into a single book. If I hadn’t, the first Valentine book would have been VERY SHORT. At the time, I wasn’t planning for the story to take off the way it did. I never planned to write an additional four books or the Valentine Apart series. And I never would have conceived of the Lucia and the Saints prequel series. The best part of Valentine’s beginning, is the fact that it was created as a result of an accident. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the image on the cover of the first book was meant for another book, and a coloring accident provided the inspiration that gave birth to Val Entienne.

I’m thankful for the accident, and I’m thankful I kept those handwritten books. I don’t where I’d be today without them.