Welcome to my semi-creative process! I love learning how stories were written or movies were made, so I always add a behind the scenes look at every full length story that I write. Here's a peek at the process-

The Beginning

This story took a long time to perk up in my mind. I had tried to write other fantasies, but world building got in the way every time. The story never seemed to gel together just right. Until the Ferlands came about.

The first part of the plot became Eliana's history. I knew she would be a prophesied answer to the problem in what had been her homeland. I didn't want her to have memory loss, just no knowledge that she had been born in another land.

Then I thought about some object that would give her the ability or the desire to go back to that land. At first it was an amulet and then it became a stone. Somewhere along the line I added a drop of sunlight into the stone as its source of "magic" but it felt too much like Disney's Tangled so I needed to change it.

I had been reading the Sarah J Maas series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which has a scene including a lake of liquid Starlight. This Starlight becomes very prominent in the series, in a different way than it does in The Ferlands. Her story was a little inspiration.

The Development

As I plotted the story, I looked up names for the characters, and found many that meant "light" from different origins. Aine's name is Scandinavian which aligned with the Nordic feel I wanted for the seers refuge. Claec's name means darkness, by contrast, and it felt perfect for my dark queen.

I did tons of plot notes while on a trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. That landscape became the Ferlands. I also spent that trip listening to tons of hard rock and heavy metal because the swords clashing and the battles gave me that feeling. Those songs proved quite inspiring for the battle scenes!

The Work

Wow, this story was H A R D to write. I wrote the first 50k during the 31 day camp nanowrimo in July, which got me to about chapter 17 plus The Finding and The Fall. THE NEXT 50K TOOK ELEVEN MONTHS! I felt like I would never finish, lost motivation, got stuck on battle scenes, dug plot holes that still need filling... but I finally finished and I've never felt so good!

The Love

Eliana needed someone who held her up, someone who was destined to be by her side. Blaike became that person. I wanted an instant attraction between them, but something had to keep them apart. Blaike was too honorable to put his feelings before his duty, to Eliana's dismay. Thankfully there was a prophecy that corrected his poor judgment and got them on the right track. And don't you just love their story trailer?? Tell Her You Love Her was my message to Blaike.

The Other Guys

Harper and Zolen were planned from the beginning. And they needed to be the slowest burn of the whole story. Just as I started writing this, Anna and Chris (aka Harper and Zolen) split up in real life. I used their characters to ease my pain. If you know my Prattgif obsession, you understand.

BUT- Zed and Zorn just happened in the moment. I wanted obnoxious frat boys so... Nura needed to be the ball buster who could put them in their place.

The Creatures

It was challenging to think of threats to our gangs safety as they traveled. The Oprey was easy. I wanted a physical manifestation of oppression and there you go. The Locelor was a bigger challenge. I don't think either of them turned out the way I had envisioned them. Edits I guess? Maybe I'll crank things up a notch.

The End

Will I write more? Maybe. Blaike has a new part coming up in the Wattpad Block Party, so that's pretty cool! I have ideas about their next adventure: returning the Starstones to the four corners of the Ferlands, using the history found in a Star Map as their guide. Possibly meeting some new characters on the way.

The Thanks

Thank you SO MUCH for reading this! I'm mostly a young adult/ teen fiction writer but I love to read fantasy and have always wanted to write one. This is literally a huge dream come true to have started and finally finished. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming along!

If you like my style, be sure to keep an eye open for my next fantasy, Charmer. I'm actually writing it at this very moment, 15k words and counting. I'm planning to start posting chapters in October. I don't have a cast yet, so if you've got suggestions, I'll take them!

😘❤️