Behind the Characters’ Personalities
When writing, I like to get to know my characters before I start, so I know how they’ll react in certain situations. In addition to considering the past events that shaped them and their goals/needs,…
Behind the Magic
In my stories, magic is used every day, but it always costs something (Newton’s third law, you know), and that cost can be difficult to control or predict except for small spells. (Although sometimes even…
The Geography of Calatini
When writing, I like to have a general idea of distances and times between places. However, my drawing ability is pathetic enough to make a cat laugh, so I cannot create anything approaching a map,…
Behind the Holidays
All the holidays in my stories are inspired from holidays in the real world, although some are no longer holidays most of us celebrate. Below are the inspirations behind the main holidays in Calatini. Most…
Behind the Words, Part 2
Last time, I described some reasons behind some of my more exotic invented words. Well, here are some more… Mentha Nightmara Venuses (singular: venus) Werebeasts
Behind the Words, Part 1
As I wrote in an earlier post, I like using some invented words, and I prefer using either homophonous spellings or words describing the item. Here are the reasons behind some of the more exotic…
Tales and Themes Behind the Stories
Ever since I was little, I adored fairy tales—I still do. 🙂 So I love including bits and pieces of fairy tales (or other iconic tales) in my stories. Here are the tales and themes…
Behind the Scents
Although I never bother with makeup or chic clothes, I love perfume. It’s easy and fun, but I have to be careful of the perfumes I wear—some scents give me migraines or irritate me after…
The Story of Summer
In honor of the first day of summer, I wanted to share some summertime events and customs of Calatini. For worshippers of the Goddess or the Twins, summer starts with a holy festival on the…
Behind the Costumes
In The Enchanted Bird, The Nightmara Affair, and The Secret Soulbond, the king’s summer masquerade is a turning point for the characters, and this masquerade inspires a second masquerade a few months later. With these…