The Spark Behind Forever Night 

Where do ideas come from and how do we turn them into stories? 

I always find it compelling when an author is asked how they come up with ideas to write their novel. But there is one answer that I’ve heard time and time again, and I have to be honest – I hate it! Unfortunately, I am about to give that very same answer!

Forever Night came to me in a dream.

I remember, so vividly, an urchin boy from a castle stealing into the night on horseback to rescue a princess from the clutches of the Forest Black – an eerie place swathed in constant midnight and dark magic.

I couldn’t get the vision out of my mind, long after daybreak the morning haze lifted. So I did the only thing a writer can do to calm a story bubbling to the surface.

The Dream Becomes Reality

 I grabbed a pen and let the scratch of ink on paper sooth the itch in my heart. To be honest, I was more than surprised when the first words came out to be a rhyming verse:

It happened during midnight,
as often these things do,
when the night was as black as a raven’s wing,
and the full moon shimmered blue.

Wait?

What?

A poem?

‘Don’t panic,’ I thought. Maybe this was some sort of prologue. You know how so many fantasy novels start with a little tidbit that weaves its way into the story?

But then the next line and the next line and the one after that. All of them rhyming verse. All of them telling the story I dreamt of in rhyming couplets

And here’s the crazy part – I wrote the first draft of the entire novel-in-verse in little less than two weeks. A 20,000 word poem, boom, on the page, just like that!

Writing a Novel-in-Verse Should be Hard?!

At least I thought it would be. Honestly, I’ve never had so much fun writing – but none of this was planned. I had the vision of the boy and the dark forest and the princess… something about shadows being stolen (you know how hazy dreams can be), and that was it. But still, the story came out whole and complete.

There was no planning, no plotting, no idea really. I discovered the story as a reader would, as each line presented itself on the page without prior thought.

In a word, this was MAGIC.

Sirens, dragons, shadow-snatchers, trickster ferrymen, and devilish forest keepers. All these characters and realms brought into existence as if they had always been. It was one of the most joyous writing experiences of my life.

Despite the rocket speed first draft, editing took a lot of time; poetry needs a certain rhythm that cannot be rushed. And the story also altered from the original dream — no longer did the princess need saving, but she helped our young hero, Caramath, in saving the entire kingdom.

And this is why I believe that stories do dream themselves into existence.

I’ve heard too many times from other authors how stories turn up fully formed, characters who arrive on the page so unique and complete. And although I always used to eye-roll when I heard another famous author say their story came to them in a dream, now I have a bit more respect. I share a knowing nod. A nod that says, yes, this story was chosen for you to tell by some unknown force willing itself to life.

This is magic.

This is creativity.

This is writing.

And I think that’s why us readers love stories so much – these stories weave their magic spell on us as much as they do their authors