From a Living Room Joke to a Living, Breathing World: The Birth of My Fantasy Series

Hey there, and welcome to my very first blog post! I’m so thrilled you’re here. I thought long and hard about what to share with you first, and it hit me: every great adventure has a starting point. So, let’s rewind the clock and go back to the moment this entire journey began. Spoiler alert: it involves wine, a lot of laughter, and a very persistent imaginary friend.

The Original Spark

Picture this: three (older) university students, huddled around a table intending to share our love of reading, and well, talking about it! That was the "official" reason we got together. Unofficially? We spent most of our time dreaming.

We’d joke about joining our craziest ideas together to write a book. We even spent a whole evening trying to smash our last names together to come up with the world’s most ridiculous pen name! In the middle of all that silliness, a crazy idea landed in our laps. "Okay, hear me out," one of us said. "What about a story with a female protagonist who lives in a world where the absolute worst thing you can imagine... is totally normal?"

For a moment, we all stopped laughing. The idea was electric. It was dark, it was weird, and we loved it.

Back then, that story looked totally different. The characters, the plot, the setting—it was a completely different beast. And, like most wild dreams, it got packed away when life got busy. We never wrote that book.

The Idea That Wouldn't Die

Years flew by in a blur. I focused on raising my children as a single parent, somehow went back to school not once, but twice while still maintaining my career to finish my degrees, moved to a foreign country, falling head-over-heels in love, and Life was full and beautiful and left very little time for daydreaming about a girl in a dark world.

But that idea? It was patient.

It would resurface at the strangest moments. While throwing together last-minute dinners for two voracious eaters. While waiting for coffee. On a long walk through a city that felt both foreign and like home. A new detail would pop into my head. A twist on the old plot. A voice that belonged to a character I didn't recognize.

I started keeping a notebook by my bed. I’d scribble these fragments down, half-asleep, not really sure what I was building. I was just obeying the story as it bubbled up inside me.

And then, one day, I realized what had happened. Chapter by chapter, the story had simply... poured out of me. The original idea had morphed and grown into something so much bigger, something I barely recognized—and I loved it even more.

And the Story Goes On...

But here’s the craziest part: by the time I typed "The End" on that first book, it wasn't the end at all. A second story was already waiting in the wings, and a third was mapped out on paper.

Now, I get to introduce you to Erelah. She’s a character who started as a vague "what if" and has become someone I can’t stop thinking about. Her story is about discovering who you really are, and in the process, changing the world around you in ways you never expected.

So, that’s how we got here. From a silly joke in a reading group to a whole universe living in my head (and now, on paper).

I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Stay tuned for more,
I.M. He