Welcome to my world
For readers, teachers and students, this page will give you a great introduction to my world of Solace, spoiler free! Study the world map and learn more about the creation of Solace, or scroll down to discover the inspirations for two of the novels in the Solace series, THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY and THE SECRETS OF SOLACE.
Rough Beginnings
I love this map, but you know what? This isn't always how the world looked. When I first started creating Solace, I had a vision in my head of two lands: the Merrow Kingdom and the Dragonfly territories. With these in mind, I sketched a rough map on plain white paper with colored pencils. There were several drafts. Ahem. Several. Then artist Brandon Dorman took my rough sketch and made it into the beautiful map that appears here and in the front pages of THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY.
Below you'll see what Solace first looked like in my head. What a difference!
Below you'll see what Solace first looked like in my head. What a difference!
A Great Old Beauty of a Train
Did you know the fictional 401 train that whisks Piper, Anna and Gee away on their journey in THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY is actually based on a real steam locomotive? Meet the 401 Southern!
The 401 makes its home at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois. Volunteers at the museum spent years restoring it to working condition, and if you visit the museum at certain times of the year, you can take a ride on the train under steam power!
Check out the museum's website to trace the remarkable history of this steam locomotive and the volunteers' work to bring it back to life.
The 401 makes its home at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois. Volunteers at the museum spent years restoring it to working condition, and if you visit the museum at certain times of the year, you can take a ride on the train under steam power!
Check out the museum's website to trace the remarkable history of this steam locomotive and the volunteers' work to bring it back to life.
What the 401 Means to Me
As a writer and a storyteller, I'm always asked, "where do your ideas come from?" Sometimes that's a tough question to answer. Ideas are everywhere, but you have to be an explorer, a listener, a curious person, a questioner, sometimes even an adventurer, to find them. In other words, you have to be open to the world around you, take note of the things you experience, and think about what those things mean to you.
That's how I discovered the 401.
I first read about the train in a newspaper article detailing the 401's restoration project. This was back in 2010. I had no idea that two years later I would be writing a novel about the train, transplanting it to a fictional world of meteor storms, scrappers and chamelins. I just knew that the 401 was special. I visited the museum, and the volunteers kindly let me climb up inside the engine cab. An engineer poked his head up from the empty firebox where he'd been doing some work, flashed me a sooty grin, and proceeded to tell me stories about the train's inner workings. I was entranced. The volunteers clearly cared for this train, and they'd spent years making it run again. But what if they hadn't? The 401 might have ended up abandoned and forgotten in a scrapyard. Lost.
Solace is a world of abandoned, forgotten things, but what is lost can be found, the broken can be mended, and love and family can exist in the most unlikely places. At its heart, that's what THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY is about. The 401 was the inspiration that led me to that story.
That's how I discovered the 401.
I first read about the train in a newspaper article detailing the 401's restoration project. This was back in 2010. I had no idea that two years later I would be writing a novel about the train, transplanting it to a fictional world of meteor storms, scrappers and chamelins. I just knew that the 401 was special. I visited the museum, and the volunteers kindly let me climb up inside the engine cab. An engineer poked his head up from the empty firebox where he'd been doing some work, flashed me a sooty grin, and proceeded to tell me stories about the train's inner workings. I was entranced. The volunteers clearly cared for this train, and they'd spent years making it run again. But what if they hadn't? The 401 might have ended up abandoned and forgotten in a scrapyard. Lost.
Solace is a world of abandoned, forgotten things, but what is lost can be found, the broken can be mended, and love and family can exist in the most unlikely places. At its heart, that's what THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY is about. The 401 was the inspiration that led me to that story.
Watch for Dragonflies
Sometimes inspirations are right in front of you, and it just takes a little prodding from the universe to get you to notice them. At least, it feels that way when it comes to dragonflies.
I got married in 2007, and my wedding dress had this beautiful black sash at the waist. I needed a pin to wear on the back of it, so I found this little dragonfly pin at a store. Cute, right? So I wore the pin, and after the wedding, I put it and the dress away and kind of forgot about it for a few years.
And then the universe kicked in, and I started seeing dragonflies everywhere. Not the actual insect, although we have plenty of those in the Midwest, but the symbol. I saw it in architecture, artwork, all these places I least expected it. And ever since THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY was published, friends, family and readers have gifted me with beautiful pins, bookmarks, necklaces, pictures, glassware and embroidery, all incorporating the dragonfly symbol. What is it about this insect that fascinates me and so many others and inspires such lovely crafts and art? Maybe it's the delicate wings, the iridescent colors, or the way they streak through the air in a dizzying, zigzag pattern, skimming over the surface of a lake. Maybe I'll never know, but somehow, this dragonfly symbol stayed in my head for years after I wore that pin on my wedding dress, and when I needed a mysterious, beautiful tattoo for a certain character's arm, there it was, waiting in my mind.
Inspirations are waiting in the world to be found, and they can shape fictional worlds too. I will always keep this little pin to remind me of that.
Watch for inspirations. Watch for dragonflies.
They're everywhere.
I got married in 2007, and my wedding dress had this beautiful black sash at the waist. I needed a pin to wear on the back of it, so I found this little dragonfly pin at a store. Cute, right? So I wore the pin, and after the wedding, I put it and the dress away and kind of forgot about it for a few years.
And then the universe kicked in, and I started seeing dragonflies everywhere. Not the actual insect, although we have plenty of those in the Midwest, but the symbol. I saw it in architecture, artwork, all these places I least expected it. And ever since THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY was published, friends, family and readers have gifted me with beautiful pins, bookmarks, necklaces, pictures, glassware and embroidery, all incorporating the dragonfly symbol. What is it about this insect that fascinates me and so many others and inspires such lovely crafts and art? Maybe it's the delicate wings, the iridescent colors, or the way they streak through the air in a dizzying, zigzag pattern, skimming over the surface of a lake. Maybe I'll never know, but somehow, this dragonfly symbol stayed in my head for years after I wore that pin on my wedding dress, and when I needed a mysterious, beautiful tattoo for a certain character's arm, there it was, waiting in my mind.
Inspirations are waiting in the world to be found, and they can shape fictional worlds too. I will always keep this little pin to remind me of that.
Watch for inspirations. Watch for dragonflies.
They're everywhere.
The Museum that Conjured the Archivists
It's no secret that I love to travel. What an adventure to visit places near and far from my home, to meet new people and experience the beauty of the wider world.
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It was one of the most amazing experiences. I stepped inside a glass pyramid and walked down a spiral staircase to find room upon room of artifacts from different times and places. Sounds like I'm describing a fantasy world, doesn't it? And it really was like I'd stepped into another world entirely, yet I felt at home.
How to recreate that feeling in a book?
When it came time for me to write THE SECRETS OF SOLACE, a novel about the mysterious, hard-working men and women who study and catalog the objects that fall in the meteor storms, I remembered the Louvre. I closed my eyes and pictured its cavernous rooms, its statues and wonders that might almost be magical, if you looked at them closely. Drawing on that experience, I created the archivists and their underground home. I created Lina's world, a place full of ancient, strange objects that feel just a little bit magical. Yet it is Lina's home, and Ozben's adventure in a wider world than he has previously known.
Sometimes you go halfway around the world to find inspiration, as I did at the Louvre. But it can also be as close as the sound of the 401's whistle. Be open to adventure and inspiration wherever you find them.
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It was one of the most amazing experiences. I stepped inside a glass pyramid and walked down a spiral staircase to find room upon room of artifacts from different times and places. Sounds like I'm describing a fantasy world, doesn't it? And it really was like I'd stepped into another world entirely, yet I felt at home.
How to recreate that feeling in a book?
When it came time for me to write THE SECRETS OF SOLACE, a novel about the mysterious, hard-working men and women who study and catalog the objects that fall in the meteor storms, I remembered the Louvre. I closed my eyes and pictured its cavernous rooms, its statues and wonders that might almost be magical, if you looked at them closely. Drawing on that experience, I created the archivists and their underground home. I created Lina's world, a place full of ancient, strange objects that feel just a little bit magical. Yet it is Lina's home, and Ozben's adventure in a wider world than he has previously known.
Sometimes you go halfway around the world to find inspiration, as I did at the Louvre. But it can also be as close as the sound of the 401's whistle. Be open to adventure and inspiration wherever you find them.