How Of Water and Dragons was born

I am often asked how I came up with the idea for Of Water and Dragons. It actually started out as a short story titled, Water, and was a romance/fantasy between two very different people-a human and a faery woman. My Creative Writing teacher encouraged me to turn this short story into a novel. I changed the setting to ancient Britain and Scotland after reading about a significant battle between the Romans and the Celtic tribes. The male character changed to a Roman soldier named Ambiorix. My female character, Nemu, stayed the same. The battle was the perfect way for my two different characters to meet.

The story was built using Roman history and Celtic mythology. I love combining reality with fantasy. I feel that this gives the story a more surreal touch. I am a huge fan of history (boring to most people), but I love to see how people lived in the past, and this is what inspired me to write in an ancient time period. Mythology is also another fascination of mine, especially Celtic mythology. I can't seem to get enough of it and constantly read books dealing with the Celtic myth cycle. Magic and the supernatural is another favorite pastime of mine, and there is some of that influence in this book as well.

The idea for Nemu came to me when I was reading a book on faery lore. I found a description of Ashrays or Water Faeries that lived underwater and melted if sunlight would touch them. This is how Nemu was born. I wanted to show her as a bit naive, but with an inner strength fueled by magic. Her character will continue to grow in the second and third books in this series on Celtic Mythology.

I wanted Ambiorix to be a strong, brave warrior, but also have the heart of a poet. He is probably the most conflicted of the two characters because he is torn between his love for Nemu and his loyalty to Rome. His character goes through more changes in the second book, which reveals his true strengths and weaknesses.

My favorite romances are the ones that are complicated, and I wanted to write a romance with obstacles for the main characters. There is also an unusual love triangle going on in this book, which I didn't plan it at all. It just happened, but it enhanced the story even more. Sometimes when I am writing, my characters seem to take over and write the story for me. I just go with the flow, and let the story take me where it wants to go.

I also incorporated a couple of legends into this story. One was the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion, and the other was the Loch Ness monster legend.
Anyway, that is how Of Water and Dragons was born, and from there I was inspired to turn it into a trilogy.