The main setting for DEFY is in a jungle kingdom called Antion. I have always been fascinated by the jungle, but I never consciously set out to write a story set there. DEFY came to me, as I said in my previous post, in a very unconventional way. I wasn't trying to write a book, I thought I was just working through my emotions after such a difficult loss--and that first scene I wrote happened to be in a jungle. That's simply how it came out.
Of course, it didn't end there. Soon the whole fascinating, unique world of DEFY came together for me, and I got to delve into this jungle setting with Alexa, Marcel, Rylan and Prince Damian. It was a very fun world to write in (albeit intense and scary at times, as well).
Last March, when I was almost done revising DEFY with my editor at Scholastic, I was lucky enough to visit Cancun, Mexico and the surrounding areas with my husband on a trip he earned at work. Some of the places we visited reminded me of the setting in DEFY! It was so fascinating, surreal, and exciting to walk through the jungle and imagine I was Alexa. The oppressive heat, the lush vegetation, the sound of insects buzzing, the intermittent rain and sun....I loved it! Someday I would love to visit the Amazon or Congo, too. It made me even more excited to dive back into that world for my revisions on DEFY and drafting the sequel.
I hope as you read DEFY, you'll enjoy the unique setting of the jungle kingdom of Antion!
(If you wish to see the pictures from my trip to Mexico, you can see some in this post on my author blog: http://sarablarson.blogspot.com/2013/03/random-thoughts-from-mexico.html )
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DEFY series: Behind the Scenes
Teen FictionI will be doing a series of posts, giving you insider info on how I wrote DEFY, where the story came from, deleted scenes, and more! In fact, I might even post a scene or two from a different POV. Like maybe...Rylan. Or even Damian. Intrigued? Then...
