@liam_co
This genuinely made my day, thank you so much! The fact that you spent four days with my stories means more than I can say.
I wish I had a neat answer for how it all works, but truthfully it's a bit of a mystery even to me. Ideas tend to sneak up on me at the worst times (usually right before I fall asleep, or in the shower!) and I've just learned to chase them before they disappear.
I think the biggest thing is caring deeply about the characters, once they feel real to me, the stories seem to find their own way.
Okay so the werewolf story has a secret origin that I don't talk about, it started from a Tamil movie called Raja Rani. There's something about that story that I just couldn't stop turning over in my head.
I kept thinking, what if I took that same premise but gave them entirely different wounds? Same idea, different grief, different world. And then I just... kept pulling that thread until Cassian and Reena showed up and refused to be anyone else.
That's honestly the most honest answer I have, I find something that cracks me open and then I make it bleed a little more on the page Thank you for reading and for asking, I don't get to talk about this stuff often!