7 fun facts about Desperate Forest:
(Don’t worry if you haven’t started reading it yet, there are no spoilers!)
- When Roselynn first meets Jay in the forest, she lies and tells him her name is “Mary” because she doesn’t want to be recognized as the Princess of Tover. I chose that name to honor my Grandmother Rosemary (Rose + Mary.)
- Desperate Forest was written in two stages, several years apart. I wrote over half the story and never finished it. A few years later, I went back but didn’t remember how I originally planned on ending it. I got stuck and almost scrapped it. In the end, I powered through and reworked all my original scenes.
- People often ask what period this series is set in. Because it is a fantasy series, I don’t hold fast to a particular period. I guess I like to think of it as taking place once upon a time 😉 The setting is a fictional, fairy tale world with a medieval feel (think knights, swords, royalty, horseback riding, and light magic). But my characters don’t “talk funny,” and I try to make them and their stories relatable to my readers’ lives now.
- The premise for this book was inspired by the TV show Once Upon a Time. When I started my first draft, I was a huge fan of it! I loved the melding of modern time and characters with classic fairy tales. My favorite storyline was Belle’s and Rumpelstiltskin’s.
- I didn’t originally plan to make Desperate Forest part of a series, but I enjoyed writing the world and characters so much that I decided I couldn’t leave it behind. And so, The Forest Tales Series was born, which led to Book 2, The Jabberwocky Princess (a standalone story with new characters, set in the same world). I’m currently working on Books 3 & 4, and plan to write at least six books total for this series.
- Speaking of, one of the characters in Desperate Forest is getting his or her own book in 2021. Book 3, Mazarine, features a returning character whose story continues . . . and it may not be who you’d think!
- Of all the female characters I’ve written, Roselynn is probably the most like me . . . but sometimes I wish I were more like Laurel!
