I started out writing a fun little daydream story about my best friend, her husband, and me in a fantasy world — tied to a prophecy that people completely misunderstood. I called it Liberator and Chain. I liked the story so much that I eventually decided to turn it into one of my books.

Originally, the sisters were named Megan and Allie, with Allie’s husband Jon. The rebel group included Abby, her husband Jerold, and her brother Ric.

As I expanded the idea and connected it to my Prophecy Series, I realized I wanted to include Ruccis in the rebel group of Najos — and that’s when the name chaos started. Ruccis already had a character named Jon, so I needed a new name for Allie’s husband. My friend Savanah suggested Tobin, and I loved it.

Then I noticed another problem: Ric was way too close to Rickie, the leader of the Ruccis. That felt confusing, so Ric became Alaric.

But as I kept writing, I realized I now had Alaric, Allie, and Abby — which was just begging to confuse readers, especially since Allie and Abby were both sisters of major characters. So, Allie became Laura, and Alaric eventually turned into Derek.

While organizing everything in Persona (my character-building software), I also decided only two characters could share the same starting letter in their names. That meant Jerold had to go — and he became Fred, since I already had Jeff and Jon.

Looking back, it’s kind of funny how much the names evolved along with the story.

But one of the biggest things this process taught me is how powerful “just-for-fun” writing can be. Daydreaming and writing stories about yourself and your friends is actually an amazing creative exercise. I never would’ve turned Child of Destiny into a full-length novel if I hadn’t started with Liberator and Chain.

​It’s incredible how something you write purely for fun can slowly turn into something worth sharing — and even more incredible to write. Your imagination just needs a starting point. From there, it can take a tiny story meant only for you and grow it into a novel meant for everyone.