I had the idea to write a Little Mermaid–inspired book for YEARS, and I always planned to call it Child of Fins. Originally, I intended to write a more traditionally Little Mermaid-coded novella set in the world of Solapin. However, the idea never developed far beyond a short outline.

When I came up with Tales of Solapin, I knew Shavonne would finally get her own love story. I loved the idea of her and Calder falling in love, but even then, I didn’t know exactly when their story would happen.

Originally, I had Calder rescue her during a short story in Child of Romance — during a storm on their journey back to Kenda after Te Rangimarie 366. However, there was too much time between the rescue and the eventual romance. I knew Te Rangimarie 368 would become the main romantic setting for the story.

I always knew Dylan would be the main villain — my “Ursula” character. I loved the idea of a role reversal with Calder filling the “Ariel” role instead. At first, I called them mermaids and mermen. However, I wanted a different, more masculine-sounding word. Lol. So, I started researching different legends, and when I found “nereid,” I knew it was the perfect choice. From that point on, they became nereids instead of mermaids and mermen.

I had so much fun writing the initial love story between Calder and Shavonne, and I knew right away that the nereids would be frozen in time as statues. (My visual inspiration was Skye/Daisy during her Inhuman transformation in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD — turning to stone before shattering.)

I also knew the thieving family would return in book five — and I’m so excited to share more about that later! I had a blast creating them. I knew Eric’s name immediately as a red herring inspired by Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. He also has another character inspiration, but that reveal will come later in book five.

I loved having the opportunity to deepen Shavonne’s character, since she was previously less than a supporting character in Shadow Series. She was important, but had very little “screen time” — appearing a few chapters in book five and serving as an almost-supporting character in Child of Devotion and Edie and Proctor’s later short stories.

I purposely made Shavonne and Edie opposites while still sharing certain similarities. It was fun creating a more feminine, softer, and gentler main character. Shavonne was always meant to be a caregiver and healer, and I was thrilled to put her into an adventure and explore how differently she would react compared to Edie or some of the other characters.

This book also very intentionally sets up Tyler and Jessamine’s love stories, which will be the next entries in the series!