This month I’m kicking off a brand new series here on the blog where I peel back the curtain a bit of the process and inspiration for each of my books. And with The Princess having released last month, it felt like the perfect place to start!
The First Ideas
I got my first ideas for The Princess all the way back in 2020. At that time, I didn’t envision the story idea to be a trilogy, and had figured it would all be wrapped up in one book. It turned out that I was very wrong! The story began more focused on Dimitri, with only hints of Aurelia and Luca on the side. I actually at first had Dimitri’s love interest as a woman from the revolution who had some ties to Pern Coen, but that idea fell to the wayside a bit the more I outlined and began to write. Also, as I continued my writing exploration, it felt like Aurelia and Luca needed more “on the page” time as well, and so I decided I would make them a key part of the story as well. So, to start, I knew that Dimitri, Aurelia, and Luca were all going to be major players in the story, I knew that it would take place in Kelnore and involve those in the empire pushing back against Kelnore’s extremely oppressive and patriarchal rule, and that there would be a lot of court intrigue with the Imperial House. I also stumbled across Paris Paloma’s Labor during my work on The Princess, and it had definitely become an anthem of sorts for me while working on the Royals Trilogy.
The Process
What became The Princess actually started as what I’d initially thought would be background information for what will become Book 2 in the series. I’d wanted to figure out both Luca and Aurelia’s backstory, as well as what events would lead them to willingly turning against the empire they’d been raised in. It was also around this time that I’d decided to take the plunge and have Aurelia contending with a chronic illness. In 2020, I had my first experience with post-viral illness and medical struggles, and it was an experience I wanted to bring into my writing. It was around this same time that I decided I wanted to bring the sirens in as the House of Vepi’s mortal enemy, and give Luca magic, as well as making him Darnic’s rightful king. The original draft of The Princess was in first person and only included Luca and Aurelia’s points of view. As I worked with my editorial team on developing the story more, I added in Dimitri and Fabian’s points of view. At this time, I was also spending a lot of time researching Ancient Rome, and found so many interesting anecdotes I wanted to bring into the story. When I read about Emperor Elegabalus’ “Death Banquet”, I knew that I wanted to give Alekos his own memorable banquet. The Princess went through some major changes during its first official professional edit with a lot of re-writes, but the end result was worth it and after that point, things started coming together a lot more smoothly.
Characters Coming To Life
Aurelia’s story is very much a personal one for me, and I brought a lot of my own experiences with chronic health issues into her storyline. I knew that physically, she would struggle, but she could still hold her own with the men of Kelnore in her own way. A lot of Aurelia’s story arc in The Princess centers around her seeing the empire and the world around her differently, and that internal journey of hers allowed me to do a lot of reflection of my own life. I have been incredibly lucky that in my life, I’ve been surrounded by incredibly strong and capable women, who helped shape my view of the world and help me grow. I wanted to give Aurelia that, and Rhiannon and Brynn felt like the best women for that job. With her chronic health conditions being so close to my own, Aurelia has been one of the hardest characters I’ve written, but also one of the characters I’ve enjoyed writing the most. And I can’t wait to let readers get to know her better over the course of the series.
As I mentioned above, while Fabian and Dimitri were in the earlier versions of The Princess, their points of view weren’t added until later in the drafting process. I knew from the very first time I started outlining that Dimitri and Aurelia would be twins and that they would be close. I also knew that Aurelia would be a key piece of Dimitri adjusting his views on the empire over the course of the series. While Dimitri’s first potential love interest had been with a common woman who had ties to Pern Coen, I changed that up as I brought the sirens more into the story. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say, the sirens will have a special interest in Dimitri as the series progresses.
Fabian has been a character that has surprised me a lot! He had a more outside role in the story in the earlier drafts, but at the encouragement of my editorial team, I brought him more into the core of the story, and I’m very happy that I did. He has quickly become one of my favorite characters to write, interestingly enough, as he battles with duty, justice, and the desire to follow his heart. He has a lot of Alekos’ attributes, and Alekos has molded his son in his image, but there’s enough strong will of Fabian’s own to at least allow him to consider a different path.
And of course, I can’t forget Sapphirus! Originally, Sapphirus was supposed to be a house cat, but in researching more on Ancient Rome, I wanted to bring some gladiatorial aspects to the empire, in particular when it came to wild beasts. And also, The Princess is a fantasy. If there’s a place where you can have a wildcat for a companion, a fantasy book is it. And so, instead of Luca finding an orphaned kitten on the docks, I had him find an orphaned wildcat.
I hope y’all enjoyed this little behind the scenes look, and if you have any further questions about the story or my writing process, feel free to leave them in the comments!