It began on a rare, hot summers day in May, in England 2009. I was listening to a CD in the garden, sunbathing and scaring the neighbours with my bare flesh, when it happened. Green Day was playing, and there it was, a young girl, an evil Prince, and a Queen began forming in my head.
I began writing, frantic to put that vision in my mind on paper. It was rough to begin with, unsure of a true plot, but knowing from the start that Alison would be fighting for the Prince, and see into his mind what he wished her to see about the rivaling siblings.
But to get the links together came too easy for me. An elderly witch called Lidah Fortes (anagram Hilda Foster) was one of the main characters. A very old lady from a fictional Kingdom called Onbrier, where she was the councillor of the Realm of Wonders Union. A lady who "fought for the union, and would die for the union" and with her magical fingers taught many young beings, who kept loyal to the union as they became older and more talented with a wand, and began their own adventures by going to numerous Kingdoms, fighting against the evil monsters around.
Each character came to me with ease, and each one i enjoyed writing about. Julu 'A Vanda, the evil witch. Matthew Armstrong, a punk, who is also a teacher a warrior, and has a dark side to him. Mr. Baines, the head-teacher who thinks the union is "a waste of resources" Simon Slater, whose family despise the Bensons', Sarah Butler, Alison's best friend, who enjoys a good punch-up, rather than girly things, and Robert Harrison, who is from Egypt, and uses this name, rather than his real one.
As I was using alternative universes for my story, most of the names I used were not of the common sort. Some were made up in my mind, staring at the keyboard of my computer for a while, and trying names out, others by checking out sites that gave me names from many countries. Oh for the Internet!
To keep the story moving, Ineeded props, plenty of them otherwise the story would be stale and far too boring not only for myself to write, but also for the reader to delve into and be part of the tale.
Portal doors were the obvious choice, I decided that doors in homes could be used. Carla has a seance room, which she uses for example. Even the school attic holds a portal door. Hence for the Head teacher's annoyance of the realm.
I used a picture of Prince Amir which she stole from the palace, which would allow Alison to look into his past, to see what she believed is the truth, and hence the reasoning for her change of alliance.
I even used magic carpet in the palace, so that past event's were shown to Alison, including the death of her father.
I even used magical gems, which told more of past events about the Prince and Queen and giving hind sight of how evil began it's trail of destruction.
Until I finished writing the first book, I never realised just how much the death of two people would change a story. Princess Junda for one, who was killed as a young girl in the forest of Frinda, and with Prince Amir being blamed for her death, he is locked away for a while. And Jason, Alison's father who was murdered, but if you read the Kingdom of Frinda, you find out the outcome of his death and the truth of the royal siblings.
Be warned though, my books will link together, so what you see in book one, will be continued in say, book three, so you do have to read between the lines very carefully. My motto is, and always has been, there are two sides to a story, so what happens in one book, well, it could all change in the next.