As a reader of fiction, I enjoy being immersed in imaginary environments—going places and doing things that would be impossible in real life. But as counter-intuitive as it may sound, the ability of a story to carry me away depends heavily on how realistic it is. The best stories are the ones that build their imaginary structures upon foundations of realism.

As an author of fiction, I strive to provide that immersive experience for my readers by balancing the fantastic with the realistic. These two seemingly-opposite elements feed off of one another. The realism is kept from becoming boring by the fantasy, and the fantasy becomes real when it’s based in reality. That’s why research is such an important starting point for my imagination.

Many readers have asked about how I come up with my stories. My imagination is a difficult thing to explain. The research, on the other hand, is much easier. If you haven’t visited my Pinterest page yet, I wanted to direct your attention to one of my boards, entitled The Awakened Research. As you can see, I didn’t put my creative energy into coming up with a snappy title, but it’s a great place to get some behind-the-scenes knowledge about the cultures and technology of The Awakened series. Have a look, and feel free to send me your questions if your curiosity isn’t satisfied. I’ll continue to pin interesting stuff to this board as I write new novels and publish reader’s guides for the novels already written. So check back periodically to see the progress.

And make sure to sign up for my email list so you don’t miss out on promotions, book releases, free stuff, and more.