18 August: What’s your inspiration?

Hello dearest readers

Last night my husband and I were chatting about how challenging it can be to find sources of inspiration past, ahem, a certain age. (He’s an actuary, of all things, so his sources of inspiration are probably more elusive than most people’s 😊.) Anyway, that conversation got me thinking about my inspiration for writing The Dark Dragon Chronicles… and left me swept away by a wave of sheer nostalgia. 

When I was a kid, my dad had a series of Time-Life books about Lost Civilizations that absolutely fascinated me. I spent days and hours and weeks pouring over the mysteries of those ancient worlds, enthralled by the idea that people just like me once lived such strange, unimaginable lives. (Yes, this was before the internet, and yes, I was a hopeless geek.)

Some of what I read was hair-rising and horrifying (human sacrifice! city-wide orgies! enslaving your enemies!) and some of it spoke to my romantic soul (brave warriors and beautiful princesses whose legends survive to this day). But most of it was just so outlandishly strange that it even made our deeply mundane suburb feel part of a world that is unknowingly old and wide and wonderfully mysterious.  

Ooh, and those delicious conspiracy theories… Were the pyramids built by aliens? Did Atlantis really sink beneath the waves? Were the Nasca lines in Peru constructed by advanced technology? Did giants build Stonehenge? And if not, what happened to the knowledge of the ancients? Could it be that some shadowy group is secretly manipulating or suppressing history itself?

These days, alas, I’m a hardened old cynic living in the age of social media, who takes everything – but especially conspiracy theories – with more than just a grain of salt. But a part of me never lost my childish fascination with everything ancient and mysterious and magical… which is how The Dark Dragon Chronicles were born.

If you have any tips for staying inspired after… a certain age… please let me know. (I honestly jump for joy whenever someone replies to my emails or leave a comment on my website). And if you’re looking for some inspiration yourself, why not check out this (https://books.bookfunnel.com/fantasticfreefantasyaugust/zmywo8wxbj) promotion, which runs till the end of August. 

I’m sure there are far worst places to look for inspiration than in a free fantasy book.

Warmest regards, until next time

Ripley