The Darkest Side of the Moon follows a high school girl who, when she meets a boy at school, discovers she is part of an age-old prophecy that could change everything. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The idea came to me after a dream I had, which is depicted on the first page. From there, it took about ten years or so to fully develop into a story that made sense in which I applied certain life events that helped steer the plot. Music was also a heavy influence that helped me slip into the character’s mindset. One particular artist is Within Temptation. Their album The Unforgiving was on constant repeat while writing act three. Random information I stumbled across was also applied and fit like a puzzle piece, like the dragon’s eye symbol.

Nadine comes to terms with the reality that shifters and vampires are real and her destiny is connected to them. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Nadine’s character was more of “seeing is believing.” She struggled to accept it even when it was staring her in the face. The more she was around vampires and shifters she had to accept the reality as her life depended on it. A reflection of life. Sometimes it’s hard to accept something one can’t see and even then one doesn’t want to believe it when it goes against their beliefs.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

There are multiple themes. The main theme that drove the story was the Chinese philosophical concept Yin and Yang.

Where does the story go in the next book and where do you see it going in the future?

The next book, A Dance Between Light and Darkness is out now. it continues where The Darkest Side of the Moon ended through another character’s perspective and moving on after certain events that happened in the first book. Although it ties in with The Darkest Side of the Moon it is it’s own story in which it is written in third-person narrative verses second-person narrative that The Darkest Side of the Moon was written in. Currently I’m working on publishing the third book in the series, All I See Are Dark Clouds, which is written in first-person narrative. The series was originally supposed to be three books, however it ended up being five full-length novels and three novella tie-ins. The fourth and fifth books can be expected to be released sometime in 2024.

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/05/23/it-came-to-me-in-a-dream/