Fire, Ice, Water and Storm

Originally posted on Lola's Reviews

Why did I choose Fire, Ice, Water and Storm as the four countries for the world I created for the Country Saga?

To be honest, when I started the series, I had no real idea where it was all going. One day while writing the third book in the Dwellers Saga (a sister series to the Country Saga), the main character, Siena, in Fire Country just started speaking to me. She got stuck in my head with her strong voice and slang and metaphors, and I couldn’t get her out. I also pictured her in the desert, and I liked the idea of the world being a place of extremes: extreme heat, extreme cold, fierce storms, churning waves.

With heat, I immediately thought of fire, and the thought of countries named after the overriding weather-related themes made a lot of sense to me and was something I could get excited about. Fire Country was born! From there, I knew I needed the antithesis to fire, which could only be ice! Yeah, I could have gone with snow or cold or frost, but ice just seemed more powerful and a perfect contrast to fire. So I created Ice Country.  

Now to my connection to the sea. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I NEVER saw the ocean. My family didn’t really go on vacation to the beach either. So it wasn’t until I was in my teens that I first saw the sea. WOW! I was immediately taken with it. With the power of its waves, with the teeming life beneath its surface, with its vastness and majesty. Since then, I’ve loved the ocean and always wanted to live near it (which I finally did when I moved to Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia). So, having a “country” and a people who lived on ships on the ocean made perfect sense for me. That’s where Water Country came from.

Lastly, were the Stormers, the dark and mysterious tribe that first make an appearance in Ice Country. Something kept tugging at my imagination while writing the first two books, something powerful, something as sharp as lightning and as heavy as thunder. I couldn’t get the thought of dark, mounted warriors backlit by jagged streaks of lightning out of my head. I knew I had to create them and figure out their place in the new world I was creating. Storm Country was the result.

Because I wanted the series to be a trilogy (before it connects with the Dwellers Saga in the 4^th book of both series, The Earth Dwellers), I knew I had to combine two of the countries. Due to their close proximity, Water & Storm made the most sense for the third book!

That’s it! That’s where the Country Saga came from. I hope you all enjoyed finding out a little more about how my crazy mind works and where my ideas come from. And I really hope you all enjoy getting to know all the different tribes and countries in the Country Saga!

HAPPY READING!!