Welcome!

Hi there and welcome to my corner of the internet. I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself.

I'm a writer and an avid reader. My debut fantasy novel will be released in 2022 sometime and it will be the first book in a duology set in the fictional world of Aileryan, where you will find magic and magical creatures, politics and intrigue, alliances and fractured loyalty and a bunch of characters who are very close to my heart.

So, why write fantasy? For a while there (and I'm talking twenty years ago) it was all I read - I loved being able to immerse myself in an imagined world and be drawn into the characters and politics that existed within in. But then, something changed, and I stopped reading fantasy. It could be that for reasons unknown I decided I was a grown-up now and I should read grown-up books (whatever they are) or, it was more likely that the market was nowhere near as exciting as it is now. Joining the Bookstagram community on Insta has completely reinvigorated my love for the fantasy genre and I have been devouring amazing fantasy stories over the last six months. Stories that reminded me why I loved this genre in the first place - incredible world building, magic, characters who were relatable and who possess incredible strength, and what I love the most: an exploration of those 'big' themes - love and loss, friendship, power and corruption, freedom, choice and acceptance, desire, darkness and light.

I have to admit I have developed love for the enemies to lovers trope through all this!

So that was where I sat as a reader of fantasy, but what about a writer? Why write fantasy when I could examine those themes in almost any genre?

The answer came quickly - fantasy gave me the freedom to create a world, to shape a world as I wanted to see it, and therefore, shape the people who inhabited that world. What draws you to read, or write, fantasy? I'm interested to know what attracts people to this genre.