The Girl Who Broke the Dark follows a princess turning eighteen who discovers she has a destiny to fulfill: waking the sleeping prince from the underworld, or her entire continent will fall to an evil sorcerer. Where did the idea for this novel come from?

I’d toyed with the idea of retelling a fairy tale for some time, and Sleeping Beauty has always been a favorite. Then I turned the story on its head and put the prince in a cursed sleep, and had the princess be the one to wake him up.

But it would be too easy for her to simply go to an enchanted castle to wake him up. I thought of other stories of heroes delving underground, into dark, dangerous realms. An underground kingdom, I thought, would be the perfect place for her to have to venture if she wanted to break the curse.

What were some ideas that were important for you to personify in your characters?

One major theme in the book is self-sacrifice. Princess Eliana was brought up to sacrifice herself for her duty to her people. As the story progressed, she needed to figure out just what sacrifices she was willing to make.

And one of those sacrifices was going into the dark, underground world, since she was afraid of the dark. That was a fear she had to overcome.

I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?

In the beginning of the novel, Princess Eliana is at home in the kingdom of Ymittos, which was loosely inspired by ancient Greece. I made her kingdom one of culture and learning. The underground kingdom I loosely based on culture of the Caucasus region. As survival was much more difficult underground, that influenced their culture. They did what they had to survive, and found every excuse for a party, to celebrate one more day.

When I started writing I only had vague ideas about both settings, and as I developed the story, I added more detail to make the world come alive. I kept myself entertained imagining life underground and how people would adapt to such a life.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?

The Girl Who Broke the Dark is the first book in the series. The sequel, The Girl Who Wrote on Water, will be out in the fall of 2024. In it, Princess Derya takes the center stage, as she battles to thwart the evil sorcerer who plans to take over the world. Meanwhile, Eliana has to deal with the consequences of her efforts to break the curse. Both of them learn how to use their magic and to navigate through treacherous circumstances.

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