A Maiden’s Wish: A Novella follows two sisters who are offered a glimpse of a better life from a powerful shaman. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Initially, I aimed to tell a much shorter morality tale about two friends: a vain and misguided young woman and her humbler companion who are both offered a wish-making proposition by a supernatural entity. The entity promises fame and fortune to the one but warns that this fate will be achingly empty. In contrast, to the other woman, it promises an eternally rewarding life laden with hardships and heavy burdens. “You will not see the fruits of your efforts in this lifetime,” the entity tells the humble woman who desires to use her talents for humanity’s goodwill. “But they will echo across eternity.”

This concept, set in modern times, was eventually abandoned in favor of A Maiden’s Wish, which plays to some of the same narrative beats but has a much richer journey, more ideas, and (in my opinion) a superior ending.

Bayelle and Evora experience a vast range of emotions as they come to realize the cost of the choices they make. Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your characters’ lives?

Bayelle and Evora represent the internal struggles I’ve contended with as a young woman, especially in the flippant, sometimes predatory internet sphere. Evora is the identity I chose, along my social media path, to reject: male manipulation, self-objectification, and abuse of beauty for “likes” and flattery. Conversely, Bayelle embodies my frustrations and deepest longings as a woman and, indeed, a human being: the desire to love, be loved, and impress an eternal impact upon the world through my creative skills.

Bayelle encounters opposition from worldly wickedness, oppressive opinions, and erroneous religious teachings along her journey, representative of our culture’s current divisions in the realms of feminism, “red pill” society, and the Christian church. As I have come to triumph over the flaws and failings in each of these groups, I developed the satisfaction I have been privileged to bestow upon Bayelle at the peak of her struggle.

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

Mankind has a warped view of what constitutes a fulfilling life, and it also holds a warped perception of women. As a race, we’re made for so much more than the glazed-eyed, hazy-minded daily grind. You can own as much “stuff” as you like; the stuff won’t fit into the hole in your heart. It can’t plug up and force away the sadness we sometimes feel or keep joy locked inside. Beauty, in its physical form, will erase its bloom from every face that weathers enough time and exposure to this world. The good news? That’s okay.

Appearances are one small and impermanent part of our intricate whole, and beauty that penetrates no deeper than one’s moisturizer cannot affect a grander purpose. A Maiden’s Wish asks our divisive culture to be realistic and seek deeper things than what is readily seen. Women are beautiful, and our femininity distinguishes us from men, but visuals don’t make or break us, just as they don’t make a book interesting beyond a fleeting glance. Women are not toys, commodities, objects (whether exploited by self or others), or beings of inferior purpose and intellect, all tailored for the same purpose—we are equals under God and accountable to none but Him.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

The power of this story, for me, is its brevity and finality; I do not anticipate a sequel or spin-off, but I’m sure it will have “spiritual successors” of a sort. The book’s themes, gentle magical varnish, and the nature of the characters within made for a wonderfully appealing writing process that might be cathartic to explore in a different, unrelated world and plot.

Author Links: Goodreads | Website | Amazon