The Chimera Snare: Fragments weaves an intimate coming-of-age story into an epic cosmic battle as two teens discover they are vessels for ancient other-worldly guardians and must fight to restore a fractured reality. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Shannon: The concept for this story was developed in fragments, funny enough, spanning over a decade, first beginning in high school. Much of the fundamental background was inspired by living day-to-day life and wishing for something magical to lay beyond the stars. The manga and comics I read in school (Angel Sanctuary, Seimaden, Dragonball Z, DNAngel, to name a few), coupled with music and sketching, influenced my roaming mind and helped me hammer out the first two main characters of the story, Von and Navaryn. Initially, I was planning to do a simple animation to convey the plight of the two characters. But in the end, I felt like there was a bigger story to tell, so I began writing.

After self-publishing the first iteration on my own, Edward joined the writing journey with me, and we’ve since re-crafted the TCS universe together as a team, driven by much of the same inspiration as in the beginning: music, anime/manga, and comics. Only now, with the addition of beer from time to time, to grease the wheels of creativity.

How do you divide the writing process? Do you each focus on specific characters, chapters, or aspects of the story, or is it more fluid?

Shannon: Great question! We work together to structure the basic framework of where we want the book to start and end. From there, we both storyboard the chapters in greater detail, bounce ideas off one another, and things more or less come together.

Edward: We learned early on that we both have unique writing approaches. Shannon often begins by painting the scene with description, substance, and movement before moving on to writing dialogue. I, on the other hand, do the opposite. So we assign chapters to each other, write them independently, then meld them together stylistically. And we both have characters that resonate with us. In most instances, we each take the lead with the characters we jive with, but we do switch off.

Where do your story ideas typically originate? Do you brainstorm together, or does one of you usually bring the initial concept to the table?

Shannon: I get ideas for our series in many ways, but I often find the most inspiration while listening to music and letting my mind roam free. I tend to have the best “drifting” sessions when I’m running, tending to the garden, or working on art—as long as I’m plugged into music. But yes, music is very important to us while we craft our universe.

Edward: We brainstorm both independently and together. But when it is time to craft the arc, we sit down and agree on the framework and approach. Sometimes, the writing process creates additional ideas, which we have to take back to the table again. But we stay very organized because the universe we’re creating continues to expand organically as the series unfolds.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

Shannon: We are working on Reflections, the second entry in the Chimera Snare series. If all goes well, it will be available in Late Spring 2026.

Edward: Seeing our readers so hungry for the next book has been very encouraging. As the saga continues, it’s definitely going to get darker, more twisted, more intense, and more powerful, so Reflections on all aspects will up the ante. We’re really excited for people to dig into it.

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