inspiration

One of the most-often-questions asked a writer is “what’s your inspiration behind the book”? Most of the time we give a blank look. “Uh. I looked in the fridge. Put in a little bit of this. Little of that. Some leftovers here. And look! An omelette-book!”

At least. That’s how I feel 🙂

But When Planets Fall is one of the few projects I can actually trace an “origin” story to. I thought it’d be fun to share it. So let’s strap in our time machine and take an adventure back to Abby’s high school years.

Going into my freshmen year of high school, I attended summer camp at Hume Lake, a Christian camp in California near my home. There were water blobs, competition, one-piece bathing suits, and, oh yes, boys. The theme of this camp was Abby’s-not-in-junior-high anymore. Kidding (sort of).

Xenoviv. That was the theme. A mashup of Greek and Hebrew words to create the idea that this world is not our home.

The camp directors, besides being super-hot according to teen me, created a mini movie series about characters in an alien land, space suits, the works. I loved it. And not just ‘cause of the thick facial hair onscreen. That idea of Xenoviv stuck with me.

Fast forward seven years.