Every writer gets asked: “Where do your ideas come from?”

For me, the answer is simple and strange: I dreamed it.

Not metaphorically. Literally. For five years, I had the same dream, night after night—one specific scene that wouldn’t leave me alone. And from that single recurring dream, the entire Sirens in the Shadows world was born.

Here’s the story of how I created this world, the challenges I faced, and the secrets hidden in the pages that readers might not notice on first read.

It Started With a Dream (That Wouldn’t Go Away)

Five years.

That’s how long I had the same dream before I finally accepted that I needed to write it down.

It was always the same scene. The details were vivid, specific, unchanging. And every morning I’d wake up thinking about it, the world around that scene expanding a little more in my mind.

I didn’t set out to write a nine-book series. I didn’t plan to create an entire mythology around sirens and their counterparts. I certainly didn’t expect to spend years developing magic systems and political structures and cultural traditions.

But that one dream scene demanded a world around it. And slowly, over those five years of recurring dreams, the world built itself in my imagination.

The six Siren sisters. The curse that destroyed their species. The male Rens who survived. The mate bonds that tie them together. The political tensions between land and sea. The magic that flows through everything.

All of it grew from one scene I couldn’t stop dreaming about.

By the time I finally sat down to write, I had five years of world-building already swimming around in my head. I just needed to get it onto the page.

One Night of Questions Changed Everything

Having ideas in your head is one thing. Making them make sense is another.

I knew I wanted to write this story, but I was terrified. What if I couldn’t translate what was in my head onto the page? What if the world that felt so real to me felt hollow in writing?

Then I spent one night talking to my husband.

This isn’t his thing—fantasy romance, sirens, magic systems—none of it. But he loves me, so he listened. And more importantly, he asked questions.

“How would that work underwater?”

“If they can do that, why don’t they do this?”

“What happens when…?”

“How do they…?”

Every question forced me to think deeper. To solve problems I hadn’t considered. To build out systems and rules and logistics that made the world feel real and consistent.

That one night of conversation gave me the foundation I needed. We talked through how the magic worked, how sirens and Rens coexisted, how the mate bond functioned, how their society was structured, what the curse actually did.

By the end of that night, I had pages of notes. The world that had existed in dreams and imagination suddenly had bones. Structure. Internal logic.

I’ve never forgotten how valuable it was to have someone ask “how does that work?” even when—especially when—they weren’t my target audience. Those questions made my world stronger.

Making Sirens More Than Monster Bait

One of the most important decisions I made was refusing to make my sirens what mythology traditionally says they should be.

In most siren stories, sirens exist to kill sailors. They’re dangerous, seductive, deadly. They’re pawns in other people’s stories—obstacles for heroes to overcome or temptations to resist.

I wanted something different.

In my world, sirens aren’t pawns to kill sailors. They’re people.

They have families, fears, dreams, trauma. They have a rich culture and history. They’re not defined by their relationship to humans—they have their own society, their own struggles, their own stories.

And here’s what makes my world unique: there are male sirens.

In my mythology, male sirens are called Rens. They’re half-octopus, half-human (instead of the female sirens who are half-fish). Magic gave them different abilities and different forms, but they’re all part of the same species.

This was important to me because so many mermaid/siren stories only show females. I wanted to show that this was a complete species with males and females, different forms but connected by magic and fate.

The sirens and Rens in my world aren’t monsters. They’re survivors of a curse that nearly destroyed them all. They’re complex, morally gray, trying to rebuild after trauma.

They’re not here to be killed by heroes. They’re the heroes of their own stories.

The Challenge: Keeping the World From Getting Too Big

A Fog of Shadows flowed out of me.

After five years of thinking about this world, Book 1 practically wrote itself. I knew Kateri’s story, I knew Magnus, I knew how the world worked. It poured onto the page.

But then I started working on Book 2 (Heather’s story) and Book 3 (Mesi’s story), and I hit a wall.

I realized that I couldn’t just keep making the world bigger and more dangerous with each book. That’s the trap a lot of series fall into—every book has to have higher stakes, bigger villains, more world-ending threats.

But that gets exhausting. For readers and for the world itself.

I had to step back and ask: What does each story do TO the world, not just IN the world?

Each book needed to change something fundamental. Not just add more danger, but evolve the world in meaningful ways. Solve problems, shift dynamics, heal wounds, create new complications.

So I went back to Book 1 and made sure I was planting seeds for that evolution from the very beginning. Each sister’s story would build on what came before and set up what comes after.

The world isn’t just getting bigger with each book. It’s growing, evolving, healing, and changing. That feels more true to life—and more sustainable for a nine-book series.

Easter Eggs Hidden Throughout

Here’s something readers might not know: this series is full of Easter eggs.

Starting in Book 1 and continuing throughout, I’ve planted details, references, and foreshadowing that won’t make sense until later books come out.

Some are small—a throwaway line that becomes significant three books later. Some are character moments that take on new meaning when you know the full story. Some are world-building details that seem minor but are actually foundational.

If you read Book 1 again after other books come out, you’ll find them.

I can’t tell you what they are (no spoilers!), but I can tell you they’re there. Hidden in plain sight. Waiting for readers to piece together the bigger picture.

I love the idea of readers going back and saying “Oh! THAT’S what that meant!” It makes the world feel richer, like everything connects in ways you might not notice at first.

What This World Says About Me

I didn’t set out to write about specific themes. I just wanted to tell Kateri’s story, and Magnus’s, and the story of six sisters surviving impossible odds.

But once the books were written, I realized what I’d actually been writing about all along: healthy partnerships.

The relationships in my books—the ones between fated mates—are partnerships. Not toxic power dynamics, not one person fixing the other, not relationships where someone loses themselves.

My main couples support each other, challenge each other, make each other better while staying themselves. They communicate (eventually). They work through problems. They choose each other even when it’s hard.

There ARE toxic relationships in my books. But those aren’t the FMC and MMC’s stories. Those are the cautionary tales, the examples of what NOT to do, the relationships that serve as contrast to show what real love looks like.

I didn’t consciously plan this when I started writing. But looking back, I realize that’s what I needed to show. Relationships built on respect, trust, and genuine partnership—where both people are equals choosing to walk through life together.

That’s the kind of love I believe in. And apparently, that’s what this world wanted to be about.

Five Years of Dreams, One Series of Stories

Creating the Sirens in the Shadows world has been the most challenging and rewarding creative journey of my life.

It started with a dream I couldn’t shake. It grew through five years of imagination. It solidified in one night of questions. It evolved as I wrote each sister’s story and realized the world needed to grow with them.

This world is uniquely mine—sirens that aren’t monsters, Rens that complete the species, magic that connects rather than destroys, partnerships that heal rather than harm.

It’s full of secrets readers haven’t discovered yet. It’s full of details I spent years thinking through. It’s full of stories I can’t wait to share.

Sometimes the best worlds are the ones that demand to be born.