Let’s talk about real-life inspirations: people, places, events . . .
For my Ember Files series, I had two physical locations that featured in the narrative. I based Kori Ember’s childhood home, with all its secret tunnels, on a bachelorette apartment I lived in twenty years ago. It was an old house sectioned into single rental units: bachelor and one-bedroom units. The attic had been converted as well into two 2-bedroom apartments. This old house had a bat problem. The bats could be heard in the walls at night and one night one of them made a nocturnal visit to my apartment.
The second location was my grandmother’s house when I was young. Her house becomes the safe house that Kori and her friends use a few times throughout the books. Interesting points related to this: an old jeep sat in the back of the yard behind the garage. It wasn’t a running vehicle, but as kids, we loved playing in it. In addition, the lion gargoyles—Daken and Galox—were actual statues in the yard. They were at the front of the house, framing the front walk to the door, and faced the road.
The same grandmother who owned that house was also the inspiration for Kori’s grandma Pearle.
Those are some of my real-life writing inspirations. What things inspire your writing?
I wrote this post for letter I of the 2025 A-to-Z blog challenge.
Brewing Coffee, Twisting Words & Breaking Pencils 
So nice to be privy to the backstories you offered here today.
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Thank you, Violet. It can be interesting to learn little tidbits about an author’s inspirations.
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My first book was a mystery set in an area where my late husband and I lived for three years (in the middle of the Allegheny Natl Forest in PA) and many characters were based on friends we made there.Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
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Sounds like an interesting setting. Thank you for sharing.
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I can see how both houses would be great inspirations. I must admit bats in the walls and a nocturnal visit from one would freak me out. But your grandmother’s house with the lion gargoyle statues sounds right up my alley.
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Deborah, the bat thing was something I knew when I signed my lease. I loved the unit, though, so I stayed.
The night that little bat was in my apartment was laughable because of my initial response. I was wild. I called my stepfather in the middle of the night (he was a shift worker). I was hoping to be saved from the winged creature I had locked myself in the bathroom to avoid. All my stepfather did was laugh hysterically at me. A bit of self-education about bats and I no longer had that same response.
I was on vacation in Cuba once after that, and we were walking through a cave. Bats were swooping at us. Several people were scared: yelling, hurrying, and chaos. I just walked through, chill and unbothered.
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