"Never forget that your dreams are there to guide you."– THE MAGIC, THE BRIGHTENING
The Brightening is a story of persistence, determination, and learning to believe in yourself, because you have a lot more power than you think you do.
Characters
Note: I actually made these drawings as I was writing the book! My art skills have certainly improved with practice (so don’t judge…), but I thought it was important for my characters’ visuals to exist as they did while I wrote the book.
Map of Lucina
Writing Playlist
A huge part of my writing process is playing the right music in my headphones at all times, so here’s a list of the top few songs I listened to while writing The Brightening:
- “Could Have Been Me” by The Struts
- “I Just Wanna Shine” by Fitz and the Tantrums
- “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne
Fun Facts
Little things about the process of writing The Brightening that no one knows.
- Zia is, for the most part, based on myself at the time that I wrote the book.
- I wrote out a full first draft of a sequel to The Brightening, but re-read it and hated it so much I haven’t touched it since. (But don’t worry. I have a plan to revamp it.)
- My mom helped me name Lucina with her knowledge of the etymology of the word light.
- The Brightening is a culmination of various little ideas I had, kickstarted by some interesting clouds I saw in the sky one day (*coughsphormscough*) and my own desire to work on a big project.