Goodreads asked Ellis L. Knox:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Ellis L. Knox The title came to me more or less out of the blue. I was thinking generally about how young people are "encouraged" to do their best, go to college, achieve great things, yada yada, and how irked I get by such social grooming. I also recalled my own teachers telling my parents how I was not living "up to my potential."

It was an easy sidewise step over into my world of Altearth to posit a young person who showed "great promise" but who didn't live up to it. At around the same time I came upon the Camargue, a region in southern France. As soon as I saw pictures of the place, I knew I had my setting.

To start a story I need at least two elements from the following: character, plot, setting, theme. I had the setting and the beginning of a theme. I created a character by halting steps whose exact details I no longer recall. Somewhere along the line I had the notion that she was not normal but was created by magical means. So the story would be about identity.

After that, it was really all about finding a plot and a character arc worthy of the idea. Still working on that, as of this date (August 2017).

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