Sahar Abdulaziz asked Belinda M. Gordon:

Hi Belinda! I really enjoyed reading Tressa's Treasures and the rest of your series. How did you come up with the story, and will you be writing another series?

Belinda M. Gordon Sahar,

I’m so happy that you enjoyed my books. Thank you for posting such an interesting question.

I had been reading a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal romance when I got the idea to write Tressa’s Treasures- books from authors like Patricia Briggs, Karen Marie Moning, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer and Jim Butcher. All of these wonderful stories influenced me, both with what I wanted to include in my story and what I wanted to leave out.

For example, I wanted to develop a love story between a supernatural being and a human- but with the non-human as the woman. I didn’t want this to be about teenagers; I preferred an older couple who would have an ongoing and enduring love. Jamie and Claire from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series are a shining example of this type of story.

But the most important and hardest decision came down to what kind of being would this woman be. I knew at once that I didn’t want to write about vampires or werewolves, even if I did like to read about them. After a bit of research and contemplation, I decided to let my Irish heritage be my guide, and settled on the Tuatha de Danann sometimes called the Sidhe (shée) and built my story around nuggets of Celtic mythology.

From there bits and pieces melded together into a story as I figured out who these two people were and what adventure they would have together.

Celtic mythology tells us that the Tuatha de Danann had four treasures, a sword, a spear, a cauldron and a stone. I featured one in my first book, Tressa’s Treasures, but I couldn’t let it go with just one and so I created a series, one book for each of the treasures and the continuing Tressa and Alexander’s story, this couple who had found their Soul Mate, their Anam Cara.

I have started writing a new series set in the same world, with some familiar characters from the King’s Jewel series. I haven’t chosen a name for the new series or the first book, but I can tell you that the main character is Sloan, whom we first meet in Xander’s Folly.

All my best, Belinda

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