Ty asked Marie Brennan:

When you were developing the world for the Lady Trent stories, did you start with the ancient culture, or was that a later addition? I really admire how you worked the history in so well, and would love to count myself as even half as good an author as you someday.

Marie Brennan I planned from the start that there was going to be an ancient culture that had left ruins all over the place, because those are a major trope for pulp adventure, and I wanted to have fun with that. The specifics came in a bit later -- I wrote up to the characters' arrival in Vystrana in the first rush of playing around with the concept of the series, then went away for a couple of years (while I worked on other things), then came back and did more thorough development of the idea.

Good luck with your own work!

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