The settings for Ocean Child were intentional and pull from some of my own life experiences. More than that, place becomes a claymaker in the lives of the young people in this story.

Authors often draw from narratives that resonate with them personally, and my connection to reinvention is very personal.

Female voices centered in a novel were historically written from the male lens, so why does anyone need to hear from a man now? Perhaps the characters took charge and wrote themselves into the center of the story, right where they belonged the whole time.

Families are often a source of conflict and tension in our lives, so the families we choose become critical for our survival. Ocean Child explores this with a slightly nuanced take in that blood family reunites despite family keeping them apart.