YA Novelist
Stephanie L. Ward
A little insight to my imagination.
Winged Jellyfish
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How would you avoid electrifying winged jellyfish if they were hidden in a wall of fog? Darian used bravery, ingenuity and belly sliding.
Trips to Florida beaches where often the water is infested with jellies inspired me to include them as monsters in my novel. Even though I have never been stung, I can imagine how much it would hurt.
Kid's Art
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Being around young people has kept me youthful and I never want to lose the effortless imagination young people seem to have. I had the chance to read parts of the story to a 4th grade class. They enjoyed Darian being thrown off a candy bridge by trolls and eating gummy fruit snacks from an enchanted palm tree. In the same chapter, Darian is mesmerized by a home being reconstructed by thousands upon thousands of blue butterflies.
Here is some of their art work.
TRUMOLLUS
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It's dark, you can't breathe and a wet warmth soaks through your clothes. Chances are you have encountered Trumollus. These four-foot-long monsters travel in droves. Darian's first encounter almost killed him.
As a kid, I had my first brush with these at a science camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. If you’ve never seen a banana slug you’re lucky—they traumatized me. And if you’ve never been challenged to kiss one, as I did (YUCK!), you haven’t lived.