I’ve always imagined things in the dark, seen shapes taking form in the pitch black. I had to learn to allow my eyes to adjust, to see what was really there, picking out what was familar to quiet my imagination.
Ever since I started working on Stealing Myself From Shadows and other stories, I’ve shut down that particular reassurance. To create a place where objects, monsters, mythical creatures, people lost to all but memory, and ideas themselves could manifest from, I’ve been tapping into my imagination, letting myself see what lurks in the dark, to try and translate it into form, setting, and character.
This has made for some sleepless nights. It’s also given me intriguing ideas. Bizarre creatures have not only taken form to find a place in the Shadow Forest, but they’ve crawled onto the shelves of the Navel, an odd little shop I’ve created in my stories, to take on the shape of various curios waiting for a hapless visitor to find them.
What about you, dear reader? Have you ever imagined things in the darkness? What have you seen?