One of the most common questions authors face is a deceptively difficult one to answer: “Where do you get your ideas?” Yet, the answers to that common question can be almost as interesting as the resulting story. Welcome to You’re My Inspiration, a column dedicated to discovering what inspires a particular author and their work. Whether it be a lifelong love of mythical creatures, a fascinating bit of history, or a trip to a new and exciting place, You’re My Inspiration is all about those special and sometimes dark things that spark ideas and result in great stories.
This week, we bring you author Kyoko M., author of both The Black Parade series and the Of Cinder and Bone series. Today, she’s talking about the inspiration behind Of Cinder and Bone, whose fourth installment, Of Fury and Fangs, will be released on October 24th! If you’re interested, pre-order here.
Dragons, Dinosaurs, and Diversity
The Of Cinder and Bone series is definitely what I would and have been calling a mashup. Everything about it is a mashup of ideas and concepts and inspirations that I’ve had over the years as a writer. As I finished up my debut urban fantasy/paranormal romance series, I actually hesitated to begin writing this one because I was afraid it was just too weird and niche a concept to sell to readers. However, as I began to work on the idea, I found that lots of people thought it sounded interesting, so I found the confidence to go after it.
Here are the top three inspirations for my Of Cinder and Bone series.
Reign of Fire (2002)
I know, I know. This is one of the cheesiest movies of the early 2000’s and it wasn’t actually what most people would call a “good” movie. However, my family and I are huge action movie buffs, especially science fiction, and we really enjoyed it, so I rewatched it a lot as a teenager. For those who don’t know, Reign of Fire is set in an alternate universe where dragons were dormant creatures that got woken up one day and proceeded to completely overrun the Earth and scorch it to ashes. It’s a post-apocalypse where the survivors have few resources and the dragons are so vicious that it’s rare that anyone has the weapons or expertise to kill them. Originally, my story idea was a widower and his daughter hunting dragons in the post-apocalypse. However, when I sat down to start the novel, that’s not at all what I wrote. I discovered that I was much more interested in the hard science of if dragons existed in the real modern day world and the idea that they would not be our enemies, but rather, fascinating creatures that should be protected even though they are dangerous at times. The reason Reign of Fire inspired me was because dragons in fiction are almost always only in one or two contexts: (1) dragons in high fantasy like J.R.R. Tolkien novels or George R.R. Martin novels (2) dragon shapeshifters in urban fantasy or paranormal romance novels. I thought it would be a lot of fun to write them using real scientific facts. I even went so far as to contact a postdoc at MIT named Kristen Bartoli and ask her research questions for how to accurately get it done, which was a lot of fun.
Jurassic Park (1993)
So one of the funny things that’s come about now that the first book, Of Cinder and Bone, has been published for four years is a few reviewers have given it the tagline “Jurassic Park but with dragons.” I take zero offense to that tagline because it’s honestly a compliment and the homage is intentional. After I decided not to write about the post-apocalypse for this world, I instead turned my attention to the fact that I love the first Jurassic Park movie. It scares me, but it thrills me. It’s such an excellent film overall, but what I find myself revisiting is the movie’s exploration of man vs. nature vs. God. I love the conversation they have at dinner about meddling with ancient, powerful creatures and the argument of if scientists have the right to bring back animals that nature and arguably the universe itself wiped out of existence. I decided to go for more of a conservationist angle with my series to further this discussion. In the Of Cinder and Bone world, dragons existed but were hunted to extinction in the 1400’s by the obsessive people of the time who made dragon hunting into a worldwide phenomenon. When Jack and Kamala clone the first dragon since the worldwide extinction, it’s actually a tiny, harmless little dragon that wasn’t supposed to grow any larger than an iguana. The dragon isn’t being cloned for entertainment, either, but to be studied since wiping out the dragons so long ago meant the world had little to go on but what was left of their remains. However, the greed of one of their enemies sets off a chain reaction where their research is stolen and several other parties begin cloning dragons in order to hunt them once again for sport. It becomes a series-long conflict of the altruistic intentions of Jack and Kamala versus the selfish opportunists who want to right back to killing these creatures indiscriminately.
Women of Color in Science Fiction
Dr. Kamala Anjali was inspired by two different characters: (1) Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, from Marvel Comics, and (2) Dr. Neela Rasgotra from the TV drama ER. I’ve been very pleased with the love and excitement readers have shown for Kamala Khan as a Muslim superhero. However, I noticed that there is a distinct lack of Indian or Middle Eastern characters in American sci-fi/fantasy. I really wanted to see that representation, so I decided to tackle it in my own work. It was also important to me that my Kamala be the main lead, not simply the love interest or a supporting character, because there is such a precedence for that in mainstream American fiction. Often you will see an Indian or Middle Eastern woman in political fiction or social dramas, but not included in the popular speculative fiction genres in American literature. I’ve been happy to see readers enjoying reading her as much as I enjoy writing her. Representation matters. I think one of the best things about being an author is the chance to get to know a character who is different from you. It’s exciting to learn and to eventually even find common ground with them as the journey continues.
If you’re interested in seeing these inspirations in practice, the fourth book in the series, Of Fury and Fangs, drops October 24th, 2020. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads To Be Read shelf and enter to win a free ebook copy through the Rafflecopter giveaway.
Kyoko M is a USA Today bestselling author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. She has written the Amazon bestselling Black Parade urban fantasy series as well as the Of Cinder and Bone science-fiction dragon hunting series. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript (or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry Dresden novel on a warm Georgia night. Like any author, she wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best profession in the world, no matter how small.Want to talk about what inspired you as a writer, and/or your current release? Check out our guidelines and fill out the form here.
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