Max Meadows, native North Carolinian, gets story ideas and character names from dreams. Several years ago, while at a conference in Barbados on a revamped slave plantation, the character of Otymnestra came in a dream. She told Max her life story and her unusual name. Upon waking, Max attempted to look up the name online--and found not one reference. The CAPE FEAR TRILOGY has its origins in this dream and that trip to Barbados.