Goodreads asked J.R. Manawa:

How do you get inspired to write?

J.R. Manawa Little things inspire me to write. The name of a girl on a gravestone, the haircut of a boy passing me as he walks down the street, the smile of the barista steaming the soya milk for my morning coffee, the cheeky techniques of a young man selling lamps in a Moroccan market, a boy fumbling over tying a ribbon at the counter in Fortnum and Mason. These moments inspire characters in my mind who become real people in my stories.

Environments are even easier. I'm fascinated by the way fantasy bleeds through the cracks of reality. The mist that never lifted off the city that morning, the alley that appeared in the corner of my eye, wending away into the darkness as I rushed down the road to an appointment, the tiny boxes of ash stacked like skyscrapers in little avenues beneath the feet of worshipers in All Hallows by the Tower, spools of wool trailing over ancient mud brick walls in Casablanca, mud boiling like dragons breath in the geothermal pools of my hometown.

It's all there, ready to open up into new worlds, new places, new pictures of things I've yet to see and places I cannot wait to explore.

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