Goodreads asked Jewel Allen:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Jewel Allen In 2008, I wanted to enter a first chapter contest at LDStorymakers Writer's Conference. I had just bought an electric typewriter and relished that exciting feeling of putting on a fresh sheet of paper. I knew I wanted the novel to be scary because I'm a sucker for creepy ghost stories. After I thought for a minute, this is what came out: "There's a ghost moon tonight."

I pictured a grandfather telling his grandson about the time when he was growing up and there was one night of the month without a moon, and ghosts came out. That first sentence didn't stay in the final manuscript. In fact, the point of view changed altogether, to the narrator's younger 17-year-old self, but I still like that original first chapter. It takes me back to the nights in the Philippines when I would listen, wide-eyed, to elderly relatives telling a ghost story.

That first chapter won first place in the suspense division. As the prizes were being handed out, one of the judges said, "I want to know what happens next!" Well, as it was, there weren't any other pages to the story. I had to write on, thanks to that encouraging response, and just so I knew for myself what happened. Incidentally, I soon replaced the typewriter with a computer. I ran out of typewriter ribbon as the story grew.

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