Goodreads asked Caroline Allen:

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

Caroline Allen This is one of my favorite stories. I'd been working on short stories based loosely on my childhood in rural Missouri for five years or more. A friend suggested the stories might fit together in a novel. That night, I bolted up from sleep with an epiphany. Four novels came washing through me: EARTH (being raised on a farm in the Midwest and rooted to the soul), followed by AIR (living abroad, floating above culture), FIRE (the burning up of the ego in London), WATER (healing in the rainy Pacific Northwest). All would be based on Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. A girl would go around the world seeking meaning on a planet that was undergoing the chaos of climate change. It was only much later during the publication process that we realized that this was an Elemental Journey Series.

On some level I "know" each novel before I write it, but the details still surprise me in the writing process.

flag