Kimberlee Ann Bastian
The Inspiration behind The Element Odysseys Series:
A Lightning Bolt Moment is merely a starting point. For me, my bolt of lightning was not so obvious, at least not initially. I met my muse during the fall semester of my sophomore year of college. I was taking public speaking at the time and for our latest assignment we were asked to write an informative speech. We were allowed to choose anything as a topic and being that it was October, I thought it would be fun to talk about the history of Halloween.
I researched the topic online and to my surprise I did not have to dig far because the History Channel already had its Halloween spread active on its website. Combing through the information, I came across the history of the Jack O’ Lantern and learned that the practice stems from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. As the story goes, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil twice, each time making a deal, that if he should die, the Devil could not take his soul. When Jack died, God would not let such an unsavory character into heaven and true to his word, the Devil did not claim Jack’s soul. From that day on, Jack was doomed to roam the earth, with only a piece of coal inside a hollowed turnip to light his way.
From there, I tried to learn more about this Stingy Jack, but no other stories were written about him, nor could I find the true origins of his Irish folktale. It fascinated me, the lack of information about this ill-fated character, confused why no one would have written a story about his wanderings, although one might claim Tim Burton already did in A Nightmare Before Christmas. But I was not looking for the Pumpkin King. I wanted to know what a mortal soul would do with its eternity. Could Stingy Jack fall in love? Would the Devil still be trying to beat his now immortal foe? Could Stingy Jack change his ways? Could he be granted a reprieve and be allowed into heaven? I wanted to know! And in order to know, I had to write his story. But it would take five years before Stingy Jack and I would meet again, and another eight before the first book in the series was polished enough for publication. Sometimes you just can't rush creativity.
A Lightning Bolt Moment is merely a starting point. For me, my bolt of lightning was not so obvious, at least not initially. I met my muse during the fall semester of my sophomore year of college. I was taking public speaking at the time and for our latest assignment we were asked to write an informative speech. We were allowed to choose anything as a topic and being that it was October, I thought it would be fun to talk about the history of Halloween.
I researched the topic online and to my surprise I did not have to dig far because the History Channel already had its Halloween spread active on its website. Combing through the information, I came across the history of the Jack O’ Lantern and learned that the practice stems from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. As the story goes, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil twice, each time making a deal, that if he should die, the Devil could not take his soul. When Jack died, God would not let such an unsavory character into heaven and true to his word, the Devil did not claim Jack’s soul. From that day on, Jack was doomed to roam the earth, with only a piece of coal inside a hollowed turnip to light his way.
From there, I tried to learn more about this Stingy Jack, but no other stories were written about him, nor could I find the true origins of his Irish folktale. It fascinated me, the lack of information about this ill-fated character, confused why no one would have written a story about his wanderings, although one might claim Tim Burton already did in A Nightmare Before Christmas. But I was not looking for the Pumpkin King. I wanted to know what a mortal soul would do with its eternity. Could Stingy Jack fall in love? Would the Devil still be trying to beat his now immortal foe? Could Stingy Jack change his ways? Could he be granted a reprieve and be allowed into heaven? I wanted to know! And in order to know, I had to write his story. But it would take five years before Stingy Jack and I would meet again, and another eight before the first book in the series was polished enough for publication. Sometimes you just can't rush creativity.
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