Jessica Scoullar

I grew up around Ocean Grove and Geelong, at the other end of the Great Ocean Road to where the book is set. I love watching the ocean and love the landscape of the Great Ocean Road, though not so keen on swimming in it. I wrote what I knew, a small tourist town.
As for why I chose Fantasy, I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book and it was invariably Fantasy. I have always loved the idea of other worlds and magic so that is what I wrote about.

I have always wanted to be an author, though everyone advised me it was impractical and financially unsustainable. This particular series I started when I was about sixteen and initially it was just for interest. My sister was my first fan, she would read what I did and then hand it back with the words, 'it's good, write more'. A great encouragement. I didn't really think about preparing it for publication until I took time of work for illness in 2009 (and had a large and overwhelming thesis to avoid writing). For some reason I thought writing fiction would be easier than writing scientific papers. Ha!