Born From a Question: The Spark of The Night Chronicles

Every story, if you trace it back to its absolute origin, begins with a question. It might be a quiet whisper or a frantic shout, but it’s the spark that ignites the narrative. For The Night Chronicles, that spark wasn’t a single flash, but two intertwined questions—one from a frightened child inside the story, and one from me, the author, staring at a blank page.

It all starts in the silence. For twelve-year-old Elizabeth “Liz” Mitchel, the story begins not with a bang, but with a quiet that feels “hollow. Vacant." On a Saturday morning that should have been filled with the smell of coffee and the rustle of newspapers, she finds nothing. The unnerving clues pile up with chilling speed: her mother’s side of the bed is empty and perfectly made, and more terrifyingly, her purse, keys, and phone are all left behind. These details coalesce into a single, frantic question that will define the next seven years of her life: “Where’s Mom?” That simple, devastating question is the seed of Liz’s journey. It’s the knot of dread in her stomach, the silence under the noise of her life, and the mystery that will eventually pull her into a world she never knew existed.

It starts with ordinary things. A purse, a phone, a set of keys left on the counter. But the most ordinary silence can hide an extraordinary secret.

From my perspective as the author, Liz’s question was the emotional core, but it needed a larger framework to exist within. That’s where my own question came in: "What if a family was born on secrets and magic?"

This question became the engine for the entire world of The Night Chronicles. What if the reason for her mother’s disappearance wasn’t a simple, tragic domestic event, but the result of a pact made long ago?. What if Liz wasn't just an ordinary girl working at her family's bar, but the "first-born child" promised to a "First King" as part of a debt?. This single “what if” gives context to the terror. It explains the arrival of Daemon, a man who knows Liz’s full name and holds her captive with terrifying ease. It raises the stakes for her best friend, Maya, who is revealed to be a witch from another realm, desperately trying to protect Liz from a legacy she doesn’t understand.

A single, haunting question is the most powerful world-building tool an author has. It forces you to create the answers. Liz’s "Where is Mom?" and my "What if she was magic?" required me to build a reality where witches are real, where other realms like Lunaria exist, and where ancient arrangements have deadly, real-world consequences. That initial spark of curiosity becomes the foundation for every character’s motivation, every plot twist, and every secret waiting to be uncovered.

For Liz, the answer to her question is far more dangerous than the seven years of silence she endured. For me, the journey of answering my own "what if" became The Night Chronicles. I invite you to join us and discover what lies waiting in the dark.