Lily Writes

It starts with a seed.

Farmers know you don’t eat the fruit the moment you plant the seed. You wait. You let the sun warm the soil, coax the shell to crack, watch the tender frond push through the earth. Then the leaves reach for the world. You water. Fertilize. Shelter. Nurture.

Writing is the same.

My seed came on top of Mount Etna in Sicily: the acrid sulfur in the air, the crunch of lava gravel underfoot, the glowing caldera at a “safe” distance. Hell.

“And out of Hell Hades Rises.”

That line planted itself in my mind. At first, I had no idea how it would grow. Until it clicked—like a magnet snapping into place with Kael Vireon, a decorated General in the Vanguardian Intelligence Protection Directorate. (VIP-D) He’s loyal, ethical, until he isn’t. Under a corrupt leader, he sees the truth: he can’t stay. He defects—grandly, boldly, reinventing himself with a new face, a new name, a new mission.

He becomes Hades.

And that, of course, inspired the rest of his crew. Most adopt new identities, naming themselves after gods. The Hades “Hounds of Hell” burst onto the page—first in Thief, later in Healer, and finally in Oracle, growing richer with each appearance.

They’re so much fun to write that I’m convinced they’ll eventually get their own Pirate Series. Apollo? Absolutely. He has to have his story. And Plutone—the man longing for his fated mate, philosophical, wise, and hilariously wrong about women not liking big men (he’s 6’6”)—he deserves his HEA. I can’t wait to give it to him.

Seeds. Writers plant them everywhere. And sometimes, years later, they grow into entire worlds.