I’m pleased to have Jessica White here to share her favorite part of writing her book.
Welcome, Jessica!
My favorite part of writing Song in the Dark was creating the settings. For me, settings are characters in their own right. With this book being based on the Greek gods Hades and Persephone, I needed to capture Hades’s domain of the underworld as well as the earthly environment where Persephone grew up.
I set the book in Albany, the capital of New York, because I wanted a place of power, set apart from New York City where I imagined Mount Olympus would be. Real locations like Washington Park, the Governor’s Mansion, and the Palace Theatre help ground the readers, allowing them to feel that if they went there, they might just happen upon Dean and his three Dobermans or Jenna playing her harp.
Although I couldn’t visit in person, I spent time walking it on Google maps, exploring it on Google Earth, and scouring the internet for pictures of details to bring each place to life. Even the homes and apartments are based on real properties in the area although styles, colors, and floor plans were catered to my story’s needs.
One of the first things I learn about my characters is their personal tastes. For homicide detective Dean Blackburn’s place, I wanted a dark, cavernous, but warm ambiance to reflect the underworld. I pictured a mix of industrial gray plaster walls with wood shelves anchored by chains contrasted with warm leather furniture. For Jenna’s high-end apartment, I imagined light and airy with life-giving plants, soft colors, and a collection of art that captured the impressions of nature, spring, and innocence.
But my favorite places are the fictional ones I created to bring the mythology to life. Moon Pies & Honey Cakes is a bakery mentioned in the story. Honey cakes were a delicacy of the Greek gods, and moon pies are very Americana. Mixing the two gave me visions of this boutique bakery with gold and silver wrapped treats sitting on warm wood trays in a gleaming display cases.
Another shop mentioned is a candy store called Love Struck Delights. This one was based on Eros (Cupid) and his love potion arrows. Chocolate is often said to be the way to a woman’s heart, so I imagined getting this box with hearts and arrows confetti and little cupids on the cellophane wrappers. While we never visit the candy shop, I pictured it with the atmosphere of my favorite See’s Candies but with a red awning, cupid logo, and red and white checkered floor.
The one fictional place I wish was real, is the Mediterranean-styled health resort named Elysian Estates. Elysium was the place where heroes who died noble deaths spent eternity. I wanted Jenna to have a safe place for her divine encounter with truth. I also wanted to break down some of the issue the church has with counseling, self-care, and alternative medicine. So many people I know have found healing from trauma and abuse through things like massage therapy or getting pampered at a spa when they’ve never been taken care of. So Elysian Estates became a symbolic way to acknowledge that however you need to heal is okay.
As an author, I spend as much time crafting settings as I do characters. As a business woman, I love supporting small local businesses. It’s my hope that readers will not only wish these places were real but be inspired to get out in their communities and discover the places that feed their souls.
Book Blurb
After graduating from Juilliard, harpist Jenna Fields returns home to Albany to escape her manipulative ex and prove to her controlling
mother that she can orchestrate her own life.
Homicide detective Dean Blackburn spends his days seeking justice for the dead. But darkness taints everything, including him.
When his three Dobermans lead him to Jenna playing in the park, he tries to resist the beautiful musician and focus on his cases. At least until he witnesses Jenna’s ex attempt to blackmail her and learns she’s being stalked, just like one of his homicide victims.
When her world crumbles beneath her feet, and Dean learns she has her own dark secrets, he helps Jenna see that the key to escaping her mother’s gilded cage is already in her hands.
Author Bio
Jessica is a prayer warrior who loves to encourage and create safe spaces for the hurting and lost. She’s committed to living out God’s love and standing for equality, diversity, and justice in her community and publishing.
She has a B.A. in Educational Studies and published her first book, Surviving the Stillness, in 2014. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She also is a founding member of 10 Minute Novelists LLC, an international group of time-crunched writers.
For more info or to follow her on social media visit her website: AuthorJessicaWhite.com
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