Loss doesn’t always have to be death, either. I have experienced loss in many forms throughout my life and Alexa’s story actually taught me so much about dealing with those losses. Her story definitely stemmed from a place of loss, and that had a major impact on these books. Did her story parallel a time in your own life that you drew upon? However, I’ve always been fascinated by the jungle and loved THE POISONWOOD BIBLE as a teenager, so I’m sure that was somewhere in my subconscious, waiting to come out!ģ.

How did you decide on that setting?Īs I said above, the world pretty much came to me how it was, without forethought. The Defy trilogy is set in a medieval kingdom surrounded by jungle. It became a story of survival and moving forward, a story of what true courage and strength is, and a story about the many different kinds of love, and hope (even in the most desperate of situations) and risking everything for the chance of a better future.Ģ. I threw myself into that writing and from there the story took on its own life. This whole fascinating world unraveled itself and I realized Alexa had a very intriguing, difficult, but ultimately amazing story that needed to be told. I sat down and wrote a scene, not intending for it to go anywhere…but then I got curious about the characters. I was so upset by his death that I couldn’t write anything, but a friend of mine told me to stop trying to write a book and just write what I was feeling. DEFY came from a very difficult period in my life, when I lost someone I loved.

Defy series by sara b larson