Exploring stories, beauty, and imagination.

People often ask what inspired me to write The Whispered Horse - Nyxara. It is a simple question, yet the answer has unfolded over many years. Although I wanted to write a compelling fantasy adventure, the story grew from something much deeper than a love of mythical creatures or imaginary worlds. It grew from a conviction that we have forgotten something essential about our relationship with the living world.

Throughout my life, I have felt most at home among trees, animals, mountains, rivers, and open skies. I inherited that sense of belonging from my father. As the youngest member of a travelling circus family, he spent his early childhood living in horse-drawn wagons beneath the open sky. Weather was something to be observed rather than ignored or complained about, medicinal plants were part of everyday life, and the family's animals depended on his care from the age of four. Long before I was born, he had learned that people do not live apart from nature; they live within it.

He carried that understanding throughout his life and quietly passed it on to me. He drew my attention to the moon, the changing clouds, birds in flight, approaching rain, and the beauty to be found in every landscape and every animal. Those moments weren't always extraordinary. They simply became the way I learned to look at the world.

As the years passed, my relationship with the living world continued to deepen. The more time I spent among trees, animals, mountains, rivers, and open skies, the more I sensed that every living thing participates in a larger pattern of belonging. That quiet conviction eventually became the foundation of Fantaeryn.

The world of Talmortha is fictional, yet the questions that lie beneath it are entirely real. What if the separation from nature that we experience is not our natural state? What if wonder and awe are not simply emotions but ways of paying attention? What if the stories we tell are capable of reminding us of truths that facts alone cannot express?

Fantasy has always seemed uniquely suited to exploring questions like these. By stepping beyond the boundaries of the familiar, it allows us to return to reality with fresh eyes. A story about a spirit horse, ancient trees, dragons, and forgotten harmonies may appear to be an escape into imagination, yet imagination has always been one of humanity's most powerful ways of discovering meaning.

For me, imagination is not an escape from life. It is the place where life becomes clearer. When I immerse myself in creating a painting, writing a story, or wandering through the landscapes of Talmortha, where the harmony of Fantaeryn still whispers beneath every tree, river, and mountain, the constant noise of everyday concerns quietly falls away. Shopping lists, household chores, bills, grief, political division, and the constant stream of everyday demands lose their urgency. In their place comes a deeper sense of purpose, curiosity, and joy.

That creative space is where ideas begin to connect, where unexpected solutions emerge, and where I am reminded why beauty and wonder matter. It is also where I feel most fully myself. Remaining there requires discipline because everyday life has a habit of pulling us back into urgency. Yet I have found that the more time I spend creating, the more richly I experience the world beyond the studio or the writing desk.

As I write this article and look back over my life, I no longer think I invented Fantaeryn. Its ideas had been quietly growing within me for many years through my love of nature and animals, my art, my writing, and the values my father passed on to me. Fantaeryn was already within me. Giving it a name simply allowed it to find its voice.

Perhaps that is one of imagination's greatest gifts. It does not draw us away from reality. It enlarges our experience of it.

Featured photograph: I Stopped to Look. Photography © Carol Walden 2021

Continue the Journey

If this essay has resonated with you, I hope you'll continue the journey in The Whispered Horse.

Set in the living world of Talmortha, it is a story of wonder, courage, belonging, and the quiet hope that harmony can be remembered. Through Clairvelle, Nyxara, and their companions, the ideas that became Fantaeryn unfold as an epic fantasy adventure that invites us to see both an imagined world—and perhaps our own—with fresh eyes.

Order your copy of The Whispered Horse - Nyxara and step into the living world of Fantaeryn.