Today, I’m touching on a sadder topic than usual – remembering the people we lost through our writing.

Writers have a unique opportunity – to hide parts of people we remember from our lives in the stories we create. In that form, writing can be a form of therapy, seeking closure to something that happened in our life, and also giving us a token of remembrance that might not be recognized by anyone else (and often won’t be known), but it’s there anyway.

While there are people who use people who hurt them as a base for their villains – whether just names or more (could be appearance, personality, or both), my focus today is on people who were a positive influence on our lives, people we cared for, and people who cared for us.

I have probably touched this topic to a degree before, in the story that led me to write: one-sided love. One of the characters, Kayleen Duskmane, is inspired by the girl I fell for during my high school years.

However, she wasn’t the only mention in my story. Jandiel Darkwood, the founder of the Order of Eternal Defenders, has his first name inspired by my grandfather – a hard-working man who, even in his 70s and early 80s, was quite active. And an encouraging person and someone who cares for his family. Something that, today, doesn’t seem to be that frequent trait.

Recently, I have lost my grandmother. Despite having multiple blood circulation issues and problems with movement, she lived for 86 years and was someone who cared for us, and in a way, the typical image of a homely grandmother. I admit I know very little about her early life. And, after her death, it was one of my first thoughts to somehow make her at least a minor part of the story I’m working on. Right now, I don’t know yet how to convert a “normal” name into a fantasy name, though I have an idea who’ll bear it – most likely the mother of Kayleen Duskmane.

This turns out to be a strange twist – I mentioned the classmate who’s the inspiration for Kayleen to her once after a school trip, even though I said I talked with her a fair amount during the trip, and my grandma asked if I liked her. I guess grandmothers have some kind of sixth sense.

The house my grandparents have had, also, inspired the layout of the Darkwoods’ home in my story, which shows that I have a lot of fond memories of my grandparents and the time spent with them.

We all have people we’ll never forget for the good they brought to our lives. And, sometimes, their memory might live on even after we’re gone ourselves… even if no one knows.

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In loving memory of my grandmother (26.6.1937 – 18.1.2024).