I had the basic concept for Isle of Dragons in my mind for years and it gradually developed as I finished my Master’s degree. I wanted to write a fantasy novel about a sheltered girl who leaves the life she’s known to uncover the corruption hidden from her and embrace her identity for the first time. The joy of writing in the fantasy genre for me is the mix of escapism and social commentary. It transports you to another world while also saying something about our own.

While I enjoyed the aesthetic of traditional medieval fantasy in the form of Lord of the Rings, I wanted to do something new with the genre that would inform the worldbuilding and themes…