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The Full Story
About the Authors
It all kicked off as a childhood dream, where one of us dragged the other into a creative adventure—kind of like a fun, artistic kidnapping! Now, we’re published and strutting around like we own the place, all thanks to our hard work!
Josephine Carnes
Josephine Carnes is a born and raised Alaskan. She enjoys writing fantasy fiction full of interesting people and creatures. She also enjoys the quiet solace of nature, grilling, camping, and road trips. She lives in Big Lake, Alaska with her husband, daughter, three stepchildren, and her black cat named Midnight.
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She's the plotting pantser of the Forging Kingdoms series, throwing in curveballs when you least expect it!
Hillary Rouzan
Hillary Rouzan was born in northern California but raised in Alaska since she was a year old. A majority of her writing has been in fantasy settings since her teenage years. She enjoys good food, movies, and traveling when affordable. She currently lives in Alaska with her husband and their dog, a schipperke named Winston.
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She's a plotter who (semi) patiently handles Josephine's pantsing antics.
How it All Began
1 / It's Brutal Out Here - the mid-2000s (High School)
It all started one day when Josephine mentioned to her friend group that she had begun writing down some ideas. Something along the lines of fantasy with creatures and people thrown together in an unlikely scenario. The friend group became curious and, over lunch, discussed ideas. So, character submissions were made and more ideas were put on the table. There was also The Notebook: the spiral-bound manuscript where Josephine kept everything from the first chapters to character information to a simple map. Hillary also had her own notebook adjacent to the series, but kept hers at home for silly plot ideas and potential expansion. The friend group would plot and write during lunch period in The Notebook, and Josephine would continue writing after school and on weekend.
2 / Snap Back to Reality - Spring 2021-22 (late 20s)
Why the 10+ year time jump, you must be wondering? Well...life happens and the "publishing a book" dream was shelved for a time. Hillary and Josephine had kept writing on and off through the years, but in other aspects. Josephine contact Hillary about "that fantasy story we were writing in school". Both women searched their belongings (in their homes and their parents' homes) and both notebooks were recovered! Everything was entered into a shared digital document and they churned out 16 chapters. Writing was slow and steady as the authors had to juggle life. Then, reality got busy again and the shared digital document went dormant.
3 / What if I Told You I'm Back? - Summer 2024 to Present Day (the 30s)
Hillary is prepping for her 5-year anniversary trip. In the weeks leading up to it, Josephine brings up the idea of writing again. While the idea is there, there is a point in the story two friends just could never make it past. The roadblock that popped up each time they tried to write. They had the story, the characters, the plot. What were they missing? It was one day after Josephine had finised reading a book (suggested by Hillary; it's important to Hillary that you know this as it pertains to this part of the arc) that the most insane suggestion was made: they needed to start FROM SCRATCH. And so, the authors went back and have forged none other than the Forging Kingdoms series!