The Turning Point - The Moment These Authors Decided to Write!
- Rebecca Evans
- Oct 6, 2025
- 6 min read
I recently reached out on social media to ask why indie authors decided to write their books, what changed that caused them to decide that ‘now’ was the time?…. I often think about some of the incredible, mind altering and all consuming books I have read over the years and wonder about the pivotal moments that lead to these stories, the unique worlds created.
Meet Gabriel author of BANEBIRTH
Gabriel began writing his book Banebirth after going through cancer treatment, his story behind the moment he decided it was time to begin his story has stayed in my mind the last few days and I think it will for a long time.
I asked Gabriel why he decided to write his book and here is his response:
‘During the middle of the summer after I graduated from college, I found myself sitting alone in my parents’ house, sick, exhausted, and utterly depressed. Earlier that day, I had been released from the hospital after being told that the surgery scheduled to remove the aggressive tumor that was growing in my back, breaking my shoulder blade, was being rescheduled. The chemotherapy regimen I was on had nearly obliterated my platelets, the blood cells responsible for clotting blood. I was absolutely terrified that the difference of a week between the initially scheduled surgery and the rescheduled date would somehow allow the one migrating cancer cell to depart from the primary tumour and begin its metastatic migration, spelling the beginning of my end’.
‘I spent much of the following hours and days alone, thinking. For the first time, I wasn’t running back and forth to the hospital getting chemotherapy. I wasn’t struggling to finish my last college courses while battling this descent into my illness, I wasn’t confined to my bed with a barf bag kept in arm’s reach. All those experiences that had been temporarily paused gave me a mental clarity that allowed me to recognise the other source of my pain: a burning resentment growing inside like the tumour in my body’.
Gabriel then explained that it was a difficult time as he was seeing friends starting new jobs, beginning their young lives, experiencing his brother moving away to marry someone his family knew very little about and said he felt the world was moving on without him. It was during this time that Gabriel turned to the wonderful escape that Fantasy brings…
‘As I contemplated the potential of dying unfulfilled and abandoned, I found myself dreaming of escape. I desperately wanted not to be sick. I yearned to be free from the burden of illness, and to explore the world beyond the hospital, home, and body I was tethered to. In those moments, I imagined what it’d be like to escape to a setting that was a limitless expanse of land that I could manipulate with my hands and mind, giving me the power I’d never had, especially under the enervating effects of chemotherapy. I began to create a world where people could do all those things, and who weren’t connected to modern society at all. But the more I tried to write about it, the more the concerns about my modern life and anxieties began to re-enter. The prehistoric landscape was populated with magical humans who wanted to live in paradise, but a destructive being constantly plagued them. That’s where the dark fantasy angle began to take shape and never stopped unfolding’.
‘Eight years and many further coming-of-age experiences later, I have a story that wraps all those emotions between two covers.
That is why I decided to write a book!
When speaking to Gabriel about this blog post he said I could of course shorted his response as much as needed but simply put, I couldn’t. I felt it was such a powerful story that needed to be told. The way Gabriel took an extremely difficult and challenging time in his life and turned to Fantasy to create something that people will be able to enjoy indefinitely is truly motivational.
BANEBIRTH will be available on October 7th 2025
Read the first chapter here: https://www.gabrieljsmith.com/read-an-excerpt-of-banebirth?fbclid=PAZnRzaANPuxdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp6LeIs7pNE4Hc-fG79ZoIC33Fz99KhUXLhRy-og_mxeF6j880mMCLtmaVnAm_aem__OdgKGL1TiwkeeuBo3vlkA
Where to find Gabriel:
Meet Laura author of Black Butterfly
Laura is a Paranormal Romance author from West Yorkshire. Laura’s book ‘Black Butterfly’ follows Rosie Renfield as she grows up orphaned and encounters Dracula - Abraham Van Helsing. It’s a character driven, dark paranormal romance with addictive tropes from found family, romance and morally grey characters to captor and captive, dark and delicious Dracula vibes!
To answer my question of - Why did you decide to write a book?. Laura responded saying ‘The characters wouldn’t stop telling me to. Honestly, the desire to tell a story is just sometimes too powerful to ignore’. I absolutely loved this response, the idea that the story and characters are already in the mind waiting to pour out onto paper so we can enjoy them too!
The deliciously dark cover of Black Butterfly
Laura is also currently in the early stages of her upcoming book, a haunted house romance called Moonflower.
Black Butterfly coming this Winter!
Keep updated on Laura’s book release via her Instagram:
Meet Aryn author of Human Reborn: Book 1 of The Kingdom Of Disce Series
Aryn messaged me directly in response to my post and here’s what she said:
‘The story just won't let you go. Its like a drum in your mind thats always banging, sometimes loud and sometimes soft, but its always there. The story came to me for two days straight and I knew I had to grab a pen and write it all out. Then once you do, it’s not enough, because the story just expands and you fall so in love with your own characters that you have to make sure their story is told right’.
I absolutely loved this response, that once the seed is planted in your mind it almost grows whether you water it or not. I wonder if the urgency to get these ideas out of your mind and written or typed out must be overwhelming and at times must feel very stressful. This is why I admire Fantasy authors so much..The dedication and imagination it takes to write these unique worlds and build these characters that we cherish, to keep the continuity and bring us twists and turns throughout will always blow my mind.
The beautiful cover of Human Reborn
I’m sure you are by now wondering what Human Reborn is about? Read on for the full blurb as seen on Amazon.
Human Reborn Blurb:
WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF DISCE
After losing her family at a young age, Alexis now lives at the pleasure of the King and Queen of Disce at the Kingdom's capitol. Her life is seemingly normal, if even a bit mundane. She attends all the seasonal festivities, makes friends with both the court's men and women, and visits the capitol's library to read in her spare time. She lives a life of privilege, one that even comes with employment as she travels through Disce on behalf of her King.
But not everything is as simple as it seems...
Not only is Alexis a human in a kingdom full of Discerni and the mystical, but she's also the first of her kind to be allowed access to the ancient texts the magical race covets. Traveling across Disce in a quest for her King, Alexis searches for a book she shouldn't be allowed to see while asking no questions in return.
WELCOME TO THE OLD WORLD
Set on a path not of her own making, Alexis finds herself questioning her previous lack of curiosity when she meets the King's firstborn son in her travels. The Prince lives with a fire that both excites and inspires Alexis, fueling her to not only question his father's intentions but the values she's lived with for the past ten years.
And he's not the only one with eyes on her...
Thought to be sleeping for thousands of years, the most powerful of the Ancient Ten takes an interest in Alexis, demanding that she become his Human Reborn. The Ancient warns of change coming to the Old World- change that sees his brothers and sisters awakening while the magic of the Four Kingdoms begins to strengthen.
Grappling with the attention of an Ancient who not only has plans for her but for the whole of the Old World, Alexis if forced to confront her previous mundane life as she questions fate, prophecies, and the mystical, all of which intertwine in a story as old as the Ancient himself.
Human Reborn is now available to preorder on Amazon:
Keep updated via Aryn’s Instagram:
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