The Amnesia Door

Beth Revis, who blogs at Writing it out, is a fantasy writer who enjoys travelling and includes Lewis, McKinley and Wrede among her favorite writers. Malta was the inspiration for her first novel The Amnesia Door:

About half way through The Amnesia Door, I got stuck. It's not surprising. I'm not an outliner, and I tried to make a problem in my story (how to escape the Amnesia Door) so difficult that even I couldn't solve it...and I couldn't. The door was too good, and my characters couldn't figure out how to break it...but neither could I. (btw, the post about when I originally got stuck is here, seems like a long time ago, now)

When I first thought of the Amnesia Door, I pictured a bright electric blue door, something that totally stood out in the uniformity of a school. But as I was brainstorming the problem, I remember where the original idea for the door came from: Malta.

I went to Malta my sophomore year of college, as part of a short exchange program through my university's education program. Ostentatiously, I and my fellow travelers were supposed to be evaluating Maltese education systems. But there were just three school visits, and the rest of our days were spent sight-seeing.

Many of the doors in Malta were brightly painted, in every shade of the rainbow, and they all stood out in stark contrast to the uniform limestone walls. I loved it--I saw the doors as a mark of individuality for each home. So, naturally, when I started writing a story about doors, my memories of the Maltese doors came up. And then, when my story came to a screeching halt, I remembered the original inspiration for the door--Malta--and decided to send my characters there.

I always had the image of the forest of wands that I describe in the manuscript, but decided to put that forest of wands in Malta as a sort of homage to the painted door inspiration, and also just to get the characters moving. Where should I had a forest of wands? Well, I remembered on my tours that around the coast of Malta are large towers that were originally used as look-outs and warning posts. So, I incorporated the towers into the story, citing them as the secret entryway to the forest of wands...