I remember sitting by the window of my dimly lit study, late into the night, when Imagine Dragons’ Demons came through my headphones. The lyrics struck me, resonating with the familiar tug of shadow and light that’s woven through my own work. “When the days are cold and the cards all fold…” These lines took me to a space where my characters often linger—a realm of dark introspection, the place where we confront our inner struggles.
The song doesn’t shy away from the hidden, unfiltered parts of ourselves, those pieces we often keep tucked away, much like the flawed protagonists in The Damned or The Shadows of the Steppe. Lines like “It’s where my demons hide” reflect that inner conflict—a sentiment I’ve tried to capture through my characters who grapple with their desires, fears, and moral dilemmas. They’re often torn between protecting others and succumbing to their inner beasts, a theme that permeates many of my stories.
In The Damned, for instance, my protagonist Finlay faces his own demons, haunted by the corruption around him and the moral decay within. His journey echoes the line, “No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed.” Much like the lyrics, Finlay’s story examines that insidious nature of self-doubt and self-destruction, the inner darkness we try to shield from those closest to us, even as it seeps out in ways beyond our control.
Imagine Dragons’ lyrics about wanting to shield others from one’s inner turmoil—“I wanna shelter you, but with the beast inside, there’s nowhere we can hide”—reflect a universal struggle, a theme that inspired me throughout Whisper Reed. In this work, my characters are surrounded by their own versions of “demons,” facing the echoes of past decisions and the pull of secrecy.
As Demons faded, I found myself contemplating the power of these dark narratives—of facing what lies within and turning it into something we can grasp, even when it’s painful.
It’s a reminder that within every story, we’re confronting those unspoken parts of ourselves, not to cast them away, but to understand them better.
