U is for Underworld

Last year was my first crack at the A-Z Blogging Challenge, a blogging phenomenon created by the amazing Arlee Bird. The object is to blog every day of the month of April (except Sundays), and to increase the challenge (if you want), to blog thematically from A to Z. No sweat, right? Last year, I blogged about music with Jessica Bell. This year, I'm heading back to my roots and blogging about all things thriller. Join me?

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When I started dabbling in storytelling, I had a weird fascination with the Underworld. Maybe I'd read too many horror books as a teenager. My earlier (unfinished) works starred lead characters such as Mephistopheles, Leviathan and Lucifer. (Charming, I know.)

Of course, Satan is the most well-known leader of the common underworld, but further research (and I loves me some research) exposes pretty interesting lesser known, and way cooler underworld rulers from different religions and mythologies.

I've since veered off the "underworld craze" favoring themes slightly less dark (for now), but I'm still fascinated with other "worlds" and mysterious unexplored places, like caves, black holes, and sunken ships. When I was a kid, I was desperate to go to space camp, determined to be the "first woman in space" (hey, I was naive back then...) and up until a few years ago, I kind of wanted to be a deep sea diver. But um, I went scuba diving in Hawaii, saw a really large shark RIGHT UNDER MY FEET and that was the end of my ocean exploration dreams.

Except in fiction.

These days, I'm addicted to podcasts. *cue nerdy music* Like one of my favorite magazine, Mental Floss, there are some fabulous things you can learn listening to podcasts like Stuff to Blow Your Mind and Stuff You Missed in History Class. Literally HUNDREDS of story idea buried within the gems of these two podcasts alone.

Now to polish off these other projects so I can work on one of them!

What underworld - or hidden world - most fascinates you?

- Dawn