Suncatchers has been my dream for over sixteen years. It started as a way for a nineteen year old kid to work through trauma, eventually evolving with me through experiences like EMDR, historical events, finding spirituality and finding myself.
Additionally, I have been a licensed aesthetician for a decade and enjoy educating, treating, and chatting about all things skin. This life path gave me insights to avenues like navigating corporate America, confronting the harm of the aesthetics industry and what it means to represent things that I don’t always agree with.
Through my writing journey, I’ve discovered how I can best remember details in the stories I write - listening to music. It’s something hard to explain, like I can see scenes in my head with song. Even if I forget small details, listening to certain songs helps me remember what I wanted to write. There are actually playlists I used while writing if you ever want to search them!
I’m Karlyn
Inspirations
Despite the primary focus of Suncatchers being “polarity”, the details within are inspired by a variety of subjects.
Trauma Therapy
Through EMDR and other cognitive behavioral therapy, I felt that reliving experiences was a form of time travel. Thus creating the interdimensionality within the book pertaining to emotions, thought form, and experience.
Familial Bonds
Genetic alterations through trauma, extreme stress, and sensitivity and the epigenetic consequences have always fascinated me. It really brings forth the classic argument of nature versus nurture. In tandem, it often makes me wonder if positive actions have the same effect.
Abandonment
I believe this concept extends beyond the primary assumption of parental-type abandonment. Although I understand this aspect very well, the curious nature of humanity’s separation of the cosmos is what really drove this piece for the book.
Science Fiction
Stories like The Dark Crystal, Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Fifth Element and others were heavy influences on interests I had during childhood. The very art of story telling felt more like a drive than a desire. These stories are the ones that helped shape my world view and continue to do so.
American Politics
Growing up the Deep South, politics, religion and structure were intertwined. It wasn’t until I was older did I realize how inherently political everything was: from human bodies to daily life, everything that American capitalism touches. Despite what anyone says, I hold firm on the believe that artists are political, art is political, and be it words or brush strokes art will always be the most powerful form of resistance.
The Deep South & Appalachia
My home. My people. Even when we disagree, I will never stop believing in these places. I will never stop pointing out that Southern and Appalachian history is filled with the most impressive resistance to tyranny and always seemingly ignored. Civil Rights, Workers Rights, and Ecological Rights are fought here with no outside support - often because it’s seen as a lost cause. But the marginalized in these areas, be it class disparity, color, gender, sexuality, or religion, will always be the heroes of my stories. I refuse to live in a world where the South and Appalachia are only seen as monoliths.
Esoterica
I’ve studied and listened to all sorts of people in spiritual communities, often gaining inspiration and insights for my own personal growth and the development of Suncatchers. From astrology to gnosticism, most esoteric teachings have layers of similar thought - something I still find fascinating. Sunny and Aurian are in many ways the yin/yang, divine masculine/divine feminine blends we see in the natural world. And these teachings not only helped me better conceptualize these concepts for myself, but also added insights to the characters overall.
Conspiracies
A deep-rooted thread within the storyline of Suncatchers, readers will probably find a few familiar conspiracy theories to tie together development. Personally, I love stories like this. The X Files, weird documentaries, and especially the kind that tie esoteric beliefs into modern-day unexplainables, I couldn’t find a way to not write some of them in as funky, weird way to make the story itself explainable. This is for a few reasons: as someone who has experienced trauma, the mind often connects dots in odd ways to make sense of what’s happened. I think this rings true for many people today who search for any reason to believe there is a validation or explanation for what they’re experiencing. Secondly, they just make really fun things to write about. That said, most of the conspiracy-adjacent theories in Suncatchers are absolutely NOT my personal beliefs. But as a very real aspect of the traumatized mind, they fit perfectly into the story I’m trying to tell.
Credits
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Curly Quotes Editing
Anna is the best thing that happened to Suncatchers. The biggest thanks ever goes to her stunning insights and professionalism. Indie authors, go book with Anna!
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Cate Standish Art
Cate provided the character designs for this website. I gave them the free reign to design Sunny, Aurian and Berkeley however they saw fit and they did not disappoint!
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æs creative collective
Cover design, thank you Patrick for your support and being an amazing life partner and parent to our little guy.
IG @savoritsavorit