The idea for The Night Ends With Fire didn’t arrive fully formed—it took shape over time, influenced by years of subconscious reflection. In fact, it wasn’t until after I had finished the first draft that I found a journal entry from years earlier, capturing the essence of what would become the core of the novel: “To want something so badly, even the wanting becomes beautiful.” This notion of a desire so strong it changes you, became a theme I couldn’t let go of.
One night in early 2021, while finishing edits on a contemporary novel about a topic that was deeply personal, I found myself exhausted by reality. The weight of the news cycle and the pandemic had worn me down, and I longed for an escape. That’s when the seed for The Night Ends With Fire began to take root. In a half-dream, two phrases came to me: “Girl hungry for power” and “Dragon who feeds off greed.” Groggily, I wrote them down, not yet realizing they would form the backbone of my story.
What had long fascinated me was the nature of ambition: Was it a strength or a weakness? How much ambition is too much? And how does society view the individual differently when the one who craves power is a woman rather than a man? These questions became central to the story.
Having grown up obsessed with TV adaptations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I set the novel in a world inspired by the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China, a time when ambition and war shaped the fate of empires. In this fantasy world, women are raised to believe their only purpose is to serve—first their fathers, then their husbands, and one day their sons. My protagonist, Meilin, is no exception. She has been taught to believe her desire for more is a sign of her corruption. And yet, despite everything she’s been told, Meilin wants more. She burns with ambition, and it is this hunger that draws the attention of a powerful sea dragon spirit, Qinglong, setting her on a path to change the course of the Three Kingdoms.
As I developed the world and its magic system, I knew I wanted to ground the story in Chinese mythology, drawing on the Four Auspicious Beasts—the Azure Dragon, Vermillion Phoenix, Ivory Tiger, and Black Tortoise. These mythological creatures represent the four directions, seasons, and elements. However, I wanted to use these mythological creatures to demonstrate that all power, even magic, has a cost. I wanted my characters to feel the effects of using their magic, and for it to change them as they wield it more and more. Thus, the Azure Dragon, bonded to Meilin, feeds on her greed, and as she draws on its power, her ambition and greed grow in tandem.
Through Meilin’s journey, I aimed to explore the cost of ambition. What drives us to seek power, and what price do we pay once we obtain it? Does power change who we are, even when we pursue it with the best of intentions? And when we look back at history, what truly separates heroes from villains?
I hope in reading The Night Ends With Fire, you don’t find easy answers. Instead, I hope you find questions–about the nature of desire, ambition, and power—questions that are deeply human, whether in a fantasy world or our own.
