4 Days until launch: Four Places That Shaped the World of Moons and Shadows

Worldbuilding isn’t always about maps or measurements—it’s about mood. It’s about the spaces we retreat to in our minds. The settings that leave impressions. The places that hold a certain kind of quintessence—even if they only ever lived in daydreams, Pinterest boards, or quiet morning playlists.

When I started building the world of Moons and Shadows, I wasn’t trying to create just "one" land. I was chasing a feeling. A place that could hold heartache, healing, mystery, and meaning. These four inspirations anchored that journey—and still whisper to me when I write.

1. Starlight Beach – A Home Reimagined

At its core, Starlight Beach is what happens when you blend the charm of Hogsmeade, the imagination of Alice in Wonderland, the depth of Narnia, the tension of The Hunger Games, and drop it into the rhythm of coastal stillness.

It’s not based on one specific beachfront town—because honestly, most of those beloved fictional places aren’t near the water. So I had to dream one up. I imagined what I would want if I were creating a home by the sea: a place full of purpose, soul, and immersive detail. A place where even the architecture feels alive. Think a splash of Disneyland-level intentionality, but softened by waves, sea air, and flickering lanterns.

Starlight Beach was born from that craving—for a world where every corner tells a story, and even the quietest streets hold secrets waiting to be unearthed.

2. The Cabin – Timber, Balcony, Breath

This one’s personal.

I’m obsessed with Golden Eagle Log & Timber Homes. And I mean obsessed. I watch their YouTube videos more than I probably should admit. There’s something about the natural elegance of timber, the way it blends into the land, the sense of both comfort and elevation.

Add in my deep love for balconies—especially the kind that overlook something vast—and the cabin almost wrote itself. I imagine standing out there, tucked under a heavy sky, watching memory and time fold into one another. That became the energy behind the cabin. A threshold between the known and the mysterious. A place where healing begins, and shadows finally start to speak.

(And yes—when we go to Disneyland, I have to stay somewhere with a balcony. Usually the Grand Californian. It’s a thing.)

3. Sanctuary vs. Shadow City – Cathedral vs. Gothic

Two settings. One contrast.

Sanctuary is cathedral-like. It’s elevated, reverent, echoing with radiance of something you can't put your finger on. Shadow City, on the other hand, is full gothic—rich, dark, intricate. I spent two years studying architecture during my undergrad (thanks to the wildly wide net cast by liberal studies), and I never shook my fascination with gothic design. There’s something about it—pointed arches, ornate spires, the way beauty and darkness seem to co-exist in every stone.

These cities are opposites, but intentionally so. Sanctuary is where hope was supposed to live. Shadow City is where it went to survive.

Neither one is simple. And neither one is finished.

4. The Valley of Visions & Treefall Lagoon – Echoes of Mystery

These places are hard to pin down—because they weren’t meant to be.

I love the idea of something ethereal but grounded. Magical, but still warm. The Valley and the Lagoon live in that liminal space between dreaming and memory. They were shaped by hours spent listening to instrumental ambiance on YouTube—forest rains, early morning village sounds, “coffee in an elven cabin” type playlists that ran on loop as I wrote.

They hold possibility beneath the treetops. Invitation in the quiet. They’re the kind of places you stumble upon when you’re finally ready to remember something you’ve long buried.

These four settings—and many more you’ll meet in Moons and Shadows—weren’t designed with blueprints. They were felt. Reached for. Held in the in-between.

Some came from architecture. Some from fantasy. Most from the ache of needing somewhere safe to land.

If you’re someone who’s always dreamed in layers—of forests and balconies, shadows and memory—there’s a place for you here.