10 Things You Might Not Know About “Amiranda: Princess Amiranda and the Tale of the Deciduous Forest”

10) I am a big Disney and Star Wars fan, and a lot of the storyline was inspired by these two genres long before Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise.

9) Not all princesses live a fairy tale life, I wanted to point that out when writing Amiranda and developing her story.

8) As all humans are creatures of habit, the same applies to the characters I created in this story. Good habits or bad habits, the character’s inherent strengths and weaknesses are determined and portrayed by the habits they possess.

7) Amiranda was inspired by a dream I had, and some of the characters are inspired by real life people.

6) The word “Deciduous” means “falling off at maturity,” which is the basis behind the main character Amiranda. In the beginning she is a naïve and innocent princess (just blooming and full of life like spring) but must go out on a dangerous quest that develops and challenges her both mentally and physically, causing her to grow in her own maturity. The changing of the seasons is in many ways, the changing of her life.

5) “Amiranda” was originally written and copyrighted as a screenplay for a full-length animation film; it wasn’t until years later I turned it into a book so that it could read more like a completed work and incorporated the illustrations so that others can envision it better.

4) The “music” behind Amiranda is much of the story, my hope is to one day incorporate some of that into the storyline, should the work ever get formally produced as I hope or envision it to.

3) I tried to make all the characters memorable and marketable, so that children can cherish the characters and even make up their own storyline with the characters. I envisioned many of the characters to be “Happy Meal” toys they can play with.

2) I wanted to write something that had morals and values to the story, to the characters, and to the reader. I find so much material written and produced today that is not really suitable for children’s upbringing. The story behind Amiranda is about nurturing, something she does not get much of, even though she is a fairy tale princess.

1) It took me a long time to come up with the name “Amiranda.” I wanted something that sounded unique, pretty, and was not mainstream or even known for that matter. I wanted something comparable to “Cinderella” which is, although quite original, is nowadays very well known. After all, Amiranda is a unique individual and she is one of a kind, deserving of a name that is truly her own; so I created something using letters I like and scrambled them up and arranged them various ways until I had an “aha” moment.

I kept the entirely made-up name under wraps for quite a long time and often searched it online to make sure it was an “invented” name that sounded a bit familiar to everyone. Amiranda, for the most part, is a typical girl who just happens to be a princess. Who knows… maybe one day there will be a lot more “Amiranda’s” out there, with parent’s naming their own little princesses after her, or perhaps even girls play-pretending to be her. Anyway, in a nutshell, that is the story of how I came up with the name! I hope you enjoy her story as much as I enjoyed created it! Enjoy!!!