THE ORIGIN OF THE VEIL
THE VEIL started with a little brainstorming "what if". I was reading something where someone described a horrible situation as "a nightmare come to life", and I started thinking about fears. What would it be like if not only one person's worst fears came to life, but if all the fears of all humanity took form all at the same time? Coming from a Pagan background, there is a lot of talk about "the world beyond the veil", usually used in terms of what happens after death. In most Pagan traditions, Samhain, or Halloween, is said to be the time of year when "the veil" is at its thinnest, and the world of the dead is closest to ours. I took the two concepts -- nightmares coming literally to life, and the veil between worlds, and put them together. From there grew the idea that the Otherworld creatures had no physical form as we understood it. But when they cross over the Veil into our dimension, they manifest as whatever dark vision they pluck out of the human imagination -- a perfect excuse to bring monsters from vampires to zombies to life in a single fictional world.
This is one of the first stories I ever wrote where I had the background and plot before I had characters. Devon and Helene were people I imagined in very rough form previously (a cultured priestess and a sloppy, gruff cop), and I finally decided to develop them for The Veil. They turned out to be a great fit, and I look forward to seeing their relationship grow and change over the life of the series!