Goodreads asked Beth Brower:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Beth Brower When I was sixteen, sitting in Mr. Clark's Geology glass, I was thinking through a chess term I had heard. A Queen's Gambit. What an interesting phrase. It means, basically, that you sacrifice your queen in order to win the game. I had my writing book in hand, of course, full of scribbles and stories, and on the left hand side of the page I outlined a very typographically poor title, promising myself I would write that book someday. I carried the the thought and the queen around with me for several years while writing the stories of other characters. But then, one fall, while working at Rivendell {Yes, I have been the head gardener of a private estate called Rivendell for seven years} I was thinking about my queen, Eleanor, and her country, and I met a young traveler named Wil. He just walked right into Aemogen and onto the map of my mind. In the instant we shook hands, I knew his back story. And I knew the time to begin writing the book had begun.

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