Lasera began on Aug 11, 2008. I had been thinking back on my childhood, remembering a time when I had taken swimming lessons at an outdoor pool. The diving board and slide had been above a large deep tank. I used to imagine that a mermaid lived at the bottom of this tank. What a great idea for a book. The thought crossed my brain and I remember physically freezing in my living room as I was overwhelmed with everything that began to flood my mind. 

The next few weeks I did nothing else except daydream and plot the book that was forming in my head; my fingers typed as fast as they were possibly able. I spent the next four months plotting out the series. With everything that happens before chapter one starts, I had to plot absolutely everything or run the risk of writing eight or nine chapters only to have to go back and completely rewrite them. 
The original title was ‘Wyn’s Water’. In looking at possible titles for the other five books I realized ‘Wyn’s Water’ was unlikely to work. I decided to call the first book after the new world Valerie gets introduced to. – Lasera- is the word that merpeople (mermaids and mermen) use to describe anything in their world, the kingdoms, the cities, the people, the culture, everything mer.

As of Dec 2011 I decided to have a subtitle to each of the six books. Now ‘Lasera’ is ‘Lasera – A Mer World’.

Hence Lasera – which started out as a series of four and has now become a series of six – was born!  

And finally (in my own words) the Story: 

Valerie Morgan has a head injury. Head injury = hallucinations. Because she’s got to be hallucinating. She must be hallucinating, because there is a merman at the bottom of the pool.
An unremarkable day turns horrific when Valerie hits her head after diving from the 5m platform. Under water and nearly unconscious she comes extremely close to drowning. In the aftermath of the accident Valerie thinks she is hallucinating when she sees a merman watching her from beneath  the water. Once she works up the courage to speak to her ‘hallucination’, she learns that he is in fact real and his name is Wyn. He had saved her from drowning and in touching her changed her physical chemistry forever. Valerie, unlike the general populace, can now see every mermaid and merman in the world.
Wyn introduces Valerie to a world and people she had thought were only fairy tales. Over time their friendship grows, and Wyn helps Valerie to confront her traumatic past, facing what she’s hidden within her own mind. She’s awed by his concern and care for her well being, even more so because she sees his anguish at being trapped in a pool far from his home and family. Just when Valerie feels her life is turning around, Wyn tells her he is dying. 
This revelation forces Valerie’s mind to leave her complicated feelings for Wyn unacknowledged. With frantic thoughts and a determined heart Valerie makes the choice to undertake the monumental task of freeing Wyn from his prison. She must seek help and if she allows herself to trust her friends, they just might save him. Valerie has to risk the ever present chance of discovery, and when she crosses paths with those who wish to harm Wyn, her own life.