About the Author
Doris von Tettenborn
Who I Am
I waited until I was retired in my 60s to start showing people my writing. Amazingly, the first few pieces I sent out — some fiction, some creative non-fiction — were published and/or won literary contests.
That was encouraging!
I have stories to share. What I don't have is time to build a traditional writing career. Notice I do not say I am too old to write. I am not. I don't have years to write a book, entice an agent to love my stuff, find an editor and then a publisher and then wait yet another year or two to hold the finished printed product in my hot little hand.
I am sure that is a satisfying path. For someone…else.
What I Write
I thought I was going to write non-fiction — creative sure, but non-fiction none the less. Apparently the Universe had other ideas and woke me up in the middle of the night with the inspiration for Duchess and her story. She is an energetic, flamboyant sorceress who opens a luxurious healing retreat named Wyndhaven Mansion somewhere in Central British Columbia in the Dreamweaver Forest.
I write gentle cozy fantasy using an eastern story structure called Kishotenketsu, similar to Studio Ghibli. The stories are episodic — think Fantasy Island — where people come to make their dreams come true.
The stories are released chapter by chapter as guests enjoy the beautiful retreat, help each other heal, find new purpose and meaning in life…or not.
About the Images
The character art and illustrations you see on our website are AI generated to bring Wyndhaven to life. All images are my conception and art direction, using AI tools to show the stories playing out in my mind.
The images are original creations specific to this project and are not intended to represent any real person, place or copyrighted material. See full disclosure on the AI Image Disclaimer page.
HWSS Universe
Every word of the stories is written by me — the adventures, the characters and their background stories, and Writing in the Margins about the writing. We also have The Staff Lounge where you can chat with the characters from the story.
Website Developer
The website was built by Cory Hisey, who lives in Germany. He is my son and I had what I thought was a casual conversation with him about an interactive cozy fantasy universe with AI character agents — and he had it built even before I had the content to fill it!
If you need a web developer who can build complex, interactive sites you can find him at coryhisey.com