Here is a confession about the Barns:
No, let me back up.
I started writing The Dream Thieves back when I was 19 — I know I told everyone I began writing The Raven Boys when I was 19, but really, it was it was DT, Ronan’s story. It was only later that I realized I needed to begin with The Raven Boys. Like Ronan, I had (have) recurring dreams and visceral nightmares, but unlike Ronan, I found out that if I wrote them down, I wouldn’t have them again.
I used to go to the Barns in my dreams — nearly every night — and it was precisely as it appears in The Dream Thieves and the later books in the series. Everything Ronan feels about the Barns is how I felt about it.
When it came time to give the Lynch family a kingdom of their own, I knew I was going to give them the Barns, but I also knew that to write it down was to exorcise it from my dreams. Nightmares and dreams really work the same way — the only difference is that you’re afraid of one.
And I was right. I’ve not been back to the Barns since I first wrote it down. Well, not when I’m sleeping, anyway. I guess what I’m trying to say is that every time a reader is pleased to visit the Barns, it makes me feel better about my decision to give it away. So thanks for that.
Here is the music I listen to while writing the Barns:
“She Is Like the Swallow” – Lucia Micarelli
“Through Your Bones” – Lost Lander
“Da Pacem Domine” – Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
“Exile” – Enya
“Taimse Im’ Chodladh” – Planxty
If anyone has any other suggestions for the OP, please let me/ them know!
Anyway, here is my confession about the Barns: I miss it, even though there were almost always monsters in the shadows.