Bringing The Winze Files to Life: How One Book Turned Into a Whole World

Forest, Mountains and crows. By: Caroline Anders

When I first started writing The Winze Files, I didn’t have a neat plan or a clear outline — just a pulse in my chest and an image I couldn’t shake: a haunted mountain town, a cursed vault, and a girl who baked cinnamon buns that could stir the dead. The story started to grow in every direction, spilling out of me like something that had been waiting. And somewhere along the way, I realized I wasn’t just writing a book — I was building a world.

Wells has always been my muse — not just for its real history, but for the way it straddles time. It feels like somewhere you’ve dreamed before. It has that dusty, magical, slightly-off energy that makes you feel like anything could happen — and probably already has.

Writing has felt like unearthing. Like digging through the silt and rust of ideas, dreams, history, and emotion to find what’s buried just beneath the surface. It’s also like paddling down a river: sometimes fast and thrilling, sometimes still and strange, but always winding. And every time I pause — to breathe, to look around — I’m reminded of how bizarre and beautiful this place is. Not just the world I’m writing, but the actual world around me: the mountains, the ghosts, the side-eyes at the post office, the people who inspire and infuriate and somehow find their way into the folds of my fiction.

Publishing Volume 1: The Taste of the Tommyknocker has been one of the most empowering (and at times chaotic) experiences of my life. I built it from the ground up — word by word, image by image — learning how to turn raw vision into something tangible. But this project isn’t just about one book. It’s the beginning of a larger tapestry. I have never shared my imagination quite like this because writing is something I never thought I could do. But I am finding that my writing voice is very powerful because of my imagination. It’s been a cathartic experience to show myself that I can, and that I can share my imagination almost more effectively than a painting. Which is what I love. I love to highlight beauty that already exists.

Poster for The Winze Files.

My influences stretch beyond the geography. I was raised in the cultural soup of Are You Afraid of the Dark, The Outer Limits, TVO after-school specials, Care Bears, Jem and the Holograms, and The X-Files. That mix of cozy and uncanny, neon and nightmare, glitter and ghost story — it all lives in this book. That late-80s, early-90s liminal magic where you could flip the channel from a crime show to a cartoon to an alien abduction. That’s what The Winze Files carries in its bones.

Alongside the books, I’ve been carving and printing what I imagine the world of The Winze Files looks like — linocuts of eerie landscapes, haunted architecture, symbolic maps, and haunted talismans that are part of the lore. These prints are a way for me to bring the world off the page and into the physical realm. I’ll be sharing them soon as part of an upcoming art show that ties directly into the series.

This whole process has been one long, steep learning curve — but it’s also been the most creatively alive I’ve felt in years. If you’ve ever had a story inside you, or a world no one else could see yet, I hope you find a way to let it out. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s yours. I am beyond grateful for my creativity. It is my lifeline.

Lino print of The Winze Files.

Stay tuned. Volume 2 is coming. And the crows are watching.

Caroline

Writer. Artist. Lore-keeper.