A: All of them. I’ll miss Zaria for her sweetness, Filip for his protectiveness, Hector for his guidance, Merry for her motherliness, Aleks for his navigational abilities, Geirr for his good-natured pessimism, Christoffer for his wonder, and Olaf for his pirate speech. Mostly, when it’s over I will be proud of them and myself because together we accomplished much and shared a great story. What are you going to miss?
FAQ
Q: Did you have any specific people in mind when creating your characters?
A: Not particularly, but that said I do base some of the conversations, situations, and reactions characters get into or say on my family. I think that’s why they ring so true to readers. We’ve all had at least one of these experiences.
Oh wait, just as I was about to wrap this question up it occurred to me that yes, it’s been suggested by beta readers who know me in real life that my puppy, Oskar was inspiration for Vingar, a character from the third book. I see a lot of him in parts of Vingar’s character, so you could say Vingar was based on my puppy. The beta reader also said because she saw the connection to Oskar that it was hard for her to see Vingar as a creature you wouldn’t want to be near, to touch, or have brush up against you. Then I showed her Eoghan’s illustration of Vingar. Once she saw that she totally understood. LOL Eoghan’s great at bringing the fantasy creatures in the series alive.
Q: Have you always known how the Zaria Fierce Trilogy would end or has it changed since you first started the trilogy?
A: I’ve always known.
Before Zaria’s story could be written I had to find out what her adventures would be, but I always knew her character arc would be the journey from timidity to bravery.
When the story came I knew how book one of the trilogy would end, and how the last book would end. Everything in between was a vague blank white space. I let the story and characters tell me what would happen as I wrote.
Events in book two clued me in on new scenes that would happen in the final book, but the final showdown and its outcome and fallout have always been known.
Author Interview Part 1 for Zaria Fierce Book Two
Q: How did you come up with the title of Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword?
I’ve said before that Zaria Fierce went through different plot ideas before she and I settled on the story arc we have today. (Yes, I do believe Zaria helped shape her story.) She was very stubborn and didn’t want to be in a Beauty and the Beast retelling or go to the Drakeland Institute for the Elite with other misfit fairy tale creatures. I kept all the original world-building documents on these ideas and as you can see Drakeland was a name I kept.
The title for the school plot line would have been Zaria Fierce and the Enchantment of the Drakeland Sword and with a small tweak it became the title for this book. I did for a brief time consider Zaria Fierce and the Acquisition of the Drakeland Sword, but that was a bit of a mouthful. I also considered just before publishing book one changing the title for book two to Drakelord Sword, but the connotation was different than I wanted and would have required changing Drakeland to Drakelord everywhere it was mentioned.
Q: Was the second book easier to write than the first book?
Yes and no. Yes, because a lot of the world, characters, and story arc had been defined in the first book. No, because I wanted to ensure the second book counted as much as the first and third in the trilogy. As a reader and blogger, I know a lot of trilogies and series fail to be as gripping in the second book as the first. I didn’t want the second book to fail readers’ expectations. I’m happy to say that if the reactions from my beta readers are any indication, then Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword is as good if not better than the first book.
Q: Where do your ideas come from?
I get them from everywhere! I save online articles about things that intrigue me, I follow tourism accounts on social media for settings I liked to place a story in, I research and dive into things various topics, and READING! It’s kind of like the rule of the internet – if you can think of it and can’t find it, make it… or in this case write it.
Q: Who has been your favorite character to write and why?
For the Zaria Fierce trilogy it’s Zaria of course. She came into being long before her story arc came to me. It’s been such a pleasure to go on this journey all over magical Norway with her. I think her message is special and important. Girls can be the heroines of their own stories and lives. It doesn’t mean you have to be alone and it doesn’t mean you have to be brave from the start. It’s about finding out that growing up happens when you take risks and when you keep true to yourself.
Q: Why did you decide to write?
I love reading and I’ve always been creative and had an outlet for that creativity. You could say it started in elementary school writing tons of little illustrated books, then in high school and college I focused on writing poetry, and then I turned to writing fanfic about my favorite stories… and then eventually my own stories. That was a pretty interesting leap for me and a difficult one, not because I couldn’t write, but because I was always second guessing the story ideas. In that way, Zaria Fierce has given me the courage I spoke about in the last question. It’s been thrilling to present my writing to the world.
Q: Where did you overcome writer’s block in Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword?
A: I set aside writing Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword to go over edits for the first book, which took several weeks. When I got back to the second book, I couldn’t remember what I’d been intending to do with the scene I was midway through, or where the story would go next. The idea had been plumb forgotten.
So I had to reread what I’d written. When I got to where I had stopped writing I still couldn’t remember. It felt like the story had stopped and the ideas for the world with it. My previous trick of giving it a day to come to me didn’t work this time. So each day I dabbled at the scene and added pitiful word counts to it. I spent too much time as I added, rewrote, and fleshed out the scene.
I started to wonder if my ending for the third book should be moved up in the timeline and happen in the second. Then I wondered if I did that, what would happen in book three? No es Bueno. I wanted the third book to keep its original ending. What to do?
Eventually, I sat down and pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down the sequence of events that had already happened in the book. (It was not as detailed as the timeline I wrote for the first book which had a deadline to observe within the story.) Seeing it spelled out that way made it so easy to write down the next sequence of events… and the ones for book three.
I told you, I was both a plotter and a pantser. It takes both to create something magical.
Q: Who or what is your muse at the moment?
A: A lot of things inspire me. When writing Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest for instance I was inspired by John Bauer’s art, a pair of troll statues from Slovakia, a recent trip to Europe, a conversation with coworkers, several grammar blogs, and a previous start for the book which perfectly described the main character.
