Mundie Moms

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Interview with The Near Witch author, Victoria Schwab

The Near Witch is one of my favorite debut releases this year, and it was released yesterday! If you haven't already had a chance to, I highly recommend picking this book up. It's such a beautiful blend of fairytale lore, romance and mystery. You can read my 5 star review here.

The Near Witch is also our featured Debut Book Of the Month. I'm so excited to have Victoria with us today. Before I post our interview, here's a little bit about The Near Witch:

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.


Congratulations on your debut release! We loved The Near Witch. It's a great mix of fairy tale lore and a great love story. Is there a particular fairy tale that inspired your story?

Thank you so, so much, for cheering with me, and for having me here.

NW isn't actually based on a specific story, but rather a kind of story, a blend of folklore and fairy tale and fable. I wanted to write something that felt old and new, fit into the odd and narrow place we call "timeless." I wanted to play with the isolated settings of fairy tales, the oral traditions of folklore. Basically, I wanted to create a world, complete with its rules and characters, but also the myths, gossip, opinions that shape them. And witches are perhaps the most versatile supernatural form! I wanted to take them back to elemental roots :)

We love the way you wrote Lexi and Cole's chemistry. Is there a fictional couple you love that shares that same immediate spark?

You know, I don't ever set out to write relationships. I write characters, and then find the reasons they would entwine/collide/ricochet. They are never dependent, though, never define themselves by the other.

I do want to say, that what Lexi and Cole have is the beginning of something, not the whole thing. It's not an insta-love, it's an attraction, and one bred out of character and circumstance.

There's a lot of great scenes in the book. What is one of your favorite scenes?

My favorite scene is probably the ONLY one to survive from first draft to final book, and...oh, how not to spoil...it's a night scene that involves someone who is not at all what they seem leading Lexi far astray. If you've read the book, you'll know which scene I'm talking about.

A close second involves angst and a cyclone ;)

Which character did you enjoy getting to know more about?

Always the sisters. Magda and Dreska, the old witch sisters on the Eastern edge of the village, or tangles of mystery and magic, and they always end up telling me things I didn't know while I'm writing them (which sounds crazy, but I bet you all the writer folk are nodding).

What is one of your all time favorite fairy tales & why?

I am a huge fan of Little Red Riding Hood, mostly because its origins are not only darker than most know, but involve as much witchcraft as wolves!

Another of my favorites is Godfather Death by the Brothers Grimm. I'm a sucker for personifications, and this is simple, elegant, and, of course, grim ;)

Thank you for much for being with us today Victoria!!

Thank you so much for having me!
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You can find out more about The Near Witch and keep up with all of Victoria's latest news by following her on her blog, and twitter.

You can buy the book from one of these retailers here.

You can enter to win an ARC of The Near Witch by entering our giveaway found here.

2 comments:

  1. ahhh great interview! I loved that favorite scene you're talking about. =)

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  2. Wonderful interview. Red Riding Hood and Godfather Death are amongst my favorite fairy tales, too. Thanks MMs.

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