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!
ahhh great interview! I loved that favorite scene you're talking about. =)
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview. Red Riding Hood and Godfather Death are amongst my favorite fairy tales, too. Thanks MMs.
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