L. J. Smith (the initials stand for Lisa Jane) is the author of a number best-selling books and series, and her writing has spawned two television series and been translated into over thirty-five languages. She lives in the Bay Area of Northern California, USA, but she gets her best ideas watching deer in the backyard of a small cabin in Inverness or walking on the rocky beaches that surround that area.  She enjoys movies and music, and often listens to her favorite songs as she writes. She loves to hear from readers at info@ljanesmith.net, and to hold book-related contests on her website, www.ljanesmith.net. She reads all her email and Guestbook entries and even answers whenever she can.

1. Your latest project, The Last Lullaby, features strong female characters & a cast of outsiders. Can you tell us a bit about how you came to develop those characters, and whether you’ve felt at all compelled to address some literary stereotypes and offer your female readers strong role models?

The strong female characters were part of the first glimpse I had of the story.  It was so blessedly easy to watch them reveal themselves that I can’t really count it as work.  My very first concept, croaked into a mini tape recorder because at dawn I had to pin everything down faster than I could write—faster, really, than I could talk—was of these two sets of diametrically opposed characters in a world where all social norms are turned upside-down.

This means that there are strong girls both in the harem and outside in Crispy’s gang.  Crispy is the kid with burn scars all over the right side of her face and body, who, like Peter Pan, has no set age beyond “child.”  Her older friend Roach is even tougher and more competent than young Crispy, and even Old Useless, the elderly woman from the crazies’ pen, has magical powers of healing and prophecy.

Then there’s Brionwy, the singer of songs, and her friends, Melisande, Lyria, and Junhee—a dancer, an artist, and a martial artist.  All of them are strong in different ways.  Seventeen-year-old Brionwy, who begins merely as a depressed virgin courtesan with no interest in Catching the Eye of the Lord Overseer, ends up leading the revolution. Melisande the gambler and shadowy, soft-spoken Lyria are never afraid to risk their lives when truth or love is at stake, while delicate Junhee, brought up as a fighter in the Way of the Phoenix, is mentally and physically in top condition.

I guess the literary tradition I trampled was the one where a female is presented as very strong—but still needs an even stronger male to rescue her.  In The Last Lullaby none of the girls are rescued by stronger guys.  They rescue themselves or each other.  All the most deadly villains are females, too.  What fun!

2   Lisa, throughout your career, you’ve managed to create some fascinating antiheroes whom we’ve nevertheless come to love, despite theirflaws. Do you enjoy playing with reader expectation and empathy and character binaries, in that regard? Who is your favourite literary antihero?

Thank you for your kind words.  I do like anti-heroes because they’re so much fun to write, especially from their POV.  And my anti-heroes are, indeed, mostly binary.  They may be simply sullen, like Nick in The Secret Circle, or they may seem to have almost infinite power, like Julian in The Forbidden Game or Kierlan in Strange Fate, but when your pierce their hard and crusty outer layer you may be surprised to find a sweet creamy inner layer underneath (which doesn’t mean there won’t be another harder layer below the cream—so be careful not to bite down!).

My first favourite literary anti-hero has got to be Shakespeare’s Richard III, as played by Sir Lawrence Olivier.  In Act 1. Scene 1, he just makes my heart melt.  And then there’s Christopher Marlowe’s Mephistopheles, who breaks my heart when Faustus asks him what he’s doing out of hell and Mephistopheles replies:

“Why this is hell, nor am I out of it. Think’st thou that I who saw the face of God, 75 And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells, In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss?”

And then I can’t help but mention my favourite modern author, Terry Pratchett, and two things. First is the fact that my beloved Sam Vimes of the Disc World series is often written very much like an anti-hero, and second is that in my absolutely fave book, Night Watch, the young Havelock Veterinari, junior member of the Assassin’s Guild, is an absolute killer sweetheart?  For that matter, Pratchett has made a wonderful anti-hero out of the seemingly-impossible-to-sympathize-with character Death.  (And don’t forget the Death of Rats, either, with his tiny robe and scythe.  SQUEEK!)

3. Your website is incredible, Lisa! It must be challenging for you to keep on top of such an interactive, regularly updated space? How do you divide your time between creating and being such an active participant of the social networking explosion? Can you give us some insight into the evolution of your author/reader interaction since the beginning of your professional writing career?

Um, you’re giving me way too much credit—it really belongs to my genius Administrator.  Mr. Usok Choe, of Usok Choe Designs is a sort of mythical guy himself.  He’s a black belt (or whatever is highest above that) in Taekwondo, he takes stunning photographs, he’s a terrific website developer/maintainer, and he somehow finds time to be the father to three precocious kids, and husband to Junhee (yeah, I stole her name for the sake of the revolution in Lullaby.)  He does all the hard work. Then there are the incredible Forum moderators, who, under Christina Crowley make sure that there are no flame wars or character assassination on the Forum.  (One reader—this is the truth—read that rule and asked, “Does that mean we can’t kill any of the characters in fanfic?”)

I’m lousy at social networking.  I’m the kind of writer who dives into a book and doesn’t come up for air for months (one reason I’m hoping Strange Fate will be done very soon, now that Lullaby is out of the way).  I was asked once just to stand to acknowledge a review at a writing club meeting and I knocked my purse off the chair and onto a fellow writer’s foot.)

I suppose that shouldn’t matter now that the Internet has changed everything, but it does. I’m still super-shy.  I do the site for my readers, and that’s the truth.  I adore them, and I want to talk to each one personally. But now that Cherie Durant has showed me what I’m missing by introducing me to you and four other totally amazing and incredibly kind authors who’re in the thick of Internet networking, I want to peck my way out of my shell and join in.  It’s fun!  And I can’t drop my purse on anyone’s foot!

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Oh, that’s hard to answer.  I mean, the first thing that springs to mind is Damon Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries—just because he is more fun than a barrel of monkeys to write.  But I have to admit that Julian of the upcoming The Forbidden Game: Rematch, burns with an even brighter blue light than in the original Game trilogy. And then there’s Ash Redfern, from multiple Night World books, who spends Strange Fate attempting to win his soulmate Mary-Lynnette’s approval by rescuing other soulmate couples from the blood and darkness covering the world.

But these are bad boyz, and although terrifically amusing there is something even closer to my heart, and that’s a sister bond.  I first did it with real sisters in my debut novel, The Night of the Solstice. Janie and Alys Hodges-Bradley, the fledgling sorceress and the burgeoning hero—complete with sword.  And, although it’s undoubtedly frustrating for readers, perhaps other writers will understand that what burns brightest is always what one has just finished writing.

So I’ll have to stake everything on one throw of the say Brionwy and Crispy of The Last Lullaby. They’re such opposites, and yet I find I can see their world in great detail when I look through their eyes.  Brionwy is looking at roses and jewels and gowns and eunuchs and tranquilizing wine.  Crispy is looking at rubbish yards and hunting beasts and pens full of unwashed humans soon to become dragon-fodder.  And yet they find a middle ground to meet upon in Brionwy’s lullabies.  So for now I’m going to have to say the unlikely sisters in Lullaby, because they make me stretch and allow me to get my (rotten) poetry in the guise of song lyrics.

Photo by Josh Wasserman

1. Before the release of Throne of Glass, you released 4 novella-length prequels. How did that idea come about and do you prefer writing novellas or novels?

We actually got the idea for doing the four novellas because we learned that THRONE OF GLASS would be a Fall 2012 book (we’d originally thought it’d be out in Winter/Spring 2012), and that meant making my long-time fans wait an extra six months or so to read it. Because my fans had been so, so patient and awesome all these years, I was super sad to make them wait even longer–so my agent and I thought a great way to tide them over (introduce new readers, too) would be to write a few novellas set before the events of the novel.

I’d never written a novella until I drafted THE ASSASSIN AND THE PIRATE LORD, but I had such a great time writing it (and the other three novellas) that I’d do it again in a heart beat. As for what medium I prefer more (novellas or novels)… I think my default setting is to always love novels, but I absolutely adore how novellas allow you to add more depth to your world/characters/plot.

2   The central character of Throne of Glass, Celaena Sardothien, is a young warrior who must face fearsome opponents in order to win her freedom. How important was it to you to present your female readership with a strong role model, and who are some of your own favourite fictional heroines?

Honestly, when I sat down to write THRONE OF GLASS, I never thought to myself “I want to make a strong role model for young women.” I just wanted to write about a heroine who was more than capable of saving herself (and who got to do the FUN stuff that boys usually get to do in books/movies), and whose moral compass was a little skewed (which makes her really fun to write).

As a reader, I was always drawn to strong female characters, so writing about them was a natural progression. I grew up reading books like THE HERO AND THE CROWN (Robin McKinley), GONE WITH THE WIND (Margaret Mitchell), SABRIEL (Garth Nix), THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Philip Pullman), and THE MISTS OF AVALON (Marion Zimmer Bradley)–and the strong heroines I found in those novels had a huge impact on me…Not just as a writer, but also as a person. To this day, the heroines of those books are still some of my favorite.

3. Sarah, you did a degree in Creative Writing. Can you tell us a bit about that and what impact it’s had on your writing career? Would you recommend formal writing training to aspiring writers?

Actually… I’m probably not the best person to ask about that. I enjoyed my Creative Writing classes, but they didn’t particularly help me in any way, either in terms of writing or getting published. For me, it was just FUN to get to write for homework/in class… But I was also writing high fantasy novels in classes where the focus was usually on contemporary short stories. So winning over my classmates/professors was always something I had to contend with, and got a little tedious after a while.

I had some very nice professors, but…my problem was that I was already a disciplined writer, KNEW what I wanted to write, and KNEW that I wanted to be published. Most of my classmates were just trying out writing for the first time, and didn’t even know what a query letter was. So, it was a mostly positive experience, but not necessarily an educational one. I’ve learned more from my critique partners about writing than I ever did in a creative writing class.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Celaena. Always Celaena. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been working on the THRONE OF GLASS series for over ten years, but… She’s always felt the most alive to me, and is the character closest to my heart. <3

Sarah J Maas website

Lian Tanner is a children’s author and playwright. She has worked as a teacher in Australia and Papua New Guinea, a tourist bus driver, a freelance journalist, a juggler, a community arts worker, an editor and a professional actor. It took her a while to realise that all of these jobs were really just preparation for being a writer. Nowadays she lives by the beach in southern Tasmania, with a small tabby cat and lots of friendly neighbourhood dogs. She has not yet mastered the art of Concealment by the Imitation of Nothingness, but she is quite good at Camouflage.

The second book in The Keepers trilogy, City of Lies, won the Aurealis Award in 2011 for Children’s Fiction. Lian Tanner’s books are published by Allen and Unwin.

1. You do a wonderful job of portraying a world that has been protected to the point of not being able to function in a crisis. Where did you get the inspiration for that? Were you holding a mirror up to our world?

A: When I was thinking about this story, there was a lot of discussion in the Australian media about ‘bubblewrap children’, which I found interesting, because like most of my generation I had a very free-ranging childhood. I know it’s a different world now, but I think there are other ways of responding to it than over-protection, and the effect of keeping children too safe really bothers me. But it wasn’t just the media debate that brought it home to me. At the same time, there was a boy living in my street (a very safe little cul de sac where children regularly play cricket and footy in the middle of the road) whose parents worried about possible disasters so much that they hardly let him out the front gate. And on the rare occasions when he managed to escape, I noticed that he wasn’t nearly as physically competent as the other kids of his age. Nor was his judgement good. In protecting him so carefully, his parents had actually made him more vulnerable.

So those things were important as inspiration, and there was certainly a bit of mirror-holding going on – I like to have both depth and ideas in my books, so that they work on several different levels. But at the same time I thought that pushing this notion of over-protection to its natural conclusion – the guardchains – could make a really interesting and exciting story that would appeal to kids.

2 The main characters of The Keepers are thieves, and Toadspit starts off as such a hostile character. Were you worried about how they would be received by your readers?

A: Yes, I didn’t want kids to come away from the book with the idea that it was fine to go off and steal whatever they liked, just because they coveted something. In the end I used Olga Ciavolga to make it clear that there were certain rules, and that stealing was only all right if you used it for a good and selfless purpose. That seems to have struck a chord with people – those particular lines are the most frequently quoted from the book.

As for Toadspit, he has turned out to be a favourite character for many readers, so I guess his initial hostility doesn’t turn them off. I didn’t really think it would, mainly because he is also intriguing, which keeps people interested in him for long enough to start to understand why he is so hostile.

3. Lian, you studied earth sciences and have said that you draw much inspiration from the time you spend at the beach. What is it about natural environments that you find so compelling and how do they stir you, creatively?

A: I think one of the things natural environments do is provide mental and emotional space. Cities are full of things that clamour for our attention, whereas the countryside or the beach is much more restful. When I’m in the city, I find that I instinctively keep a tight hold on my physical and emotional boundaries. It’s a protective thing, even in a small city like Hobart. But on the beach, I can let go of that tight hold, I can let my thoughts swim in ever-widening circles, make odd connections, daydream. That’s a very creative state of mind!

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

A: I love them all, even the villains, but probably my favourite character is Mouse, a small mute boy who first appears in the second book, City of Lies. He tells fortunes with the help of his white mice, and has a very sweet nature, despite his hard life on the streets. I had the character of Mouse in mind for about six years before I found the right place for him, and ‘burns brightest’ really does describe him. He’s one of those people who affect the lives of those around him far more than you would expect for someone his age.

Jessica Shirvington lives in Sydney with her husband of ten years, FOXTEL presenter and former Olympic sprinter Matt Shirvington, and their two daughters. She has previously founded and run a coffee distribution company, Stella Imports, in London, and been involved in managing the restaurants Fuel Bistro, Tow Bar and MG Garage in Sydney.

She is currently a full-time mum, author and co-director in the company MPS Investments Pty Ltd.

1. Firstly thank you so much for stopping by to say hi to all of us here at Burn Bright. Embrace has recently been released into the international market (congrats!) and Entice is also on its way to foreign shores. For readers who haven’t yet met Violet how would you best describe her?

Hi! Thanks so much for having me as a guest. Violet is strong, but flawed. She is just about to celebrate her 17^th birthday at the beginning on Embrace and she is struggling to hold a tight control over her life. She has a difficult past and it is very important to her to be strong and not to have to rely on other people. The problem is, that makes everything ten times worse when she discovers one of the few people she has allowed herself to get close to has actually lied to her and let her down. Ultimately, Violet is a fighter, even if she has to reach that conclusion whilst kicking and screaming! J

2. Throughout the series you have constantly kept me on my toes with each shock revelation and cliff-hanger ending. Have you ever surprised yourself by what direction her journey has taken?

Yes, my characters and the direction they steer the story constantly surprises me. I think as a writer the best thing you can do, is create characters that take on a life of their own and then it is our job to give them direction whilst allowing for their personality to shift the way they get there. In Entice especially, a few of the scenes were quite a surprise for me.

3. You’re currently working on book 4 in the series and I’m certainly on tenterhooks waiting to see what happens next. Is there a release date set and will there be more in Violet’s story to come?

The release will be in September, as far as I am aware. The final date is still to be announced. As for if there is more, I would like to think so. For me, I have always hoped that there will be a total of 6 books in the series, but we’ll see. Definitely if it continues on after book 4, it will take a slightly new approach and, as an author, I’m very excited about the potential.

4. Which of your fictional characters burns brightest in your mind and why?

Of my own characters, I think it would be Phoenix. He is so tormented and such a tormentor of others. He is one of those characters that you just want to fix, but at the same time, never want to change…

Ambelin Kwaymullina loves reading sci-fi/fantasy books, and has wanted to write a novel since she was six years old. She comes from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. When not writing or reading she teaches law, illustrates picture books, and hangs out with her dogs. She has previously written a number of children’s books, both alone and with other members of her family. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf is her first novel.

1.    Your first novel, The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) was released this year. Prior to that, you wrote and illustrated a number of acclaimed children’s books. What prompted your shift to YA fiction, and the novel format, and which do you most enjoy writing?

I suppose I don’t really think of moving to YA fiction as being a shift, because I have wanted to write a novel since I was six years old, it just took a while to get there! I’m not sure I could even say I enjoyed much of the writing process for the novel, because it involved a lot of long, long nights and thousands of cups of coffee – I did actually wonder if I should thank my coffee machine in the acknowledgements section of the book. But I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. In many ways writing a novel is a lonely process, but in others I was never alone. I was with Ashala – sharing her experiences as she fought to escape the detention centre and protect her Tribe from the government. It was often a shock to look up from the computer screen and see the furniture of my lounge room instead of the crisp white walls of the detention centre, or the tuart trees of the Firstwood.

2.   Ambelin, you get to showcase two creative talents, as a writer and illustrator. Which interest came first and what are your earliest memories of engaging in creative activity?

My earliest memories are of writing. Art came later, in my teens. I wrote stories from a very young age, and they tended to fall into one of two categories – either fantasy stories, or stories based on the antics of my brothers. My little brothers were pretty much always up to something, so there was never a shortage of things to write about.  The behavior of one character in The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf in particular is influenced by the kinds of tricks my brothers liked to play when they were young. I think anyone who’s ever had a totally irrepressible younger sibling will probably identify with the character of Jaz.

3.   What were some of your favourite stories growing up, and how do you think they have influenced your writing?

I loved any story where people travelled to, or lived in, another world – so picture books like Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, fantasy stories by Tamora Pierce and, later, the post-apocalyptic Obernewtyn series by Isobelle Carmody.

I always knew I wanted to write about other worlds too, about the possibilities of different realities, different futures. What has always really inspired me about speculative fiction is the way that it explores problems we have in this world and brings us face to face with the great failings and the great promise of humanity, even though it’s set in times and places so far removed from ours (or perhaps not so far removed!).  Ashala is a sixteen year old girl who has to deal with the systemic discrimination of a society that views people with abilities as a threat. Although there’s nowhere in the ‘real’ world where people get locked away for having abilities (at least not as far as I know), Ashala is far from the only teenager ever to experience injustice or discrimination. Ashala fights against her oppressors and eventually triumphs over them, and I like to think that we could all eventually triumph over injustice too, in whatever form or time or place it exists.

4.    Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

I love them all – but it is Ashala who I feel the closest to. The story is told from her perspective, and she’s the one whose voice guided the story, and whose thoughts and feelings I experienced the most as I was piecing the narrative together. It’s hard not to feel close to someone when you’ve stood by their side at some of the worst and the best moments of their life, when you’ve felt their pain and their joy. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf is very much Ashala’s story. I just got to tell it, as best as I possibly could.

Jaclyn Moriarty grew up in Sydney’s north-west with four sisters, one brother, two dogs and twelve chickens. She studied English and Law at the University of Sydney and later wrote a PhD thesis at Cambridge on Children, Law and the Media. She has worked as a media and entertainment lawyer but now writes full time, dividing her time between Montreal and Sydney.

1. Our reviewer, Renee, has just read A Corner of White and describes it as, ‘a seamless tale of dual universes, dual protagonists and contrasting lifestyles’ that mixes ‘contemporary realism’ with ‘epic fantasy and magic’. (I can’t wait to read it!). Can you tell us more about where the idea for the story originated.

Thank you so much  (to both you and your reviewer).  The story came to me when I was living in Montreal, Canada.  A friend gave me a notebook that was covered in soft red suede, and that folded out to reveal a row of coloured pencils. I took it to a café on a snowy day, meaning to do my regular work, but instead I started to draw pictures with the coloured pencils.  The pictures turned into an imaginary world called the Kingdom of Cello.  Years later I returned to the Kingdom of Cello for this book.

2. You’ve done a lot of study, predominantly in the field of Law; and your first degree combined English and Law. How has your study and legal career influenced your work as a writer? Do you do a lot of research for your fiction?

I think that studying and working in the law might have helped to make my chaotic mind more ordered.  Not much though.  It also sharpened my awareness of the facts that: there are usually multiple layers to the truth, truth can be distorted and twisted in unimaginable ways, people live through the strangest kinds of heartbreak, and a world of story can lie behind a single line.

3. You say that you’re happiest when you’re ‘in (your) study and the writing’s going well and (you) can hear (your son), Charlie, giggling downstairs’. What gets you into the flow and into that zone? What do you do to get yourself back on track, when and if the words aren’t coming to you?

That’s funny—now Charlie has started school and we’ve moved to a single-level apartment.  So I guess I don’t hear him giggling downstairs while I work any more.  These days, I think that running around the block or dancing in the living room before writing, and then eating chocolate and drinking peppermint tea while writing, are essential for getting me ‘in the zone’. I also think that this is nothing more than superstition and a chocolate addiction.  But I’m not giving it up.

I still haven’t figured out what to do when the words aren’t coming—sometimes I make myself write anyway, even though the sentence are clunking along, and then delete all of that when it starts working again; sometimes I try writing something completely different, like a journal entry or poem or short story; and sometimes I listen to music/dance/bake cakes/cry/go insane/send a lot of text messages/eat a lot more chocolate.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

At the moment it’s probably Elliot Baranski, who is the hero of the Colours of Madeleine trilogy.  The characters who usually stay in my mind are the ones who are the most troubled and confused, like Lydia Jaakson-Oberman from Finding Cassie Crazy (or The Year of Secret Assignments) and Bindy Mackenzie from The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie.

Juliet Marillier’s novels combine historical fiction, folkloric fantasy, romance and family drama. The strong elements of history and folklore in her work reflect her lifelong interest in both fields. However, her stories focus strongly on human relationships and the personal journeys of the characters. Juliet is a member of the druid order OBOD (The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids) and her spiritual values are often reflected in her storytelling – the human characters’ relationship with the natural world plays a significant part.

As well as her books for adult readers, Juliet has written three novels for young adults and has contributed short fiction to several anthologies. She is a regular contributor to genre writing blog Writer Unboxed, where she posts on the first Thursday of the month.

1. Shadowfell, the first book of your new trilogy, has just been released and is already getting great reviews. Congratulations. You’ve described it as a ‘dark, gritty story’. Can you tell us about the central character, Neryn?

Neryn is fifteen when the story begins. She’s alone and destitute, living rough in the forested hills of Alban (think a magical version of ancient Scotland) and running from the king’s Enforcers. And she’s hiding a perilous secret; she has the ability to see and hear the Good Folk, the fey inhabitants of Alban, but any interaction with uncanny people is forbidden by the king’s harsh laws. We meet Neryn at her weakest; she has lost her entire family and has nowhere to turn. Or so it seems, until she remembers the name Shadowfell – a mysterious place where there may just possibly be people prepared to band together and fight for freedom.

Neryn has some strengths she hardly knows about, but as the story progresses she learns how important they could be. Along the way she’s both helped and hindered by the Good Folk and by a mysterious stranger, Flint, who may be friend or enemy. The hardest thing for Neryn, who has grown up in a place where everyone lives in fear, is learning how to trust.

2. Folklore, fairy tales, and mythology influence your writing. Can you tell us some of your favourites and why you love them so much?

Traditional stories have so much to teach us – back in the days of storytelling around the fire, they were used to help people make sense of their world and live their lives well, so they deal with all the major life challenges, from falling in love to getting in trouble of various kinds, learning who you can trust, dealing with monsters, either the ogre/dragon/ troll kind or the kind we meet these days. How to cope with being the youngest sibling; how to break free of people who want to control your life. Everything. And they’re still just as relevant, even though we live in a high-tech, fast-moving world, because the qualities they deal with – love, courage, faith, loyalty, friendship, patience – are still things we need to learn.

I have lots of favourites. What they have in common is a strong female character in the centre, someone who makes her own choices and fights her own battles. In The Six Swans, which I used as the basis of my first novel, Daughter of the Forest, the central character wins her brothers back their human form by knitting shirts from a prickly plant and remaining silent under terrible duress. I love Beauty and the Beast, even though in the old versions Beauty is a character at the mercy of other people’s poor decisions. But I do like a great love story, and this is one of the most romantic.

In my take on the story, a novel called Heart’s Blood, I gave the Beauty character far more freedom of choice and as a result she is both more and less heroic – she makes a heap of mistakes and in her way is as flawed as the Beast character. That’s a great thing about traditional stories: they are always being reworked, changing and evolving. Other favourites: Vasilissa the Wise, which has an almost all-female cast including the wonderful witch Baba Yaga; East of the Sun and West of the Moon, in which the heroine undertakes a gruelling quest to get her man back.

3. Juliet, you’ve written several books since your first work, Daughter of the Forest, in 1999. How have you changed and evolved, as an author, and has  your writing practice changed significantly.

Daughter of the Forest was written as personal therapy as much as anything – I only decided to submit it for publication when it was all finished. These days I write full time and make a living at it, and there are always deadlines to meet. I’ve worked pretty hard on developing my writer’s craft over the fourteen books I’ve written since then, and I’m far more conscious of what I’m doing technically these days. So it does annoy me a bit when some readers tell me that first book was my best!

The influence of traditional stories is certainly present in every one of my books, though only three of my novels are actually based on fairy tales. My writing style owes something to oral storytelling, as well as to my background in music – I’m very aware of rhythm, balance and flow, and how things sound when read aloud. Characters – their development and interaction – are more important to me both as a reader and as a writer than elements such as world-building and magic. Anything I write is going to be built around the emotional journey of the main character(s). In more recent times my stories have become a bit darker; that may relate to my serious illness in 2009, or it may be more a reflection of my changing reading tastes!

Writing practice – that is relatively unchanged. I’ve always been a control freak, so I fit in a lot of work, always meet my deadlines and do similar hours every day, even though I work from home and am my own boss. Though probably one of my dogs is the real boss. I have four of them, all rescues, and my working day is structured around their schedule which includes a lot of walks. Dogs are good for a writer – they make sure you rest your eyes and take exercise instead of sitting at the keyboard all day.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

It’s usually the character I am currently focussed on in my writing. So right now it’s a character named Tali, who shares the lead role in Raven Flight, the sequel to Shadowfell. I thought I’d never write a warrior woman character, because there have been a lot of them in fantasy recently. Think Buffy and Xena first, followed by a long line of ballsy female protagonists in fantasy novels.

Writers were reacting to the cliché passive princess or wicked witch/stepmother characters of earlier fantasies. I love powerful female characters, but I’ve never thought they need to perform traditionally male roles in order to be strong individuals, so many of my women are both feminine and strong. But this story required a female fighter. Tali is one of the rebels at Shadowfell. She’s the master-at-arms who trains everyone in combat skills, and is a character with great outward strength and some secrets that emerge as the story develops. One of my favourite characters ever, and a fine example of burning bright with selfless courage, not to speak of an enviable level of physical fitness! And she has cool tatts.

Paula Weston is a Brisbane-based author and co-owner of a two-woman writing/design consultancy. She is an avid reader and blogger, a huge fan of Australian literature andfantasy/paranormal stories, a closet comic reader and TV addict and is borderline obsessed with the Foo Fighters. She and her husband share their home with a retired greyhound and a moody cockatiel. Shadows, the first book in the Rephaim series, is her debut novel.

1. Congratulations on the release of Shadows (Rephaim Book 1). This series centres on ‘love, nightmares, angels, & war’. Paula, what was the inspiration behind this theme and what interests you most about creatures from other worlds?

Thank you. The initial idea for Shadows sprang from my interest in exploring the relationship between a girl and guy with a complicated history that only he remembers. I knew there were paranormal elements in how she had lost her memory, and that the two of them were part of a conflict in a much bigger context. As I researched ideas, I realised the best fit for my story was the fallen angel myth. And then as I fleshed out the plot, the themes of ‘love, nightmares, angels and war’ naturally arose.

With creatures from other worlds there are fantastic possibilities of where you can take a story – as well as challenges to make the world you create believable and engaging. But in the end, the paranormal, fantasy, sci fi or dystopian elements only form the broader the context; the thing that will hook and keep readers is the characters and their journeys.

2. Do you believe in angels, and which of the angels from ‘traditional’ lore intrigue you the most?

That’s a deceptively profound question! My thoughts on angels are based on traditional Judeo-Christian concepts (of which warrior angels play a role). When I started researching fallen angel lore, I found the story about Semyaza and the two hundred in the Book of Enoch.

It’s a real document that was considered – and rejected – for inclusion in the official Christian canon. Regardless of whether or not the account of fallen angels is true, it’s a fascinating premise for a story. Why did this group of angels feel so strongly about human women they were prepared to fall from heaven to be with them? Would they regret the decision? How would they feel about any offspring from those relationships? What would happen if they got their freedom back? What would be the consequences of being a child of the Fallen? Fertile ground for a story!

3. What initially attracted you to YA fiction and to what do you attribute your ability to create stories for young adults (not that, as we know, they are read strictly by this demographic).

Interestingly, I didn’t set out to write a YA novel, but was very comfortable when Text Publishing felt the Rephaim series was YA. I read eclectically, but some of my favourite books and writers are YA. I think some of the most creative and innovative writing is happening in YA, where there is often greater freedom to push boundaries and tackle sensitive topics.

As a young adult, I had a wide range of experiences (read: misspent youth), and vividly remember the emotional ups and downs of that time of my life:  the confusion, the freedom, the frustration, the anger and the heartbreak. It’s very easy to slip back into that mindset when writing – and obviously I did just that on a sub-conscious level when I wrote Shadows.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

It would be easy to say Gaby because Shadows is told through her eyes, but in truth it’s Rafa. He’s fun to write, but he’s also complex and on a very interesting journey, knowing what he does about his history with Gaby and not being sure how to deal with it – or her. He’s got one of the strongest character arcs in the series, and I’m looking forward to how it unfolds.

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning, author of FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOË, CRUEL SUMMER, FOREVER SUMMER (a LAGUNA COVE/CRUEL SUMMER 2-in-1), KEEPING SECRETS (a SAVING ZOË/FAKING 19 2-in-1), the IMMORTALS series including: EVERMORE, BLUE MOON, SHADOWLAND, DARK FLAME, NIGHT STAR, and EVERLASTING, the IMMORTALS spin-off and the RILEY BLOOM series.

She is currently working on a new series for teens, SOUL SEEKERS, which debuted with FATED, and will be followed by ECHO, MYSTIC, & HORIZON in 2012/13.

1. Alyson, you’ve now completed two YA series, and are working on your third (The Soul Seekers). When you’re planning a series, do you have a clear idea of the start and finish points, or do you begin with a concept and just see how it evolves? Also, how difficult is it to leave a set of cherished characters when it’s time to wrap up a series?

With my first series, The Immortals, I didn’t actually envision it as a series until I reached the end of the first book, Evermore, and realized it was less of an ending and more of a jumping-off point for a much bigger journey. For both The Riley Bloom and The Soul Seekers series I’ve plotted them through to the end, so that each successive book leads to the ultimate climax.

Initially, I was surprised by how I attached I became to certain characters, and how much I missed them when a series ended. When I finished Everlasting, the final book in The Immortals, I was struck by an unexpected sense of loss, fueled by the realization that it was time for my characters and I to part ways. I’d spent so much time with Ever and Damen over the years I probably talked to them more than I did my own husband! Though luckily, it wasn’t long before I was able to turn my attention to Daire and Dace from THE SOUL SEEKERS, and I’ve grown so fond of them I suspect I’ll go through the same sort of loss when that series ends too!

2.   Dramatic rights for both your Immortals and Riley Bloom series (a 10-book deal, no less!) have been optioned to Summit Entertainment. Your adult novel, Fly Me to the Moon, was snaffled up by Ridley Scott’s production company, with Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’ Diary) lined up as director. Congratulations! It’s obviously unbelievably mind-blowing news, but how nerve-racking is it to imagine your brainchild being interpreted by another person, in another medium? Do you get to have much input into the adaptations?

Along with the above mentioned deals I’m thrilled to announce that all four books in The Soul Seekers series- Fated, Echo, Mystic, & Horizon – were recently optioned by Cheyenne Enterprises! And as excited as I am by all the film deals, I’ve learned to divorce myself from any expectation for the outcome. Film is such a different medium that it’s never going to perfectly mirror the books. And while I’ve been in contact with Sharon Maguire a few times, it was mostly to answer a few industry questions as I was a flight attendant for over a decade, much like the protagonist in Fly Me to the Moon. Other than that I remain outside of the process. Though I am really eager to see the worlds I’ve created come to life on the big or small screen!

3.   You wrote a number of ‘stand-alone’ novels before you began writing series. What was the catalyst for that change of format, and can you see yourself continuing to create series in the future?

Most of my books are inspired by events in my own life. My motto is: If an experience didn’t kill me, I will find a way to write about it! A few years ago I went through a time of deep grief when I lost three loved ones in five months. Then just six months later my husband was diagnosed with leukemia and I nearly lost him as well. Going through that time of loss got me thinking a lot about mortality, our life’s purpose, the soul’s journey, the enduring nature of love, and so I began writing Evermore as a way to grapple with my questions and deal with my grief.

Since then, I’ve found that I really enjoy writing series as it allows me to spend much more time with the characters and to send them on a much bigger journey than I can in the span of a single title. Though that’s not to say I won’t write more stand-alones in the future, I’ve got a few ideas I’m itching to explore.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

I’m really enjoying Daire Santos. She’s a complex character with an amazing journey ahead of her. When I first began writing her, I admit to being a bit jealous of her life. Raised on movie sets with her make-up artist mother, she’s spent her entire life traveling the globe and hanging with celebrities—the kind of life I would’ve loved as a teen!

But as I continued to write her, I realized how lonely that nomadic lifestyle has made her. She’s never been to a real school, never had a real home, and never made any friendships that lasted past the final take on the movie set. And while that life has made her fiercely independent, worldly, and sophisticated, it’s also left her quite lonely as well. She’s so used to saying good-bye and changing her address that she’s built up a pretty tough emotional guard to spare her from heartbreak. But all of that’s about to change when she moves to the tiny town of Enchantment, New Mexico to live with the grandmother she’s never met, begins her initiation as a Seeker, and meets the dreamy Dace Whitefeather . . .

Alyson’s photo is courtesy of Nancy Villere

1. Hi Helen, thank you so much for dropping by and visiting Burn Bright.  The second book in the Wall of Night series, “The Gathering of the Lost” has recently been released. Can you tell us a bit about the series for those of us who haven’t yet experienced life with Malian?

Helen: Hi Cels, it’s lovely to be here with you today on Burn Bright. Now, for a bit about the series…

The Wall of Night is a quartet and what I call epic or high fantasy. It’s about a world of shadow and conflict where the alien Derai people are locked into aeons-old conflict with an ancient enemy, the Swarm of Dark (or Darkswarm)—but have been divided by civil war with its legacy of prejudice, suspicion and fear. I wanted to explore that ‘fatal flaw’—so although the Derai vs Darkswarm conflict is still important and has its own twists and turns to play out, the focus of the story is as much on the Derai’s internal conflicts and their relationships with other societies. It’s also very much a story of alarms and battles, adventure and mystery, friendship and love, as well as what Robin Hobb has called “strange magic, dark treachery, and conflicting loyalties.”

The first book, THE HEIR OF NIGHT, centres on Malian, the Heir to the warrior House of Night, who discovers both the full bitterness of that legacy and realizes that she has to resolve it. The second protagonist is Kalan, a young man thrust into a hateful life who is fighting to break free. The reader’s knowledge of both the wider world of Haarth and the main characters should deepen in THE GATHERING OF THE LOST although a central question is whether Malian and Kalan’s interests, after five years’ separation, remain as aligned as they were in THE HEIR OF NIGHT. Kalan, for example, hated the life forced on him by Derai society, so why would he want to return? While Malian, at the end of the first book, pledged her word that she would try and save their world – but she still lacks allies, as well as the hero’s weapons of power. Other fears revolve around whom, in a world of conflicting ambitions, she can truly trust – and even whether, given her great power, she can trust herself? As well as just how much she is prepared to sacrifice, including others and their aspirations, to fulfil her duty to the Derai Alliance and save Haarth.

Don’t get me wrong though, this is still a story of tournaments and flights by night, plots and magic, duty and honor—as well as romance. The characters are five years older you see…

2. I was instantly enraptured with “The Heir of Night” and for me it certainly hit all the high notes of an epic fantasy. You describe yourself on your website as “a lover of story” and it certainly shows in your own writing. Most avid readers have that one book that changed their life and started their love affair, which book was it for you?

Helen: Cels, I am so glad that you enjoyed HEIR—with it recently making the shortlist for the Gemmell Morningstar Award, which as you know is reader voted, I am discovering that quite a few other people have as well, which is always nice for an author to know!

But in terms of a book that changed my life—you know, I don’t think I can point to just one: there are so many books that I love and in many cases have loved for a long time. I am, I fear, a pluralist!

But one of those special books is Roger Lancelyn Green’s Tales of Troy and Greece, which I was given at around age 10. I was already an enthusiast for both Greek and Norse myths and legends, but there was something particularly real and compelling in Green’s retelling of several of the major stories. I have read many versions of those same stories, and many other classical works and reworkings since then. But I still feel that Tales of Troy and Greece was the route marker that set me firmly on the path to short stories such as The Brother King and Ithaca, and to poems like my Ithaca Conversations sequence, as well as establishing the strong mytho-heroic influences on my novels, Thornspell and The Wall of Night series.

Another special book is Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, which was the very first retelling of the Arthurian legends I encountered—and I loved it! I was enthralled by its interweaving of Celtic myth and real history, and the combination of politics and battles and magic, romantic and sexual relationships—but most of all that the entire story was told from the perspective of the women in the Arthurian cycle. That was definitely a first for me in my Fantasy reading and one I liked, opening up the notion that women’s history and women’s voices in storytelling had something to say: something that mattered.

3. Not only are you a published author but you’re an accomplished poet as well. Is there any chance we may see a project from you blending the two crafts even further?

Helen: I suppose it’s possible, but I do think of my novels and my poetry writing as diverse forms that may arise from the same creative impulse but evolve in very different ways. I tend to write poems in response to a specific moment of seeing or feeling. Prose works may spark in the same way, and usually there is an initial image or idea, but taking that flashpoint to a novel length work requires long hours of committed discipline. So I think the main connection between the two is a love of story and language arising out of the same creative well. This may lead to a project drawing on both forms “one day;” I certainly don’t rule it out but I can’t see it happening in the immediate future.

4. Which of your fictional characters “burns brightest” in your mind and why?

Helen: Well, I really don’t have any one favourite character because I find that whichever character I am working on at a particular time is the one I am most interested in. Some characters are definitely easier to work with than others, but often you appreciate what you have achieved with the difficult characters more. The Earl, for example, was a difficult character to write, because I wanted to convey the shadings in a personality who is not necessarily that likeable at face value. So he was hard work—but at the same time I appreciate the character because of the hard yards required to get him right. Conversely, I have a fondness for Asantir because she stepped into the book more or less fully formed and told me that she was important to the story, so I had better pay attention. Needless to say, I have been paying attention ever since!

Cels and Marianne—thank you so much for having me to spend time with you here on Burn Bright.