Marina Dyachenko is the author, with her late husband Sergey, of the new novel School of Shards, the third in their Vita Nostra trilogy. The Dyachenkos, originally from Ukraine, moved to California in 2013.
Q: School of Shards is the third in your Vita Nostra trilogy--did you know from the start that you'd be writing a trilogy?
A: I really like what George R.R. Martin once said about writers--that there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners.
The architects know everything in advance; they know what happens in their book and how it ends. They have a blueprint from the get-go.
The gardeners plant a seed and then they grow, carefully and gently, whatever the seed may be. It may seem that the seed grows on its own, but in reality internal logic and intuition are at play.
Sergey and I are true gardeners. Vita Nostra led and directed us, and sometimes it surprised us. In the beginning, we didn't know it would become a trilogy, but the book demanded a sequel.
Q: What inspired the plot of School of Shards?
A: Sasha Samokhina's story had to be completed, and also, I really wanted to see the academic process at The Torpa Institute of Special Technologies from the point of view of its faculty.
I had a similar experience myself. I spent a few wonderful years as a student at a theatre conservatory and then a few years--just as wonderful--teaching there. It was quite an adventure.
Q: How would you describe the writing partnership between you and your late husband?
A: At first he was more of a mentor to me; when we met, he'd already had several published books to his name, along with a few screenplays that were made into films. Eventually, we became equal partners, supporting and inspiring each other. Sergey liked to say that we had a director/actor collaboration: he was responsible for the dramaturgy and I wrote the text.
I still feel as if he's somewhere near me. We're bound by all the characters in all our books.
Q: How did you create your character Sasha, and how do you think she’s changed over the course of the series?
A: At first, Sasha came to me in a dream. I was a girl of 16 once, too, and I had dreams, sometimes terrifying ones.
Sasha undergoes tremendous changes from her first appearance in Vita Nostra to the last pages of School of Shards--just as a maple seed changes, becoming an enormous tree. Or perhaps, as a single dream transforms into a series of novels. Or--maybe--as a single word changes, opening up a whole world.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm not quite ready to discuss it. All I know is that all my new books will have the same name on their covers: by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko. Same as always.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Julia Meitov Hersey and I are so very grateful to our agent, Josh Getzler of HG Literary, and to our publisher, Harper Voyager, for allowing us to tell our audience the whole story of Sasha Samokhina and the world she created.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was translated into English by Julia Meitov Hersey, the translator of the book.
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