Charlie N. Holmberg is the author of the new novel The Shattered King. Her many other books include The Hanging City. She lives in Utah.
Q: What inspired you to write The Shattered King, and how did you create your character Nym?
A: Last year, my husband and I started playing Final Fantasy 16 together. I tend to zone out during non-story-specific fight scenes, and during one of these, I was contemplating the craft book I was working on, titled Charlie N. Holmberg’s Book of Magic (released November 2024). It’s essentially a how-to on writing magic systems.
One of the appendices in this book includes a list of commonly used magic in fantasy stories. Authors can use this list in three ways: First, avoid these types of magic and aim for originality; second, embrace these types of magic and to establish a shallow learning curve; or third, take these types of magic and put a new spin on them.
I was determined to take my own advice. I decided to look at healing magic and considered how I would make it my own. I ended up really liking what I came up with. I also really liked the character of Joshua from Final Fantasy 16. The two ideas had brain babies, and The Shattered King was born.
As for Nym, I wanted someone who was competent in her craft, but who had very good reasons for not wanting to participate in the conscription of healers to the palace.
So I gave her a big family and responsibility for that family. I took away anyone who could help her. I gave her a backstory that would make her not want to stay for multiple reasons. And I inadvertently modeled her (physically) off the original American cover for Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (I believe by Kinuko Y. Craft).
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the world in which the novel is set?
A: I usually include worldbuilding very early in my planning stages. I often start with the magic (as I did with The Shattered King), then the world the magic stems from, then the characters the world and its magic create.
But for this book, after detailing the first iteration of the magic system, I went straight to the characters and their story. The world ended up forming itself in relation to them, to be what I needed to tell the story I wanted.
I readily admit that Final Fantasy 16 was definitely still on my mind: I loved the idea of dyadic continents from that world and decided to play with that idea for my own story.
Q: Did you know how the book would end before you started writing it, or did
you make many changes along the way?
A: I didn’t know how the book
would end, and honestly, that’s shocking!
I’m a big outliner. I brainstorm, I storyboard, I outline. But the greater portion of The Shattered King was discovery written. I never planned for there to be a war. I hate writing war. I never planned on a lot of this.I think I figured out the climax a few chapters before I arrived at it in the drafting process.
Discovery writing was weird and new to me, but I didn’t hate it… even when it meant extra revisions during my first round of edits.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The best titles, I think, are the ones that come immediately to mind. The Paper Magician, The Will and the Wilds, Spellbreaker, and Keeper of Enchanted Rooms were all titles I thought of right at the beginning of the brainstorming phase for those books.
The Shattered King was no different. I pulled out my notebook for this story while answering these questions, and I have “THE SHATTERED KING” written in all caps at the bottom of page one.
The title most obviously reflects the state of Renn, the lead man in the story, and his lumis—the ethereal representation of his health. When Nym steps into it, she can’t tell what it’s supposed to be; there’s only piles and piles of broken glass in a wide array of colors. Beautiful and helplessly broken. Shattered.
But Renn is broken in more than one way—many of the characters are—and the title reflects that, as well as some subtle foreshadowing to the rest of the book.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on two books right now! I’m doing edits for the sequel to The Shattered King, which is titled The Half-Hearted Queen. I’m also doing personal edits for a humorous contemporary fantasy that’s been another surprise discovery-writing project this year.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I am always and forever thankful to my readers, and to anyone willing to give my stories a chance. My gratitude is unending, so thank you to any present and future readers who have given this interview a gander.
I love to keep my readers updated via my newsletter, which can be found at charlienholmberg.com, and through social media, predominantly Instagram, @cnholmberg. I’m also on Facebook, Tiktok, X, and Threads under the same handle, @cnholmberg.
Thank you for having me!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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