Photo by Debra Marcus
Liv Mae Morris is the author of the new middle grade novel The Last Dragon House. She lives in Boston.
Q: What inspired you to write The Last Dragon House, and how did you create your characters Dr. Lady, Olly, and Jenny?
A: I came up with the idea for the book way back in 2016. I was in grad school for children’s literature at the time, so I was thinking a lot about what kinds of stories I loved and why.
Throughout my life, as a writer, I’ve always returned to dragons. I remember standing at the register in the grocery store I worked at and ruminating about how cool and interesting it is that dragons can basically look like anything.
The idea popped into my head of a kid who works in a house full of all different types of dragons. I grabbed a nearby paper bag and wrote the opening lines of the book. (I wish I still had that bag!)
Olly was the first human character I thought up, and Dr. Lady was the second.
Olly was easy to write. I knew exactly what kind of character I wanted him to be: reluctant to work, caring enough that he’ll do it anyway to help his family, curious and kind and accepting.
I also knew that he needed somebody odd and brilliant to introduce him to the world of dragons, and that was Dr. Lady. I loved her the second she appeared on the page, and as I wrote, she gained depth and a story of her own.
Jenny was a surprise. The first draft of the book was incredibly long and unwieldy and I felt stuck, so I started writing a scene featuring Olly’s little sister, who up until that point had been a very minor character. It quickly became clear to me that she needed to become an integral part of the story.
For her, I drew largely from my own childhood—like her, I was shy and always daydreaming, and I often felt like I didn’t quite fit in. Her synesthesia is also mine. I’m not a wizard, though, unfortunately.
Q: How did you create the world in which the novel is set?
A: A lot of it is pretty obviously inspired by the real world and real history, particularly labor rights movements in the United States and Europe.
The kingdom of Aldea, though, isn’t precisely either of those places; it has its own history, which is why it’s aesthetically and economically similar to the industrial revolution but socially closer to our present.
I’ve always adored Shrek, how it combines historical and fairytale elements with modern attitudes. I think that mix can be both profound and very funny. So that was the angle that I wanted to take. I tried to create a world that feels both grounded in reality and, sometimes, silly and exaggerated—for humor, to make a point, or both at the same time.
Q: The Kirkus Review of the novel says, “Humor and heart make the pages of this classic quest story fly.” What do you think of that description?
A: It’s kind of them to say! Pacing is something I struggle with. Sometimes I get bogged down in thematic and philosophical stuff, and my editor was really helpful in making sure the story kept moving without losing any of the heart. It’s always nice to hear somebody appreciates my sense of humor, too.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I wrote the first draft in late 2016 and early 2017 for my MFA program. As I mentioned earlier, it was long and messy; I was trying to cram too many ideas into one place.
In fact, it didn’t even really have an ending. I simply could not figure out how to wrap everything up without writing tens of thousands of more words. The last page of that Word document was just a bullet point list of things I might like to happen.
I believed it was unsalvageable, so I put it away for a long time. I thought about it occasionally, though, because the first third or so was actually quite good.
About six years later it occurred to me that that first chunk was its own book, and that the grand overarching story I had wrestled with could unfurl more gradually and naturally over the course of a series.
That’s when I finally decided to revise it. I cut almost everything from later in the draft and came up with a new ending to serve as both a satisfying finale and a jumping-off point for sequels.
So the current ending is very, very different from the original in that it exists at all, and also because it’s concluding one part of a larger story that will continue in future books.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently revising Book 2! Soon I’ll begin drafting Book 3.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Nope! Thanks so much for your questions, and happy reading.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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