Emily Renk Hawthorne is the author of the new novel From the Depths, the second in her Of Mountains and Seas duology. She is also a dentist, and she lives on California's Central Coast.
Q: What inspired you to write your Of Mountains and Seas series?
A: I grew up reading fantasy and always wanted to write my own fantasy novel. Being half Chinese and from California, I wanted to write a story that a younger version of me could relate to, so I mixed Chinese mythology with a California setting.
Q: How did you come up with the plot for your new novel, From the Depths, and how did you create your character Nivi?
A: The plot for From the Depths continues from where Of Mountains and Seas left off. I read through Of Mountains and Seas and made notes of any plotlines that hadn't been tied up and made it my goal to complete them all in From the Depths.
Nivi is a character in Book 1, whom I based on a younger version of myself: a teenager trying to figure out her place in the world. In Book 2, I continue her character development and have her face larger challenges.
Q: How did you create the world in which the stories take place?
A: I started with places in California that are familiar to me and then slowly wove the magic and mythology in. I tried to imagine what a parallel society hidden in plain sight would look like and what measures would keep the two worlds separate.
Q: Do you usually know how your novels will end, or do you make many changes along the way?
A: I sometimes have a rough idea of where the novel is heading, but as the characters develop, I'm always surprised by how they take control of the narrative and change the plot.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have several new ideas that all include a bit of magic or the paranormal, but there are two that I'm actively working on: a winter romance with a touch of magic and a medieval retelling of a well-known romance with a twist that hasn’t been done yet.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I live on the Central Coast with my husband, our daughter, and two elderly dogs. :-)
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment