Direct from Monday night!
Mindbridge Book Club Proudly Presents
Questions and Answers with Sarah Prineas
Mark: When is the second Magic Thief book coming out?
Sarah: The next hardback will come out next June, and the paper back of the first one will come out in early May next year.
Two L Michelle: Who is your favorite author, and is your writing style similar to theirs?
Sarah: It’s hard to choose one. Tolkien has strongly influenced me, as have Laura Ingalls Wilder and Jane Austen. Megan Whalen-Turner is my favorite children’s author. She’s a master at concealing information from reader and then revealing it. Her first book is called The Thief, and was published in 1996. Someone wrote a review that suggested the Magic Thief reminded me of the Thief, which I considered a great compliment.
One L Michele: How long did The Magic Thief take to write?
Sarah: It took eight months to write The Magic Thief. It’s easy to do when it’s fun!
Two L Michelle: Do you give any thoughts to the names of your characters?
Sarah: Tolkien is one of my influences, and naming is crucial for him. There is a naming convention in The Magic Thief. Some of the names are made up, like Connwaer.
Catherine: What about Nevery?
Sarah: His name has to do with time, as do the names of members of his family.
Catherine: Did you model Nevery and Conn’s relationship on anyone’s?
Sarah: Theirs is an archetypical relationship between sorcerer and apprentice. I played with it to make it a little different, but archetypical.
Tracy: Conn doesn’t call him sir though. I thought it was fresh. I like how Keeston questions Conn’s etiquette.
Sarah: Conn is fun to write. He doesn’t take anything for granted. Plot arises from him.
Tracy: Are we going to find out more about why he turns into a cat? And Lady?
Sarah: Conn turns into something different in book 2. (NOTE: we also learned something about Lady, but I’m not spoiling it!)
One L Michele: Are we going to learn anymore about Benet?
Sarah: Yes. He has a back story. We’ll see more.
Tracy: Has anyone tried the biscuits?
Sarah: A friend of mine in England made them. Book 2 will also have recipes. One for pot pie, if I can find a good one.
Two L Michelle: How do you get started developing a story, or does it pop into your head?
Sarah: It’s organic. Things grow. Like Nevery’s name. The naming convention happened after I thought of his name, and then the social structure came. The other day, the basic plot of book 4 popped into my head while I was in the shower. I often ask myself about what Conn would do and how he reacts, and then plot arises.
Two L Michelle: What’s your favorite part of the book?
Sarah: The phlister scene when Conn is getting questioned by Captain Kerrn. Lois McMaster Bujold has a very similar truth serum scene that I admire in one of her Miles Vorkosigan series. I had to cut one of my favorite scenes from the novel, though it’s in the ARC. Conn finds a nest of baby mice when they first go to Heartsease. He takes them outside to an old shed. Later at night, he worries about the mice in the cold, and it showed how he didn’t have anybody worrying about him. Later he realizes that a cat has eaten the mice. I also had to cut down the scene where Nevery takes on Conn as an apprentice.
Two L Michelle: Do you think you will ever write in another genre besides children’s fiction?
Sarah: I do have ideas for books that are contemporary world fantasy that I want to pursue when I have time. I like the apparatus of fantasy. I like the way magic makes things happen in the real world. I’ll never say never, but I probably won’t be writing literary or edgy fiction.
One L Michele: We know you’ve written short stories, like Seamstress which is a lot darker than The Magic Thief. Do you like writing short stories, or do you prefer longer things?
Sarah: That story is from Realms of Fantasy in 2003. It’s mostly literary and playing with fantasy tropes. It was my first publication in a print magazine. I had other short stories published that were darker than The Seamstress. I probably won’t write more of that kind of thing. I don’t have it in me to write a dark novel. It was a learning process.
One L Michele: What do you think of the creative commons license?
Sarah: I think that’s great. All my stories online have creative commons licenses.
Michele: Some people are against that.
Sarah: Yeah, but it’s good exposure. The more people read your stuff, the better it is, although I don’t want people to photocopy my book.
Mark: Did you have input into how the book looks?
Sarah: Nope, none. Writers are not usually graphics people. We probably would screw something up, so that’s out of my hands, and that’s fine with me.
Catherine: It looks like a little gift, your book.
(Sarah takes some time to show and tell some sketches and some pre-publication pages.)
Sarah: My book’s artist, Antonio Caparo, is really terrific, and motivated. He’s done with the sketches for book two.
Tracy: I love the little journal entries, by the way, and the way Conn adds comments. Is the book really in two different languages?
Sarah: The runes are really the writing system. Conn’s handwriting is bad, and that’s an issue in book two. The design for the runes is actually hand done. The father of the book’s designer did them.
Bryon: What percent is that book your original vision?
Sarah: It’s pretty close. I tightened it up for my agent before we sent it out. There was some repetition that I cut out. By the time it got to my editor, we didn’t cut much. This is the best I could do. It’s much cleaner and tighter. There’s a point where the most control freakish of authors have to let it go. There was a point where I felt like I was cutting myself off from owning the book. When a book has been published, it belongs to the readers, not the writer.
Catherine: What are you working on now?
Sarah: The final pass on book 3 and some edits to book two.
Two L Michelle: If you had a chance to work with another author, who would it be and why? Or would you?
Sarah: I’d want to work with a friend. It would be more about personalities and getting along.
One L Michele: Do you have merchandising and movie rights in your contract?
Sarah: Harper owns world rights. My agent and I own movie rights, and we’re shopping it now. Children’s fantasy is hot in Hollywood, or so I’m told, especially movies with juicy parts for adult actors. My dream would be to have Miyazaki animate it.
Mark: Where can we find you online?
Sarah: I have a website. http://www.sarah-prineas.com And HarperCollins created a website for the book at www.magicthief.com.
