About Sarah K. Wilson: I write timeless stories. Not the stories you think you want but the stories you don't know you desperately need. I believe in happy endings and that it should take a lot of struggle to get to them. I believe that sometimes violence is the answer, that sometimes no one is coming to save you, and that self-sacrifice is always worth it. I believe in big twists and beginnings that start in the end. I believe in heroic acts of bravery, that chaos sometimes trumps order, that there's humor in dark things, and that risks are what you make of them. I believe in the someday that will make all things new. And I believe in stories - sweeping, epic, glorious stories that renew our hearts and our hopes and refresh our minds like woodland streams. Oh, and I'm a USA Today bestselling author. I suppose I should mention that.
INTERVIEW
Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Before we start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a fantasy-obsessed daydreamer who lucked into a career as an indie fantasy author. I live rurally, where the internet is slow and the days are slower, and there is very little about me that is interesting other than my obsession with reading and writing fantasy books.
The one question everyone gets: how long have you been writing and what made you decide to become a writer?
I’ve been writing for just under twenty years and more seriously for the last five of them. I first started writing because I ran out of fantasy books to read that were available at my library or bookstore and — fool that I was — I thought there weren’t more of them out there, not that I simply didn’t have access to the vast catalogue of fantasy books that exist (this was in the days before Amazon and other online book sellers). The only solution that presented itself was to write more fantasy books myself.
Scrolling through your bibliography reveals an incredibly prolific catalog, many of which appear to have been published in the last five years. How many books have you published, which was your first, and how do you maintain that kind of publishing schedule?
To date, I have published 29 novels and 62 novellas, plus audiobooks, boxsets, and short stories. My first was the most awful piece of Canadian historical fiction, which I am happy to say is no longer available to be unleashed on an unwary purchaser. I became truly serious about publishing fantasy fiction in 2017 and I’ve been writing and publishing at a break-neck pace since then. This is partly because I really love doing this as my full-time job and I don’t want to lose the ability to stay home and write instead of working a 9-5, and partly because I seem to have an unending stream of stories trying to pour out of me. As quickly as I publish one book, two more demand to be written and published, too.
Keeping that pace must be demanding. Have you developed a writing routine? Can you tell us a little about your daily writing habits?
I wake at 5 am, make coffee and write until my family is up at 7 am. That always gives me a nice jump on the day. I finish off the rest of my daily word count later, and I set goals for how much needs to be written based on when I need to have the book ready for editors or publishing dates.
Do you have any cherished writing influences—authors who inspire you?
Terry Pratchett has been my all-time favorite author since my aunt introduced him to me when I was sixteen. His quick, succinct prose and the clever way he makes every sentence work for him has always inspired me, as has his quirky angle on things and the depth he can bring to a topic while still making you laugh. Like so many others, I mourned his passing and thought I wouldn’t see another author like him, but when I stumbled upon T. Kingfisher two years ago I was delighted to find a taste of that voice but with a more feminine flavor. I aspire to write books like those two have produced — books that entertain and are a delight to read, requiring no great concentration or effort from the reader, and yet have full and complex stories beautifully written.
I noticed the tagline on your website reads, “Bright fantasy for a dark world.” I found Fly With the Arrow to be a very clean read, and perusing your backlist and website, it seems you aim for the “all-ages” style of writing, with upbeat endings. What drew you to that style of content?
I find the world very dark and find it hard to be hopeful but I think fiction is where we can explore both how things are and how things could be and shine a bit of hope into it all. My style is a natural fit for Young Adult, so that is where I started in publishing and finding an audience so I prefer to publish books that continue to work for my current readership, though I hope my voice is developing more into the adult categories now.
What made you decide to go the self-publishing route? What were the advantages, and what do you think you missed by not being traditionally published?
The greatest advantage of indie publishing is being able to offer everything you write to readers, regardless of whether it fits the current trends or a gap in a publisher’s catalogue. I love that part of things. And I get to buy cover art. Commissioning great art is one of my joys as an indie author.
On the flip side, everything is dependent on me alone, and I often wish that I could spend less time marketing and more on being immersed in my book like a traditionally published author has the opportunity to do. I also think that some traditional publishers still maintain editors who nurture an author’s craft and that kind of experience speaking into your work would be utterly invaluable.
Ideally, I’d love to be a hybrid author someday with a foot in each camp.
This year was not the first time you’ve entered the SPFBO—twice before, right? Was this a case of thinking “third time’s a charm?” What brought you back to the competition?
Actually, this was the first time I entered with absolutely no hopes of going anywhere. But it’s fun to cheer for everyone and to enjoy the anticipation of seeing if someone will like your work. Entering makes it all more intense so I decided I’d enter just for the fun of the whole thing. Thanks for choosing my book to go a little further into the competition. It gives me more time to savor the experience!
Let’s talk about Fly With the Arrow. A lot of writers pick fairy tales and give them a good spin in the retelling machine. Why did you choose the tale of Bluebeard?
My sister is a very serious family counsellor who wrote a very serious article for an online journal about the family dynamics found in the Bluebeard tale. She sent me a copy and me, being of a perverse turn of mind, read her excellent article and thought, “How hilarious would it be to write this as a fantasy romance?” Once the idea was born, I couldn’t quite help myself. I love to turn things on their heads and am a bit of a devil’s advocate by nature so I couldn’t quite resist the challenge.
Can you tell us a little about Izolda and Arrow? What delights you about this couple and their interactions?
Izolda is meant to be the ultimate fish-out-of-water character. She’s inexperienced, completely out of her element, and trying desperately not to lose her head in the madness swirling around her, rather like Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Her only gift is her common sense and I love that such a subtle thing can be a gift in a world where no one else has that at all.
Arrow is a man with a very distinct plan, but being not entirely human, his motivations can be hard to discern. He solves many problems with immediate violence, is distracted by beauty and shiny things like a cat made human, and has hidden agendas and depths that really can’t be fully fleshed out in just one book.
What I like about them together is that they are both thrown by each other, both circling each other like strange animals. They don’t realize how alike they are at this point and I enjoy watching them test one another and react to those tests.
The series has a distinctive art style for the covers. What drew you to that style and do you want to give a shout-out to the artist(s)?
Typography covers are quite common in traditionally published Young Adult Fantasy and I both really like them and wanted my book associated with the kinds of books that employ them, so I chose to have these typography covers made for the series. I saw a special edition that @kdpletters on Instagram had made for Bone Crier’s Moon and I liked it so much that I reached out to KDP Letters and asked her if she could illustrate the series covers for me. She’s very gifted and she works on projects of all sizes and scopes. I was very lucky to be able to engage her.
Would you say that Fly With the Arrow follows tropes or kicks them?
What a great question. There are all manner of tropes in Fly With the Arrow: fish out of water, only one bed, forced marriage, quirky side character, a curse that limits action, warnings the main character ignores to the point of disaster, and probably more I do not recall at the moment. I play into most of them, but try to put a clever spin on as many as I can. I don’t know too many books where the quirky side character is a severed head, so that both plays into the trope and kind of kicks it, but then again, my character is as foolhardy as all the other girls in every fairytale who do that one thing they really shouldn’t and ruin everything.
The final book of the series is due out this year, if I read correctly. What are you working on at the moment? And what’s your publishing schedule for 2022/2023?
I am currently hard at work writing the fourth and final book to this series (publishing October 2022). I also have a second series (Seven Swords) to wrap up in early 2023 and a stand alone book to publish in September 2022. Next year, I’m hoping to start publishing a series of stand-alone fantasy books that center around a group of paladins and possibly a series for my son about a group of fighting bunnies, similar to the Redwall books.
Thank you for taking the time to answer all the questions. In closing, do you have any parting thoughts or comments you would like to share with our readers?
Thank you so very much for the chance to be interviewed. It’s been a blast! I hope that your readers are enjoying SPFBO and finding some great new reads. There are so many interesting fantasy books entered this year and I hope that everyone finds something to their taste to get excited about. It’s a great time to be a fantasy reader and writer. These days, I never run out of great books to read!
We're so proud of you with your writing achievements.Keep on making readers happy. We enjoyed reading this interview. We learned things we weren't aware of especially your prolific production of novels. You are exceptionally good at what you do. Hope you are successful in this contest. Much love,Gram and Gramps
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