Welcome back, my fellow creatives! I’m thrilled to continue sharing some lovely indie authors I’ve met in our community–it’s so great to connect with folks again. This month, please welcome the fantasy author, Mara Heath!

I love learning about a fellow writer’s reading journey, so let’s start with yours. 🙂 What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?

I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but the first time I tried to read The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, I DNFed it. I had just finished the Throne of Glass series and wanted to start another series about faeries. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get into it. Too much real world, perhaps? Characters who were violent for no apparent reason? Turns out the problem was me, because only a few months later I picked Cruel Prince up again and fell in love with it. Maas’s and Black’s faeries are like apples and oranges and they each need to shine in their own right. Black is now one of my favorite writers and The Folk of the Air one of my all-time favorite series. What have I learned from this? That I can like or dislike any author or book at any time, depending on my mood! And that I should always be willing to give books a second chance.

I totally get it. Sometimes we’re just not ready for that particular writer or story the first time we pick it up. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

I can’t think of one, specific novel, but I can think of an author that I don’t see talked about as much as she should be and that’s Maggie Stiefvater. I think perhaps because her books are less tropey than a lot of other fantasy series, she isn’t getting the buzz that some other authors get. But her YA series, The Raven Cycle, is absolutely amazing. A cut above in terms of atmosphere, writing style, characterization, and originality. I also loved her Dreamers Trilogy and The Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

I can’t say I ever intentionally went on a literary pilgrimage, but when I was in college my parents were living in N. Yorkshire, England, so in the summers I’d visit and we’d travel all around the area. I was a Brit Lit-loving English major and, at the time, considering being a Medievalist, so there was nothing better than traveling all over the UK visiting castles and cathedrals and even Roman ruins. Walking down the Shambles in York, hiking Hadrain’s Wall, roaming Lindisfarne castle and priory–they were living, breathing relics, and I just absorbed the way they felt, like I’d gone back in time. And of course, since my family was already there, I took advantage of it and did my Junior Year at Durham University which made my literary, Anglophile heart so very happy. Maybe that’s where my love of Dark Academia comes from!

Oh yes, let’s talk about that Dark Academia and your debut novel! What first inspired the soul of Caged in Silver and the story of your trilogy?

To be honest, it was me wondering what it would be like if my hypersensitivity was actually a supernatural power instead of the curse it often feels like it is. What if my FMC learned her sensitivity was a psychic ability, and what if, over the course of the series, she discovered more and more layers to her power and she was able to accept and grow into it? Use it for something amazing? And of course, after years of everyone rolling their eyes at her, what if just the right man was able to help her see how truly incredible she actually is? What sweet vindication!

A compelling premise, indeed! Are you intending to continue in series writing, or are you eager to try a few standalone books too?

I feel like I could write in the Secrets of Brownhill universe forever. I already have one spinoff book planned and perhaps a spinoff series, too. But I also love contemporary romance, particularly new adult, and would love to write a handful of those too, maybe an interconnected series. It’s so hard for me, as both a reader and a writer, to part with worlds and characters I love!

Oh yes, let’s focus on that reader/writer relationship for a minute. Romantasy–or fantasy romance writing–is huge right now. This can make it tempting for indie authors like ourselves to utilize tropes that seem to help books market well. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I think this question goes with the one above. When I’m only trying to please readers, I can’t effectively write. I have to write what I love, and fortunately, I love a lot (but definitely not all) of the romantasy tropes. But I think (I hope) that I’ve put a unique spin on them. It’s certainly atypical to set Caged in Silver in our contemporary world, to give it dark academia vibes, and to have a softer FMC. Oh, and to not have a morally gray MMC, for that matter! The whole series is really a mix of genres–romantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and new adult romance–but hopefully it hits on enough of the expected tropes to get readers excited.

What kinds of research did you do in order to build your world for Caged in Silver? Are there particular sites you found would be useful for other fantasy writers? Most of the research I did for Caged in Silver was actually on our real world, rather than a fantasy one, although I did look into the Tuatha De Danann. I read The Secret Token by Andrew Lawler, a book about the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and researched a good bit about western North Carolina’s history, culture, and flora and fauna. I lived in upstate South Carolina for several years and had traveled around that area and up into NC, and I’d also lived in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, so I already had a good idea of how the environment feels, but I needed the facts. I was constantly checking native tree species while I was writing. And early in my research I came across a real-life ghost town in NC called Runion. There’s very little of it left but it fascinated me and inspired a pivotal scene (very fictionalized of course) in Caged in Silver.

Abandoned towns and houses are absolutely fascinating–no wonder you worked that kind of haunted, hallowed place into your story! Was there a similar research process for naming your characters?

Mostly I just choose names I like. Betts came to me one day out of nowhere it seemed. Most likely I heard it somewhere and it stuck in my subconscious. Other names like Avery, Liv, and Zander, also just sort of came to me as fitting the characters, but I double-checked that they were common enough GenZ names, either by looking them up or by considering the names of my son’s friends over the years. Leo, Rime, and Topaz’s names I can’t say too much about without spoilers, but you’ll learn more about them in book two of the series.

I won’t let you spoil your story here, lol! It sounds like writing is a real joy for you.

I absolutely love writing first drafts, so that part of the process is very energizing. I used to be an edit-as-you-go writer which, honestly, was miserable. It was impossible to get past the first scene. But when I finally decided to just draft without editing, without even looking back, then the joy came. Sometimes I have to remind myself “keep moving forward” when the urge to edit strikes, but I just make a marginal note or two and push on. It’s exhilarating and so much fun. And I love seeing what my characters will do when I loosen their reins. Editing, on the other hand, I don’t enjoy so much. My brain wants to be in creative mode, not critique mode, and it’s exhausting trying to wrestle it into submission!

I’ve been tempted by that edit-as-you-go approach as well, and you’re right that it saps the joy out of writing. Have you seen any other common traps for aspiring writers?

Probably getting caught up in worrying about what readers want and about pleasing each and every one of them. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve learned I can’t be creative when I’m in that mode of thinking. Every word I write is wrong or not good enough; my plot, my characters, all of them are fraught with potential problems. I get completely stuck and I have to constantly remind myself to “write the book I want to read” and that “I’m writing for a particular type of reader, not for every soul in the world.” Sometimes I just need to put my writing aside and binge-watch CW shows until the feelings pass.

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me, Mara! Let’s close out with one last question for fun. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

It may be unoriginal, but I’m going to say cat, and not just because I adore them. Like my own cat, Sugar, I’m pretty quiet and solitary. I’m also a feast or famine writer where I’ll write like crazy for three days straight then crash and need to rest for a week, much like Sugar and her little “bursts” of activity. I’m also thinking of the way cats will choose one sleeping spot for about two weeks, then move on to another. Sugar does this and it’s like she needs some new scenery or a new perspective. She needs to change some things up while still having the primary elements of routine in place (like her mealtimes). I’m the same way. For creativity I need some novelty, but also the security of a minimal routine.

I’m all for a little structure in my day as well, Mara. Congratulations again on your novel, and I wish you joy in creating more of the series!

Folks, Mara is offering her novel for FREE on Kindle October 4th. I hope you check it out!

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Coming up, I found some music I MUST share with you. There’s a podcast as well, reflections on strong book design, and of course, the creating creatures for a galaxy…like monsters.

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!