What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Seven Souls of Esmerelda Black?
I started with the logline: To save her sister, Esmerelda isn’t going to sell her own soul to the Devil—she’s going to feed him the souls of others. The story spiraled from there as a twist on the classic Faustian bargain. The seven deadly sins found their way in later, helping to tie the novel together in unexpected ways.
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
Fantasy of all types (romantic, romantasy, dark, epic, historical)- I love them all! And yes, it’s my favourite genre to write in.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crows, both by Rachel Gilleg.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
The fox hunting scene (spoiler: no foxes were harmed), because I’ve always loved horses and riding. When I was younger, I used to watch hunts set out across the countryside. I’m very much against fox hunting, but the group rides just looked like so much fun.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I’m a sporadic writer—sometimes a sentence here, a paragraph there. I also skip around in the novel, writing whatever I feel like at the moment. Writing to a schedule has never worked for me. The downside is that my first drafts are a hot mess, and it takes quite a few rounds to fix them.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
I’d love for readers to think about how far they would go to save someone they loved.
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