Emily Casey Interview

Emily Casey recently released her debut novel, The Fairy Tale Trap. It's the first in a projected series featuring Ivy Thorn. Emily's doing a blog tour along with the release of the book and I'm pleased to be able to present an interview with her as part of the tour.

Michael Haynes: From looking at your website, I see that The Fairy Tale Trap is the first novel you've released. You mention some other works including one that's in "a drawer somewhere" -- is this the first novel that you have written to completion?
Emily Casey: The Fairy Tale Trap is the fourth book I've completed. The earlier books were the practice I needed to find my writing voice and style, and learn a few things about the craft. "The drawer somewhere" is a folder on my computer of old fiction. :)

MH: How long were you working on The Fairy Tale Trap?
EC: Just over a year. I started November 29, 2010 and it came out December 20, 2011.

MH: What did you find most challenging about writing The Fairy Tale Trap?
EC: Making Ivy move the story instead of the pixie. She strong-willed, but sometimes she's so stubborn, she wants to rebel by sitting and doing nothing. I had to give her something to care about that would move her to act.

MH: What lessons that you've learned from writing The Fairy Tale Trap are you applying to working on its sequel, The Fairy Tale Twist?
EC: The biggest lesson I learned from The Fairy Tale Trap was that I needed to come up with the worst possible case scenario. It'll be a challenge to do the same thing for this second fairy tale. (Writers are evil, in case you didn't know.)

MH: Do you have an overall story arc in mind for the Ivy Thorn character at this point or are you figuring that will develop organically as you write more books with this character?
EC: I have an idea of the overall story arc, but I'm not sure how the fairy tales themselves will work their way into the plot. I know what the pixie is, what he wants, and what he's hiding. I also know the role of the White Lady. But the details of how to get to the end will be a bit more organic, as you put it.

MH: Have there been any especially exciting reader reactions to the novel since it was released?
EC: I've gotten some wonderful reviews. People seem to like the story, but I want to make the next book even better. The best thing I heard from a reader was that he kept telling himself, "Just one more chapter." That's the best compliment a writer can get.

MH: Are there authors that you feel have been particularly influential on your development as a writer?
EC: Gail Carson Levine sparked my imagination for writing, and later for fairy tales. Jonathan Maberry showed me that zombies are cool. (I'm currently working on a novella: Cinderella and Zombies.) And Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl taught me the importance of making your character's situation worse. (Like I said: Writers = mean.)

MH: Is there anything else you'd like to tell the readers of the blog?
EC: Only that you're all awesome.

Well, thanks, Emily. You're rather awesome, too! Congratulations on your success so far and good luck with your work on The Fairy Tale Twist and also Cinderella and Zombies.

Tuesday January 24th, Emily will take her book tour to the blog of Ruth Ellen Parlour.

Also, for #writemotivation people, fear not -- I will be posting an update on my status sometime Monday evening.