Enjoy this series of questions and answers about Julie's great books!
psst! I met Julie at BEA this year and shot some video of her saying hi to you all. Check it out! (her bit starts around 5:00)
1. Being that the Iron Knight is written from Ash’s point of view, was it easier or harder to switch over and tell his story?
It was a little harder, initially. I knew Meghan; after three books I knew her voice and her personality and her quirks. It was difficult with Ash, because he was such a guarded character, and he never was really chatty. And because he’s lived such a long time, and is an Unseelie fey, he’s done some things in his life that might change how some people view him. It was actually kind of scary putting his story out there; what will people think now that they know the real Ash? But I wrote his story as honestly as I could, and I hope they will come to love the Winter Prince as much as I do.
2. For you, what was the hardest part in writing this series or writing in general?
Lately, it’s been making myself turn off the Internet and not check Tweetdeck every time I get stuck, lol! I get distracted very easily and “checking email” can turn into an hour of doing nothing but playing around online, very bad for the writing day. Sometimes I’ll unplug the modem or disconnect myself from the internet or I’d never get anything done.
3. Do you have a favorite line or two you could share with us from The Iron Knight?
Certainly! Here is an exchange between Ash and Puck:
“Hey, ice-boy, you okay? You’ve got your brooding face on again.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re so full of crap.” Puck lounged in the cradle of a tree, hands behind his head, one foot dangling in the air. “Lighten up already. We finally found the cat—which we should get a freaking medal for, the search for the Golden Fleece wasn’t this hard—and you look like you’re going to engage Mab in single combat first thing in the morning.”
“I’m thinking. You should try it sometime.”
“Ooh, witty.”
4. Did you always know you’d be writing a spin off series and can we expect to hear more of Meghan, Ash and Puck’s story in the future?
Actually, I was approached by my publisher when The Iron Fey series was wrapping up and asked if I had any more Iron Fey stories floating around my head. Which got me thinking of Ethan, Meghan’s little brother. He was the one who started the whole adventure, in a way. What would it be like growing up, able to see the fey? And the more I thought about it, the more I realized Ethan had a story to tell, too. As for Ash, Meghan, and Puck, I’m sure there will be a few cameos in the new series. ;-)
Julie Kagawa
Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, when she was nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.
Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks is at an all- time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyperactive Papillon.
