Interview with Julie Kagawa

Foto: Julie Kagawa - Copyright: privat
Julie Kagawa
© privat

Before you became an author, you worked as a bookseller and dogtrainer, but when was the moment you realized that writing was what you want to do for a living?

Before that I think it was when I was around sixteen or seventeen when I was at highschool. The original plan wasn't to be a writer; when I was growing up I wanted to be a vetinarian, because I love animals, I love cats and dogs and I wanted to work with them as I grew up. So that was the original plan until about the time I hit sixteen and realized that to be a vetinarian ment I needed to know a lot of math and science. And then that plan fell by the wayside and so I decided "Well I really like reading and I liked writing so I'm going to be an author." So that was the moment that I decided that I was going to be a writer and I liked writing anyway and then I kind of got serious about it and I started working towards becoming a writer when I was about sixteen or seventeen. But I still got to work with animals when I became a dogtrainer, which was very fun too.

Do you still work with animals besides writing?

No, I am a fulltime writer right now. I have two dogs, two cats and two chickens so technically I do work with them almost in my everyday life.

What was the feeling when you held your first published book in your hands?

I screamed. It was amazing and everything I could have hoped for. Up to that moment I have been working to become an author, it was all I wanted. For so long and so many years and then when it finally happened it was just surreal and amazing and yeah, scream-worthy.

Is there one book that you have written that you are especially proud of?

I am very proud of "The Iron Queen". "The Iron Queen" because it was my first series ending where everything came together and rapped up and that was supposed to be the end of the series. So that's the big battle, the epic final battle, the ultimate noble sacrifice and that was it. It is also the book that made a lot of people cry, which I am especially proud of and I also like "The Iron Knight". "The Iron Knight" wasn't even supposed to happen. "The Iron Queen" was supposed to be the end; I was contracted for three books. But the way I ended "The Iron Queen" my editor called me and she was like, "No. No, you can't end it like this." And I was like, "But, but. Sacrifice and love and responsibility and she has learned so much." And she was still saying, "No, your fans will kill you." And I thought fine, I'll give them their bloody happily ever after and so I wrote "The Iron Knight" so I can thank my editor that the "Iron Fey"-series continued and did not stop with "The Iron Queen" and its ending, because that was supposed to be it.

How do you actually portray your characters? Do they combine different features of people you know or are they all made up?

I try to not put them off people that I know. They all have a little bit of me inside of them and I think that's true for most authors. Most of them put a little piece of themselves in each and every one of their characters even if they're complete opposite. But a lot of my characters are inspired by anime and video games. So all of the characters in "The Iron Fey"-series are basically anime. Ash is a combination of Heero Yuy from "Gundam Wing" and Squall Leonhart from "Final Fantasy 7", Tamahome from "Fushigi Yûgi" that's a really old anime. And then the villain of "The Iron King", Mokena, I just basically took Sephiroth from "Final Fantasy 7" and stuck cables on him and that's the Iron King, that's Mokena.

Do you have a certain writing routine? Are there things you have to do while writing?

I need caffeine. So I always have a Coce with me when I'm writing. I start in the morning around ten o’clock and I just go to my office and I sit down and after I get through with Facebook and Twitter and all the distractions I will start just writing from there. I try to treat it as a job, so from ten am until five pm I write a thousand words. I try to write a thousand words a day, unless I'm under deadline then the number jumps up significantly. But it has to be at least a thousand words a day.

Foto: Copyright: Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH
© Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH

So you only write in your office or do you also have other spots you write at?

It's mostly in my office. I'm very easily distracted, so I can't write in a coffee shop or, heaven forbid, a bookstore, because I would be very distracted by people. And if I was in a bookstore I wouldn't be writing, I would just be reading.

Is there a certain reason why you stick to young adult fantasy novels or are you planning on writing in a different genre sometime soon?

I love the time of the YA, because it's a very dramatic time with a lot of firsts. First love, first kiss, first going out on your own, coming of age and discovering who you are. I just love the YA age, but I have actually written a novella where the characters were older and I really struggled with it, so I have decided that I'm better suited to write for teenagers. Maybe it's because of my maturity level, I don't know. And I always loved fantasy, so I write what I would like to read. I could do sci-fi maybe sometime, but for now I think I will stick to fantasy because I just love it so much.

So you probably also read fantasy books. Which ones are your favorites?

Oh, I have a lot of favorites. Obviously "Harry Potter" and I just read "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir and that was fabulous and I loved that. I like Neil Gaiman and I also read "The Lord of the Rings", I loved "A song of Ice and Fire". Lots of different fantasy books.

Which male character would be your ideal book boyfriend if you could choose from any book that you have written?

Oh my goodness. From any book that I have written? That is a really tough question, because I like them all. But let's see. I think it's going to have to be Ash. I love my dark beauty bad boys with swords. There is something about Ash – he would do anything for Meghan, absolutely anything. He is completely loyal and yes, it would be Ash.

Where did your idea for your new series "Talon" come from?

I actually wrote "Talon" when I was in highschool. Not the book itself but a version of it, but two characters were the same: Ember and Garrett were the same. I wrote a story about a dragon girl and a dragon slaying boy named Ember and Garret. But the setting was different and the plot was different. It was a medieval fantasy and it wasn't in the modern times, but those two characters have remained virtually the same all these years later. So I'm very excited that they are getting to be published and getting to be in the world. It's really awesome.

Do you already know how the series is going to end?

Yes I do, but I'm not going to tell you.

Too bad. But I didn't expect you to tell me. But are you already going to talk a little bit about book three, "Soldier"?

Well, from the title it's going to be mostly about Garret, it is his story. "Rogue" was Riley's story and so "Soldier" will go a bit into Garret's back story and how he became involved with St. George and a little bit of the mysteries surrounding him and why he is how he is today. The English version of the book is published in next spring in America.

Will the series be complete after the fourth installment or are you planning on more?

There are five books. I'm not sure when the fifth book is coming. At the moment I finish "Soldier" and then we're going back to the publishing processes. Then there is book four and probably six months apart from that the last book might come.

After those five books it's going to be over or are you doing a spin-off-series for "Talon" as you did with "The Iron Fey"?

Well, I'm not sure. After I write "Talon" I'm not sure what the future will bring. So we'll have to see – it's all up in the air.

Foto: Julie Kagawa - Copyright: myFanbase/Santana Binder
Julie Kagawa
© myFanbase/Santana Binder

So you don't have plans for any future books yet?

I have ideas, but nothing positive until after the dragon series is done. I have a whole file of ideas. Usually when I'm writing this shiny new idea will come along and be like, "Pay attention to me! I'm much more interesting than the story that you're writing." And I'm just like, "No, shiny new idea. You have to go away, because I have to focus on this idea here, because I'm on deadline with this. So you'll go in this folder here and I will pay attention to you when I have the time." So I have this entire list of shiny new ideas that I could pick from any of them. They all seem very interesting.

And how long do you usually write until one book is completed?

One book takes me usually anywhere from four to six months to write.

Oh, that is not too long. And if you think back to the times you started writing until this very moment, what was the best moment you had, that you can think of right now?

Let's see. Probably the day I got picked up by my agent. I had been writing this book for a couple of years and I had met her, who would be my agent, at a writer’s conference. She said that it sounded interesting and asked me to send her three chapters when the conference is done. So I send her three chapters and when she emailed me back almost immediately and told me that she liked it and asked me to send her the whole book. That was the next step, because I had never gotten that far. Usually I would send three chapters and then getting a very nice rejection, but that was the next step and I was really excited. So I send her the full manuscript and then I got an email saying that we needed to talk. And I thought that it would be telling me some things I need to work on and some things that had to be changed and after I had done so to send it back to her and then we would see. But it wasn't like that. Yes, the conversation started like that. My agent told me what had to be changed, but then she added that she wouldn't feel comfortable working with me when we officially weren't working together. So she asked me if I wanted to be her client, which was the moment I fell of my chair in shock. After I stood up and screamed "yes" she congratulated me and that's the story how I got my agent. This was one of the most memorable days of my pre-writing-career.

Would you change something about a book that you've already published?

There is a couple of them. One is "The Lost Prince" – Ethans Spin-Off story. There is an amulet in there and it's called an anting-anting and it's a Filipino word, which is from Ethans guru which is his Kali instructor. And I take Kali and I have a Kali instructor who told me all about this magical amulet called the anting-anting and spelled it out for me word for word and wrote it down and everything. And I misspelled it in the book. And when it went to publishing and I was reading it I saw that mistake and hoped nobody would catch that. But of course somebody caught it. It was on a Goodreads-review when somebody told me that I misspelled that word and I wanted to pretend like that never happened. When the second book came out I made sure to spell it correctly.

And what about some story aspects that you would like to change?

Maybe not change, because whenever I finish a book, like "The Iron King", which I wrote several years ago and when I read it now I think that I could have done something better. Writers are constantly improving their craft and therefore there are several things I would do differently today, but I know that at that time it was the best story that I could write. It would drive yourself crazy if you think about what would be if you could go back and change things. In "The Forever Song" there are a couple of things in there that I thought a little bit rushed off and I wish I could have done that a little differently, but again, it was the best story I could write at that time and that's what you have to say for all your stories.

Do you have some tips and tricks for people who want to become an author?

Just persist and continue to write. Writing is a skill like playing the guitar or learning the piano. It's a skill you're not automatically good at unless you're a prodigy of some sort; but most of us are not, I certainly am not. So the only way to get better is practice that skill every day, whenever you can, and to continue to practice. For me, when I started writing, I was nowhere near good enough for being published. I had to write and I had to learn my craft and get better at it before I got to the point where my work was good enough to actually be published. And just know that every time you practice and every time you write you get better. So just continue writing, that's all there is to it.

And what is the best motivation if you get several rejections?

Keep going. Almost every writer started exactly where you are right now; as unknown, wanting to be published, we all go through the same things. If you continue to try, each "no" brings you that much closer to a "yes". And someday there will be a "yes" if you keep at it. So I started sending my work when I was in my early twenties and it took ten to twelve years to get a "yes". It took me twelve years to get that first "yes". But after that it happened very quickly, "The Iron King" came out and it was very well-received and everyone told me that I was an overnight success, but actually I was an overnight success that took twelve years. It can happen to anybody, just keep trying.

The last question I have is, if you watch any television shows and if yes, which are your favorites?

I don't watch much TV, shockingly. I catch it on Netflix a lot. Right now I follow "Castle" and I love "Supernatural", I'm still catching up on the seasons. And I also love "The Walking Dead" and I have a to-watch-list. I have very little time to watch television or even read. Usually what I read is on screen in front of me. So if I actually sit down and read it has to catch me on the first few pages, because I don't have very much time to read anymore. But that doesn't stop me from buying books. My husband always asks me why I buy so much, but I just want them and probably will read them someday. But yes, it's mostly about the time aspect.

Dear Julie, thank you very much for taking the time for this interview!

Sanny Binder

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