Sarah J. Maas lives in Southern California, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much coffee, and watches absolutely rubbish TV shows. When she's not busy writing YA fantasy novels, she can be found exploring the California coastline.
Her debut YA epic fantasy novel, THRONE OF GLASS, will be published by Bloomsbury on August 7th, 2012.
THE INTERVIEW
1. Tell us a little about
yourself? Maybe something juicy.
Something juicy? Oh, man. I wish I
had something juicy to tell you about myself. In a nutshell, I grew up in NYC,
moved to California right after college, and I’ve been living there ever since
(with my husband and dog). I’m 26, I drink too much coffee, I love watching TV,
and I’m prone to eating nutella right out of the jar. ;)
2. What do you do when you're not
writing or reading?
TV. Oh, I watch so much TV it’s
disgusting. I also love traveling, and the ballet, and trying new kinds of
food. Honestly, if I have a night off from writing, you can usually find me
eating pizza and drinking a beer. I’m pretty laid back.
3. If you're going to live on a stranded
desert island, name 3 books you'll bring with you.
The Last
Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (so beautiful and heartbreaking), the omnibus
edition of Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels
Trilogy (ha! I’m cheating with that one), and Lloyd Alexander’s Taran Wanderer (since I don’t think
there’s an omnibus edition of his Prydain Chronicles out there).
4. Can you tell me a bit about your
process of writing?
Well, it changes with each book.
Sometimes, I like to have the whole book planned out in my head before I begin
writing it. Other times, I’ll write it by the seat of my pants, making it up as
I go. And other times, I’ll have a detailed outline to guide me each step of
the way. Usually, though, my process is like this: wake up, drink coffee, catch
up on emails, and then write for the rest of the day. Pretty boring, huh? I guess
my only bit of craziness is the fact that I like to have a mirror hanging
behind my desk, so I can look at myself/my expressions as I act out scenes.
5. Why do you write and what do you hope
to achieve with your writing?
Why do I write? Because I have to.
Because I’d go crazy if I didn’t get all the stories out of my head. Because
NOT writing has never been an option.
As for what I hope to achieve… I just
want to write stories I love with my whole heart and soul—and hope that those
stories are ones that other people can love, too.
6. What are you working on at the
moment?
Book Two of the Throne of Glass series! I’m in the middle of revisions, which means
that I’m pretty much living in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and showers are
optional. :P
7. Of all the characters in the Throne
of Glass series, who do you feel you're most alike? Who is your favorite?
Oooh, tough question. I’m going to
say that Celaena is my favorite. She’s the reason why I’ve kept with this story
for so long. When I was sixteen and began writing this series, I put a lot of
myself into her, but over the years, she became very much her own person (to
the point where we only have a few things in common now). But I also adore
writing Chaol’s character—and, recently, I fell in love with Ansel (a character
from the second ToG novella, The Assassin
and the Desert). I really hope I get a chance to write more about Ansel in
later books (or possibly novellas)!
8. Do you have an author that has really
inspired you?
J. K. Rowling. She is a wonderful,
inspiring, and incredible person—who has done SO much for children’s literature
(and literature in general). Plus, writing/reading Harry Potter fanfiction was
what introduced me to FanFiction.net—which later developed its site for
original stories, FictionPress.com. :)
9. How do you do research for your
books?
Hmmm. Well, I do it the traditional
way sometimes, by reading books/articles/source material written by very smart
people. And I also do it in other non-traditional ways/forms—by watching
movies, or tv, or listening to music or looking at art. “Research” and
“Inspiration” go hand-in-hand for me.
10. What is your favorite part of
writing this series?
Agh. Tough question. I think what I
love most is that Celaena (as a trained assassin) gets to do so many things
that only guys traditionally got to do—she can slay monsters or partake in
battles or just swagger about. Writing her—writing a character that never
apologizes for who she is (faults and all)—has been such tremendous fun.
11. Do you have a favorite scene or line?
Hmmm. I have many favorite scenes, but
some of them are very spoiler-y. BUT I’ll just say that one of my favorite
lines comes from early on in the novel, when Celaena first sees the royal
library (while the Captain of the Guard is giving her a tour of the castle).
She asks Chaol why there aren’t any guards watching the library, and he says
that they’re of no use in a library. To which Celaena replies/thinks to
herself:
‘Oh,
how wrong he was! Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and
powerful of all weapons.’
:)
