Interview: Sarah J. Maas and Heather Lyons on fairy tale-inspired stories

One of my personal favorite genres is fantasy, and lately I've been especially excited to read fairy-tale retellings. This year, I fell in love with Sarah J. Maas' Heir of Fire fantasy series. When I found out she was releasing A Court of Thorns and Roses, a novel inspired by Beauty and the Beast, I immediately started a mental countdown. In addition, one of my favorite authors, Heather Lyons, created an imaginative tale with The Collectors' Society, a fabulous modern-day retelling of Alice and Wonderland. Next year, Lyons is poised to deliver the sequel, The Hidden Library.

I'm really excited to see what 2015 will bring to us readers and, in the interim, wanted to explore the trend, inspiration and process around these kind of stories. I was thrilled to be able to interview Sarah and Heather to further delve into the topic.

Vilma: Can you each tell us about your upcoming fairy-tale retelling? What can readers expect?

Sarah: Sure thing! A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book in my new (slightly older, darker and steamier) fantasy series. It's set in a world in which humans were once slaves to faerie overlords — and after a long, bloody war for freedom 500 years ago, a wall was built to separate the human and faerie lands. The story begins when my heroine, Feyre, unwittingly breaks the rules of the peace treaty between their two realms while hunting in the woods one day, and finds herself dragged into the faerie territory by a shape-shifting faerie lord as payment for her crime. But the faerie lands aren't what Feyre expects — and neither is her captor. And as Feyre's feelings for him shift from hostility to something quite the opposite, she discovers that a deadly shadow is creeping over the faerie world — and if she doesn't stop it, it might not just doom the faerie realm, but the human one as well.

Heather: The Hidden Library is the sequel to The Collectors' Society, and while the first book focused on Alice's backstory, this one features Finn's. In addition, the Society is still on the hunt for the masterminds behind the deletions of Timelines, but the more secrets they uncover, the more dangerous the game becomes. But as always, there will be lots of surprises and familiar faces popping up!

Vilma: What inspired you to write these stories?

Sarah: A Court of Thorns and Roses was actually inspired by three of my all-time-favorite fairy/folktales: Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Tam Lin. I got the kernel of inspiration by wondering: "What if 'Beauty' was a huntress?" (And then promptly asked myself: "What if the 'beast' was a shape-shifting, very sexy Faerie lord?" Because that's obviously what a normal person would think/wonder.) From there, the characters and faerie realm of Prythian just kind of exploded — and I couldn't stop writing the story. I wound up writing the first draft over the course of a month (wayyyy back in 2009), and during the years that I've revised/tweaked the story, it became more of an original fantasy novel than a straight-up retelling (though there are nods to the original source material here and there).

Heather: I think, as not only a writer but also a voracious bibliophile, I've always been enchanted by the what ifs that come with reading a book that truly sucks you in. What if these worlds were real? What if these characters existed, that their hearts beat and they lived and loved? What if books actually were what we all hoped they would be — true doorways to new lands and peoples? What if libraries and the treasures they hold were truly the magic portals we hope they are? In a lot of ways, The Collectors' Society series is my ode to the wonderful power books, libraries, and museums have had over me throughout my life.

Vilma: Retellings have been around a very long while, but lately they seem to making a re-emergence. We're also seeing more fairy tale-inspired stories being devoured by a wider audience. Why do you think that is?

Sarah: Honestly, I think there's a cycle to the popularity of fantasy and fairytales, that usually coincides with times of unrest or hardship in our own world. By retelling these legends or immersing ourselves in fantasy realms, we can safely explore the very real, very day-to-day darkness of our own lives. These stories have remained with us through the centuries because they still manage to be a reflection that teaches us, and helps us — and even reminds us to hope and work for a better ending.

Heather: Fairy tales — even the classics — have a strong hold on readers for a reason: their stories resonate within us. There's a wonder to them, a sense of hope and magic that we cling to. I think they, like so many other things in our world, continue to evolve throughout the ages. Think of it like that game telephone children play, where a story starts out one way, but changes from person to person. Storytellers over the centuries have been doing this with tales they'd been given from storytellers before them.

Vilma: Do you feel added pressure touching, morphing, expanding stories that are already so cherished and well-known, particularly as you take much-loved characters and mold them into new iterations of themselves?

Sarah: Is it strange if I say no? I've been rewriting and retelling my favorite fairy tales since I was a child — mostly in terms of recasting the classic heroines to be more active and doing the "fun" things (slaying dragons, elaborate rescues from dark castles, fighting legions of goblins). So doing that with A Court of Thorns and Roses felt second-nature — like something I'd been waiting to do my whole life. Even my Throne of Glass series emerged from the desire to retell Cinderella — when I asked myself, "What if Cinderella was an assassin who went to the ball not to dance with the prince, but to kill him?" I've always loved retellings, and loved fairy tales, so publishing ACOTAR just feels like the culmination of a lifetime of daydreaming and "what if"s?"

Heather: Honestly, I had to take a step back from such thoughts while writing The Collectors' Society, or I think I wouldn't have been able to go through with putting down the story I did. Because it is a lot of pressure to put out a story featuring such beloved characters.

Vilma: Heather, did your writing process change in any way when you were writing this type of story compared to a fantasy or a contemporary story?

Heather: In a way. Using familiar characters, I had to be careful to match speech patterns and vocabulary to specific books and time periods. And I was constantly fact-checking the dozens of books scattered around my desk and documents open on my laptop to ensure my world-building was where I wanted it to be. It was a slower go, I think, than some of my other books that have worlds built entirely within my imagination. For those, I was free to just go with the flow. Here, it's like piecing a puzzle together. All the edges have to fit just so.

Vilma: Tell us about the kind of research each of you did for your upcoming projects.

Sarah: I reread the original legends, but didn't want to cling to them too much, or get too wrapped up in the specifics while drafting. If anything, I did more research on what it feels like to have a broken nose or an infected wound — which is totally not as fun.

Heather: I reread all of the original source materials and then delve into numerous scholarly, literary analyses of all the characters and themes associated with them.

Vilma: How much content did you draw from the original text, and how much did you come up on your own?

Sarah: It was a mixture — I'd say there are definitely some nods to the source material, and definitely a fairy tale-like feel to the book ... But most of the book — the world, the politics, the characters — was invented on the spot. Though I did have a ton of fun researching various types of monsters from around the world to populate the lands of Prythian.

Heather: I would say it's probably 50-50 for me. The past for the cast of The Collectors' Society is rooted firmly within their original stories (and must be, to work within the world I've constructed), but as one of my characters says, authors always leave room for interpretation for in-betweener moments. So that allows me to fill in bits and pieces and then fully expand upon everything as these characters age and move into the employ of the Society.

Vilma: Let's move to your other projects! Sarah, can you give us a teensy weensy hint at what the heck will happen to our favorite assassin?! (#TeamChaol!!!!!)

Sarah: Haha, so, so hard not to spoil anything — both for the fourth Throne of Glass book (out fall 2015), and for readers who haven't read the series yet! BUT — I will say that book four is perhaps the darkest installment so far, and I've had a total blast working on it. It picks up right where Heir of Fire left off, and follows Celaena as she finally returns to Adarlan — and learns about the fate of her friends.

Vilma: And Heather, perhaps you can tease us with what to expect in the next Fate series installment?

Heather: The next book with be a companion book, meaning it will not star the original three main characters of the series. That said, it'll be the first one to be told from two points of view, and it will take place approximately 10 years after the epilogue of A Matter of Forever. I'm really excited about it, because it will be a nice blend of new characters while still finding out the fate of beloved older ones!

Vilma: OK, now that you have us all even more excited about your books, let's take a step back and get to know each of you a bit better with some fun, rapid-fire questions.

Favorite fairy tale character?

Sarah: It's a toss-up between the heroine from East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Vasilisa from Vasilisa the Beautiful. Both are very active, very determined heroines who use their wits and tremendous will to save themselves (and their heroes) from harm.

Heather: The headstrong girl from East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

Favorite book boyfriend?

Sarah: Lucivar Yaslana from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series.

Heather: Brigan from Fire by Kristin Cashore.

Favorite Starbucks drink?

Sarah: I recently broke free of my coffee addiction, so I'm going to be lame and say English Breakfast Tea with a splash of milk.

Heather: Tall non-fat hot chocolate at 140 degrees.

Last time you fangirled over someone and who was it?

Sarah: Garth Nix. He's part of the reason why I started writing and reading fantasy, and getting to do a panel and signing with him at the Texas Teen Book Festival this past fall was overwhelmingly cool and wonderful. I'm pretty sure I came across as a stalker, because half of my answers on the panel all involved explanations of how he'd changed my life. He was super, super gracious and chill — and having him sign the copy of Sabriel that I've owned since I was 12 years old was a dream come true.

Heather: I met Scott Hutchison, the lead singer of my favorite band, Frightened Rabbit, outside of the Troubadour before one show and I fear I was shaking and babbling, I was so excited. Poor guy!

Last super awesome book you read?

Sarah: Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren (looove all their books) — and The Darkest Touch by Gena Showalter (adore her Lords of the Underworld series).

Heather: I just finished reading My True Love Gave to Me, which is a series of holiday short stories by a bunch of rad YA authors. It was so much fun!

Song you can't get enough of right now?

Sarah: I feel like I've been obsessed with Run Boy Run by Woodkid for the past year. I literally can't go a day without listening to it. It's kinda bizarre, now that I think about it.

Heather: Like a River Runs by Bleachers. I'm obsessed.

One word you use too often?

Sarah: Dude.

Heather: Rad.

Favorite holiday tradition?

Sarah: Going on vacation over New Year's with my best friend, Susan Dennard (author of Something Strange and Deadly and the upcoming epic fantasy Truthwitch). We always go away somewhere together for the holiday — and getting to end and begin every year with her is seriously the best.

Heather: Going to Disneyland with my family to see all the lights. We have annual passes, and it's our can't-miss event!

For more information on Sarah J. Maas, visit sarahjmaas.com.

For information on Heather Lyons, visit heatherlyons.net.

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Vilma Gonzalez is a blogger, reader, marketer, wife and mom. She has an insatiable appetite for happily ever afters and a deep love of the written word. You can find more about her and read full book reviews at Vilma's Book Blog. Please e-mail Vilma at loveinsuspense@gmail.com about content related to this column. Due to the volume of mail, e-mails may not be answered personally, but all will be read.