{"id":17975,"date":"2012-12-27T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=17975"},"modified":"2013-02-03T13:15:04","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T00:15:04","slug":"the-most-read-posts-of-on-anything-really-in-2012-an-interview-with-kristin-cashore-author-of-bitterblue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2012\/12\/27\/the-most-read-posts-of-on-anything-really-in-2012-an-interview-with-kristin-cashore-author-of-bitterblue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most-Read Posts of “…on Anything, Really” in 2012: An Interview with Kristin Cashore, Author of Bitterblue"},"content":{"rendered":"

I posted this interview on the winter solstice, June 21, and it proved hugely popular—a clear reflection of the popularity of Ms Cashore’s writing, although she herself was kind enough to praise the interview questions. I think the interview very much speaks for itself, but I also found working with Kristin Cashore <\/a>extremely enjoyable—she is both very professional and interesting, as well as being an extremely nice person.<\/p>\n

I loved the character of Bitterblue in the book we were discussing, but was also very impressed by the way Ms Cashore addressed the whole business of “consequences’—consideration of which is all too often lacking in Fantasy fiction, sadly. (In my humble opinion.)<\/p>\n

But really, the interview speaks best for itself—as I\u00a0 believe both the number and consistency of readers attests.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

An Interview With Kristin Cashore\u2014Author of \u201cBitterblue\u201d<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Introduction:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Today I am delighted to bring you an interview with Kristin Cashore<\/a>,<\/strong> the multiple award-winning and Starred-review author of Graceling<\/em><\/strong> (2008) and Fire<\/em><\/strong> (2009). I think there are few contemporary authors who have enjoyed such immediate success as Ms Cashore with her debut novel, Graceling<\/em><\/strong>, setting a benchmark for YA fantasy adventure with a strong, independent young heroine\u2014but with plenty of romance in the mix as well.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s interview focuses on Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong>, Kristin Cashore\u2019s newly released third novel, which returns readers to the world of Graceling<\/strong> and Fire<\/em><\/strong>. You may recall that I featured a \u201cJust Arrived\u201d<\/a> post for Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong> on 29 April, here<\/a>, and wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate Cashore\u2019s storytelling approach\u2026[and]\u2026am looking forward to what she does with Bitterblue\u2019s story.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I can tell you right now that I loved Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong>\u2014but I hope the best testimony to the book will lie in the interview, so now welcome Kristin Cashore to \u201c\u2026on Anything, Really.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

The Interview
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Helen:\u00a0 Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong> is your third novel and returns to the world of Graceling<\/em><\/strong> and Fire<\/em><\/strong>, but in particular to the kingdom of Monsea\u2014ruled by the tyrant Leck in Graceling<\/em><\/strong>\u2014where it picks up the story of Leck\u2019s daughter, Bitterblue. What led you to want to tell her story as your \u201cnext book\u201d?<\/p>\n

Kristin:<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible to predict where a book idea is going to come from. This one happened differently from any other book I\u2019ve ever written or tried to write; it was like a bolt of lightning, and consequently, I remember exactly where I was. I was standing in the sun, on the balcony over the courtyard in the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library in Jacksonville, Florida, having a casual phone conversation with my mother. I told her I wasn\u2019t sure what I was going to write once I was done with Fire<\/strong><\/em>. She said to me something along the lines of, \u201cYou know who\u2019s interesting, Kristin? Bitterblue.\u201d When she said the word, it was like a puzzle piece falling into place \u2013 in a puzzle I hadn\u2019t even realized I was building! In that moment, I didn\u2019t know what the story was going to be, but I knew, with conviction, that it would be Bitterblue\u2019s story. It was kind of weird, to be honest. Then, as I began to plan the book and realize what the plot needed to be, my mental understanding caught up with my emotional understanding. The story became clear to me; Bitterblue\u2019s need to deal with her past became apparent. Maybe she\u2019d been asking me to help her tell her story all along, but I didn\u2019t hear her until the moment my mother spoke her name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen:\u00a0 Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong> is also strongly focused around consequences arising from Monsea\u2019s past under Leck, both for individual people and the society as a whole. Did you set out to explore consequences in this way, or did the focus evolve through the act of telling Bitterblue\u2019s story?<\/p>\n

Kristin:<\/strong> I knew from the start that this book would be not just about Bitterblue, but about Leck. I knew it would be about the broken people all around Bitterblue, and Bitterblue\u2019s struggle to figure out how to bring her kingdom into the light. It couldn\u2019t realistically have been about anything else. The young queen of a kingdom that\u2019s endured what the Monseans have endured would<\/em> realistically be faced with Bitterblue\u2019s situation, and a young woman who\u2019s experienced the trauma Bitterblue has experienced would need to face it in order to heal. That being said, it wasn\u2019t until I was well into the story that I realized just how much darkness Bitterblue was going to have to face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Helen:\u00a0<\/strong> As a reader, I have to say that the story direction felt utterly right: the sense of consequences playing out gave the book an integrity that really drew me in. Another distinguishing aspect of this book is that although both Graceling<\/em><\/strong> and Fire<\/em><\/strong> are centered on heroines with superpowers, Bitterblue has none. Do you see this as departing from current trends in YA Fantasy?<\/p>\n

Kristin:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/strong>I\u2019m a bit embarrassed to admit that I\u2019m not up on current trends in YA Fantasy. I tend not to read it while I\u2019m writing it, because reading fantasy while writing fantasy can create a kind of interference \u2013 it can become difficult to keep a fresh mind. And I\u2019ve been writing fantasy nonstop for years! I could talk a lot about the mystery genre if you asked, because I\u2019ve been reading plenty of those.:) But I don\u2019t know what\u2019s hot in YA Fantasy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will say that writing about a \u201cnon-magical\u201d protagonist was definitely different from writing about a protagonist with superpowers. I could relate to Bitterblue more than I ever did to Katsa or Fire. Her vulnerabilities felt more familiar to me. Honestly, by the time I was done, she felt like my daughter. That never happened with Katsa or Fire. It was an absolute pleasure to write about a \u201cregular\u201d person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen:<\/strong>\u00a0 So what do you, as the author, love most about Bitterblue\u2019s character?<\/p>\n

Kristin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I love her loneliness. I love her loyalty. I love how much she loves her friends. I love how hard she tries, and I love her refusal to give up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, that is definitely the Bitterblue I met, but I was also impressed by her generosity, as well as her \u201cfidelity\u201d:\u00a0 the way she strives to keeps faith with her subjects, and the truth of the past, and those she loves, even those who cause her more than a little trouble \u2013 not just \u201ccool friends\u201d like Katsa and Po.<\/p>\n

But speaking of Katsa and Po, a strong romance is central to both Graceling<\/em><\/strong> (Katsa and Po) and Fire<\/strong><\/em> (Fire and Brigan), but although there is romantic attraction, it does not feel either so central or so strong in Bitterblue. Why is that?<\/p>\n

Kristin:\u00a0<\/strong> Bitterblue is a different character, with a different story. From my outside perspective as a writer, I\u2019m not interested in writing the same story over and over; but more importantly, once inside a story, I\u2019m committed to writing what feels like the true story. Bitterblue falls in love for the first time, and that\u2019s an important experience for her. But she has a whole lot more going on than Katsa or Fire ever did. She\u2019s defining herself in terms of her relationships with the people she already loves, her relationship with the past and future, and perhaps most vitally, her relationship with her kingdom. She\u2019s the same age Katsa and Fire were, but she seems younger to me in some ways. And I do think it\u2019s relevant that romance is more complicated for a queen. Let\u2019s give her time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Helen:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cHear hear\u201d to not replicating the same story over and over! Another aspect of Bitterblue<\/strong><\/em> that really intrigued me though, was the part codes and code breaking play in the story. Is this something you\u2019ve always been interested in, or did you have to do a lot of research for the book\u2014or both?<\/p>\n

Kristin:\u00a0<\/strong> This question gets to one of the funniest things about being a fiction writer. I enjoy the idea of ciphers as a construct in a book, but I\u2019m not particularly interested in solving ciphers myself. I don\u2019t particularly enjoy the mental challenge of them, nor do I always understand them; often, if they show up in a book I\u2019m reading, I feel a bit bored and skip them. But when I\u2019m writing a book, my protagonists have interests, and I need to learn about those interests even if they don\u2019t interest me. I need to become good at things that my characters are good at (or at least, get some help, so that I can fake being good!). Bitterblue is better at mental arithmetic than I am, for example, and she\u2019s worlds better at ciphering than I am.\u00a0 I did a lot of research into ciphers for this book, and it was enjoyable \u2013 I had fun choosing what kinds of ciphers I wanted to use where, and I very much enjoyed playing with them as a plot device. I also got help from a few people \u2013 linguist Dr. Lance Nathan, my sister Dorothy Cashore, and my mother \u2013 and working with all of these people was a delight. But the actual ciphering was a headache!<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen:\u00a0<\/strong> May I compliment you on your research then, because I found the codes aspect of the book both fun and convincing. You\u2019re obviously close to both your mother and sister: are they your key \u201cearly feedback\u201d people for the book or do you have others?<\/p>\n

Kristin:\u00a0<\/strong> It really depends on timing; I share various revisions with various people, depending on the needs of the manuscript. My earliest readers these days tend to be my editor and agent, both of whom have had the kindness and fortitude to read some very rough first drafts. Once I have the manuscript in good enough shape that I feel like reading it wouldn\u2019t be an utter waste of my sisters\u2019 time, I tend to give it to my sisters Dorothy and Catherine. Perhaps a broader range of carefully-chosen friends will read the next revision after that. This process is essential. Every line of feedback is essential. I surely hope everyone is getting something out of it, because there aren\u2019t enough words to express how helpful it is to me! My parents tend not to read it until it\u2019s in final or nearly final form, making them two of my first \u201cearly feedback\u201d people for the final book as it enters the world\u2014which tends to be a comforting way to begin that process.:)<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen:<\/strong>\u00a0 Kristin, thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed for \u201c\u2026on Anything, Really.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 As I said in the introduction, I loved Bitterblue<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 in fact it may just be my favourite Kristin Cashore novel yet! \u2014 and I have very much enjoyed working with you to bring the interview together.<\/p>\n

Kristin:\u00a0<\/strong> Helen, thank you so much for these truly wonderful questions! It was a pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addendum:<\/h3>\n

In response to a reader\u2019s question about the role of class and class divides, Kristin Cashore<\/strong><\/span> replied as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fascinating to consider class issues while writing Bitterblue, Bitterblue being in many ways unaware of her own enormous privilege and na\u00efve about the differences between her and Saf, for example. And thinking about class more is definitely \u2014 unavoidably, with the ideas I\u2019m considering\u00a0\u2013\u00a0part of my plan for the future. I don\u2019t talk about books I haven\u2019t written yet, so that\u2019s all I\u2019ll say for now. But it\u2019s a fascinating issue, and definitely has relevance in my fantasy world!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To see the original post, including reader comments, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

About The Author:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kristin Cashore<\/strong> wrote the New York Times bestsellers Graceling<\/em> and Fire<\/em>, both of which have been named ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Graceling<\/em> is the winner of the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children\u2019s Literature and Fire<\/em> is the winner of Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. The books are world travelers, currently scheduled to be published in thirty languages. Her third book, Bitterblue<\/em>, has just been released internationally.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Previous Author Interviews on \u201c\u2026 Anything, Really\u201d<\/em>:<\/h3>\n

To read, click on the links immediately below:<\/p>\n