Author Interview: Kendare Blake on 'Anna Dressed in Blood' and Writing YA

Realms YA Fantasy Literary Magazine: Will you give us a brief background about who you are and where you’re from?

Kendare Blake: Sure! I was born in South Korea, and adopted by my Midwest parents. I grew up mainly in smallish towns in Central Minnesota, so I know a lot about ice fishing and Ole and Lena jokes. I went to college in upstate New York and grad school in London, and now I live south of Seattle, Washington, with my husband, and our four-legged boys.  We have three of them: cats Tybalt (yes, he was in Anna Dressed in Blood) and Tyrion Cattister, and their baby brother, Obi Dog Kenobi.

Realms: Would you say your childhood and adolescence influenced your writing?

Kendare: Absolutely. Not so much the Ole and Lena jokes, but those are formative years, right? They influenced the way I interpret the world. Those years are also the years when I read the most, first by checking out every unicorn book in the library with my mother, and later buying every Stephen King and Anne Rice in the bookstore, also with my mother.

Realms: What appeals to you about writing YA?

Kendare: Well, there’s the fact that you can do almost anything. That’s nice. It’s a broad category with lots to explore. But when I write, I never think to myself, “Oh, I’m writing YA.” I’m just writing a story, same as always.

Realms: What about Cas Lowood, ghost hunter extraordinaire in Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares, do you think appeals to readers?

Kendare: He appreciates that you refer to him as “extraordinaire.” I think Cas appeals to some readers because he’s tough but plainly lonely. Because he might act like a jerk sometimes and make stupid, bullheaded choices, but you can still see his reasons. And a lot of it has to do with his voice. It was a lot of fun writing with Cas. He’s just an engaging guy. I miss him.

Realms: Do you think that adults have something to gain by reading YA stories?

Kendare: Yes. I think everyone has something to gain by reading anything. I hear way too many people utter the words, “I don’t read,” with a tone of pride, like a badge of honor or something, and I don’t get it. Read, dammit. Read! I promise, the worlds you find in books are far cooler than the one we have to live in.

Realms: You have an MA in creative writing from Middlesex University. How did that experience shape your writing?

Kendare: It opened me up to looking at writing in a different way. Breaking it down. Seeing the strings. Appreciating the construction of pieces even if I didn’t find the narrative personally engaging. And it did a lot as far as helping me understand the business of writing. Plus, I was in London, man. And a writer’s workshop is a great place to form lasting friendships.

Realms: Who are your influences?

Kendare: Everyone I’ve ever read, probably. Lots of writers influence me in rather indirect ways, like reading Milan Kundera sort of pops the cap off of my brain. His words often feel like my own thoughts, put to better music. Reading Bret Easton Ellis tends to make me ambitious and sharp. Caitlin R. Kiernan pushes my imagination and makes me feel bad about my research skills.

Kendare Blake

Realms: If you had to choose a favorite YA book (decisions, decisions, we know!), which might it be?

Kendare: Aaaargh, that’s hard. Way too hard. By the time you get to The Amber Spyglass, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman might be considered YA. Or, I still really love So Shelly, by Ty Roth, and The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater…there are really too many to name.

Realms: From Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares to the Goddess War Series (the last of which is forthcoming in August 2015): what’s next for you?

Kendare: My next novel will be called Three Dark Crowns. It’s about queens on a hidden island in the Atlantic. On the island, queens are born in threes. Sisters, and each has a particular gift. She can be a naturist, or an elemental. A poisoner or a telekinetic. They are raised in the city populated with people of their specific gift, and when they come of age, one rises to take the throne, by killing the other two.

            Three Dark Crowns is the story of one generation of young queens. Arsinoe, the naturist, Katharine, the poisoner, and Mirabella, the elemental.

Realms: If there were the kind of magic in the world that is in storybooks, what would you want to be or be able to do?

Kendare: I’d want the ability to change a thing into another thing. I want to turn a rock into a cupcake. A dog into a goat and then back into a dog. That’s less storybook and more comic book, but it would be so rad.

Realms: What would you tell aspiring writers of fantasy and/or YA?

Kendare: Keep on writing, and keep on reading. You may read many bad things, and write many bad things along the way, but when you look back you’ll see the method to the madness. Try different ways of working until you find what’s best for you. Understand that what works may change from book to book.

            Most importantly, don’t forget to enjoy it.

Anna Dressed in Blood is a YA fantasy novel by Kendare Blake. In this tale of horror, Cas Lowood, a ghost hunter, meets Anna, a spirit who's killed all who enter her home, but she spares Cas's life. Anna Dressed in Blood and its sequel, Girl of Nightmares, have been praised by YA authors Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and more. Be sure to also check out Kendare Blake's Goddess War Series. You can learn more about Kendare Blake on her website, and follow her on Twitter.

How to Hook your Reader Series

Hello, readers!

We hope your weekend has been a truly fantastic and magical one. Start any enticing books or stories? What was your reaction when you read the first line? Does that make or break a story for you? For us, the answer is yes. Before we purchase or borrow a book or story, we always read the first line. If it doesn't hook us from the start, how can it promise to hook us until the end?
          Today's post is all about first lines and how they impact a story. First lines set the mood of your story, the writing style, and, most importantly, should grab your reader immediately. What makes them want to read on?
          With this in mind, we want to start a series of images and lines from Young Adult Fantasy books, novellas, and stories that are examples of outstanding hooks. To be the best writer you can be, you must read in your genre. If you read or write YA Fantasy, then this series may help you in a jam. So pay attention!
          We also want your help. After all, the more the merrier! We haven't read every YA Fantasy book under the sun, so if you know a great first line, comment below! It doesn't need to be deep or soul-changing, just something that makes you want to read on.
          Our #HookSeriesYA will only be featured on our Twitter and Tumblr pages. Occasionally we may post updates to Facebook. If you have any suggestions or questions, comment below or email us at realms.litmag@gmail.com with the subject "YA Hook."

Realms

Tips for Writers: Worldbuilding

Discworld, imagined by Terry Pratchett

Worldbuilding is a giant in the realm of fiction. Often, people like to ignore it at first because it requires enormous effort on the author's part, but the truth is, there's no escaping it. Even if you're writing realistic fiction, you need to factor in worldbuilding, because that's what explains why everything in your book is happening now. We are going to focus on how it can help your Young Adult Fantasy writing.
          Let's make a list of things to consider, shall we?

• Environment: including the way the ecosystem works in particular areas of the world, the temperature, the defining features of the landscape, and more.
• Cultures, Politics, Religions: unless you're writing a Utopian novel, the characters in your story probably belong to different cultures, have different beliefs about certain topics, dress certain ways. Remember, your characters are individuals, and just like in the real world, even the most similar people probably don't agree on everything.
• Basic Infrastructure: what do your people eat? And don't say "stew." Stew is so common in fantasy books, but how bland is that? Know your world. What is grown? How do people get around? How do they dispose of things? How does the economy work and who holds the power? What does the average person do for a living?
• History: even though you've made this world pop into existence, you want to make it look like any other world, one rich with history. Civilizations don't just suddenly exist. How did your world get to the point it's at today?This is may not seem important to the now of your story, but it is. The history of your world explains why everything is happening now, rather than one hundred years ago or one hundred years from now.
• Mimicking Ethnic Groups: you want to create believable people with accurate portrayals of society. In an article we found that may also help you, "7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding," by Charlie Jane Anders, it's said "If you decide that instead of Belgians, you're going to have an alien species called the Bzlgizns––who are basically Belgians except they've got antlers––you still have to try and make them well-rounded and as nuanced as possible." In other words, you can't just create a race and give them no personality. They can't exist for the sake of existing. They have desires, goals, and practices that make them who they are. 
• Knowing How Certain Powers/Inventions Impact Society: if there is magic, or a crazy new invention, you have to consider the aspects of society it will impact. You can't introduce something and not expect everyone to be affected by it. 

Now, don't feel too overwhelmed by this list. Odds are, you've probably imagined a lot of it, and the rest are suggestions for you to work on to give characters a more realistic feel in a much larger playground. A lot of these also pertain to worldbuilding from scratch, which some of you may not necessarily be doing. For example, if your fantasy story is set in our world, then a lot of the history and culture and infrastructure is there. You should still do your research, but you don't have to start from the beginning.
          A good example of this is in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The human world is still there, and the Shadowhunters do behave similarly to most humans when not hunting demons. Therefore, Clare's worldbuilding consists mostly of defining Shadowunter history, some aspects of their culture, and how their power works in relation to the rest of the world.
          For some, it is easier to create a "worldbuilding bible," so to speak. In this document, you write down all the aspects of the world, even the ones you may not necessarily use in the book, to further define your story and make the characters and reactions more believable. Your worldbuilding bible could contain a map with lists and histories of all the places, along with the cultures in those areas and how they interact with other places/people/species, etc. Honestly, this article would be way too long if we went through every possible aspect to include, but we've handed you the basic tools and it's time to start digging!
          What's in your world?

Other Resources:

"25 Things You Should Know About Worldbuilding" by Chuck Wendig

"Brandon Sanderson Teaches Fantasy Writing and Worldbuilding" by Nathan Smith

Realms