I was fortunate to attend the Kingdom of Blazing Phoenix tour stop in Brookline, MA at the Brookline Booksmith. Julie C. Dao was in conversation with Karen McManus. Not only is Julie an amazing presenter in general, Karen was a wonderful and engaging moderator with great questions.
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is the companion book to
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. It's the second book in the Rising Empress Duology.
While Forest of a Thousand Lanterns focuses on the story of the Xifeng who ultimately becomes the Evil Queen,
Kingdom of a Blazing Phoenix focuses on Jade who is Snow White. This East Asian Snow White fairytale telling duology is captivating.
Karen asked Julie, "What prompted you to write the duology? What is your inspiration? Julie mentioned how Snow White is her least liked princess because Snow White continuously falls for the Evil Queen's tricks. Snow White is innocent, pure and has a good heart. These qualities don't exhibit weakness. Snow White is fierce! Julie wanted to write two books; one book in the Evil Queen's point of view and one book in Snow White's point of view. She wanted both books to fit together and present how the ultimate goal for both women is to rise to become the Empress hence the Rise of the Empress name for the duology. Xifeng and Jade achieve this goal differently however.
Karen asked about how Julie deals with different story arcs and characters in her novels. Julie mentioned how she writes a page or two for each character. Julie prefers to write with pen and paper instead of typing when she is brainstorming. These character sheets are very useful for reference. The character sheets help her create a richer story. She often will assign horoscopes and Hogwarts houses to her characters. This provides her a better feel for the characters before she writes. Karen actually does the same and creates character sheets but she types everything on her computer.
Karen talked about fairytales and asked Julie what fairytale elements had to be in the books. Julie mentions how if the reader knows what fairytale they are reading, it helps ground them. Julie started out by making a list of fairytale tropes from Snow White. The glass coffin, the poisoned apple and the mirror are three elements she definitely wanted in her books. Her books still have the flavor of Snow White. They have the fairytale feel but it was still an original story since the glass coffin becomes a pool of water, the poisoned apple is depicted as the last apple tree and the mirror is a waterfall.
Like in many book discussions, Julie was asked if she is a plotter or pantser. Julie is definitely a plotter. She knows all the destinations that she wants to end up at but she needs to figure out how to get there. Figuring out the road map to her destinations is half the fun. Julie turned the question onto Karen and asked whether Karen is a plotter or pantser. Karen mentioned that she is a reformed pantser. Her first novel,
One of Us is Lying, is more character driven and less plot driven. Karen didn't plan too much about the novel's plot even though it ends up being a mystery. With her second and future books, she focuses on the plot a bit more than her debut book. Now Karen is a pantser. She talked about how her inclination is to just let everything flow.
Karen asked Julie, "Were there are characters that surprised you?" Ambassador Shiro is one of the characters Julie mentioned. He is the foil to Xifeng. He added more richness to the story but was trying to show kindness to Xifeng. Shiro makes an appearance in both novels. He is able to tell Jade how Xifeng took a different path and is not the same as the person he met before.
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peaking of characters, Wren is one of Julie's favorite secondary characters because of the comic relief that Wren provides. Even Karen agreed that Wren is quite vibrant. Wren provides levity to someone who is saving the world.
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n terms of beauty, Karen asked Julie, "What are you saying overall about beauty in the worlds with characters?" Julie talks about how in a lot of fairytales, the older women are often the villains or considered evil and are ugly while the younger ones are considered pure and good. Xifeng is beautiful in every way. Her beauty is a weapon and her falling. She doesn't celebrate her other traits such as being ambitious or determined. Xifeng becomes obsessed about her beauty. On the other hand, you have Jade, who honors her other traits. She treats people as her comrades. Jade wants to live a quiet life and doesn't want to become Empress. While Xifeng is a Slytherin, Jade is more of a Hufflepuff.
Karen then asked Julie if she found a character more difficult to write about. Julie talks about Marie Lu's The Young Elites series and how Adelina becomes the anti-hero. Adelina is written in first person while Xifeng is written in third person. If Xifeng was written in first person, that darkness is very hard to get away from. Writing in third person was definitely easier to be removed from that very same darkness. Julie then talks about how she was worried what people would think about Jade compared to Xifeng. Her fear was that a lot of readers will deem Jade as boring because a lot of people love Xifeng in
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. Julie then decided to balance Jade to Xifeng. Jade took care about how her peers are doing. She is a leader that seeks counsel and advice from others. Jade needs help from others and she is not afraid to ask for help.
Julie talked about the cultural influences in the world building. She mentioned how her mother loves watching lush and dynamic movies about Imperial China.
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is dedicated her to mother and
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is dedicated to her brothers. China and Vietnam are very similar. Folktales from childhood influenced the world of Feng Lu and she wove a Western fairytale in an Eastern setting. She has this idea since she was 13 to write a story that represented someone who looks like her. Julie wanted to write a story with a game with queens. These queens will be warring over a kingdom and a throne. Eventually she decided write about Snow White and the Evil Queen with an East Asian setting. She did a lot of research on Imperial China, the hierarchy, the court, the role eunuchs play and the Silk Road since Feng Lu is inspired by it.
One of her first books was a ghost story but it didn't sell well. During that time, paranormal wasn't booming. Julie wrote the right story at the right time when she wrote
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns after she pitched it.
Julie discussed about her favorite writing advice. She mentioned how one should immerse themselves in the world of the book through music, candles, food and dish representation, trying something new, visiting a museum exhibit similar to the book being written about and creating a sensory experience.
Julie and Karen talked about their experience writing book #2. Julie claims how you can't make stuff up in the second book. There are rules to follow since a world is already created. Karen found the second book harder to write and she hated it. She doesn't read reviews anymore because she found them to be conducive and not helpful. The reviews start getting into her head. When she writes, she has a lot of false starts and there is a lot of rewriting involved. The first book flowed so easily. Her third book is actually the sequel to
One of Us Is Lying.
Two Can Keep a Secret, Karen's second book, is a standalone novel that up-levels secondary characters.
Julie was asked what are her favorite current and/or upcoming fantasy novels of the year. She raved about
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi,
Crown of Thunder by Tochi Onyebuchi and
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh. In fact Renée just sold another series called The Beautiful which is about vampires in New Orleans. The first book comes out October 2019. Paranormal must be coming back. Julie was even joking around that maybe her ghost story might sell.
Julie switches gears and asks Karen if she would ever write about another genre. Karen reads a lot of contemporary and is interested in possibly writing fantasy but she admits that she is not strong in world building. Julie mentions that fantasy is her bread and butter and she loves to make things up. Her gothic paranormal ghost story has a Parisian music school. Julie said she would love to try something new or maybe even writing a Middle Grade novel. Karen talks about all her books end up being mystery thrillers. Her fourth book is also a mystery thriller. Karen talked about how she did research at a similar setting for her book but she cannot share anything else about the book.
Was there anything our authors fought to keep or cut from their books? In
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, Julie just had to polish it up but with
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, she admits that Xifeng killed more people. She had to cut some of the deaths because she had to have a reason why Xifeng killed each person. Karen mentioned that in
One of Us is Lying there was a side plot that had to be cut since it was distracting and it slowed the whole novel down. Karen needed to make sure that the characters become fleshed out more and are able to support the main plot better.
Julie talks about her third book which is standalone fantasy set in Vietnam. There will be cameos from
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix. The publication date is October 2019. The novel has a title and a cover already but readers will have to wait until Julie gets the okay to release them to us.
Someone in the audience asked Julie and Karen about their average writing day. Julie talked about how when she drafted, she doesn't have a word count for the day. Instead, she has a word count for the week. It's easier to do a weekly word count instead of a daily one since it's less stressful. Julie writes in 30 minute segments with a timer. This occurs 9-10 times per day and she takes breaks. She is most productive in the mornings and afternoons. Karen, on the other hand, is a night writer. Her best work happens late at night.
Julie also figures out time when she can read other authors' books in order to write blurbs for the books. Authors often read to promote and support other authors. Blurbing is one way they show support. Julie usually reads at night since she writes during the day. Julie mentioned that she gets to chose what books she wants to read and blurb. She loves diverse fantasy books. She has blurbed 7-8 books since October 2017. Karen is currently closed to blurbing books. She already blurbed 12 books last year.
Julie and Karen were asked a question regarding when they started to write. Julie started writing since she was 8-years-old but her writing didn't increase until she started writing Harry Potter fan fictions. Although she studied biology and pre-med in college, her heart belongs to writing; it's her passion. Around 9-years-old, Julie wrote a book about how there is slumber party with a few friends and they wanted to get a midnight snack. When they went to the kitchen to get a snack, they saw the TV act strangely. This TV was actually a portal to a hidden kingdom where they had a waterfall, orange soda and unicorns. When Karen was younger, she wrote a series starring a witch that can't do spells but loves cats. Grizelda was the witch's name and she had 12 books in the series.
I have to say that the event was definitely an entertaining one. Both authors are terrific speakers and Karen had good questions to ask Julie. The conversation flowed well and it was a very immersive experience. The event was followed by a signing.
