As some of you may remember, I got the idea for Needle's Eye, which is now called WINTERSOUL, before we moved to Russia in 2012. I was freaking out about the move, a lot, and I decided that maybe I'd be a little less freaked out if I learned some cool things about Russian culture. Naturally I started looking into Russian folklore and fairytales, and when I came across the story of Kaschey the Deathless, I was fascinated. I'd never heard it before, but I thought Kaschey would make an excellent villain.
The protagonist, Akira, popped into my head out of nowhere. I'm still not sure why I decided she should be half Japanese-American and half Russian, or why she'd be into kenjutsu. Some characters just write themselves I guess. But I put the novel aside for quite a while after we moved to Russia, when I realized I didn't really know it well enough to do the setting justice. I didn't finish Wintersoul until March (Baby Will's impending arrival made for an excellent deadline), and I've been revising on and off since then. I guess the bottom line is, I wrote this novel to make the mental transition to living on the edge of Siberia a little easier. And it actually worked.
My dream now is to write a novel inspired by every country we live in. So I'm super excited to research Peruvian folklore and culture when we get there and come up with a really cool twist. I have learned my lesson, however: I won't be starting the next book until I've lived in Peru for a little while. At least incorporating Spanish into a novel will be a lot easier than Russian!
Head to some of my fellow Pitch Wars mentees' blogs to find out why they wrote their Pitch Wars novels:
Tracie
Martin: WILD IS THE WIND
13 comments:
I love this idea. And how cool that you get to live in so many different places? My story draws some inspiration from Hungarian folklore.
I'd be terrified to move across the world to Russia. I visited Eastern Europe 11 years ago and two weeks seemed like a long time to spend in a country where English wasn't widely used. That you moved and wrote a novel too is way impressive.
I seriously can't wait to read this. I've been fascinated since I first heard of your story, and wish you the best of luck in PitchWars!!
That's a great idea! Good luck for Peru, that should certainly give you great story ideas :)
I adore your dream of writing a story in all the countries you will live in! What an adventure! Good luck with your story in the agent round.
The unique multi-cultural MC alone makes me want to read this. Good luck to you!
This sounds so cool! I am absolutely inspired by all the different places I've lived and visited, and I love the idea of writing a book for everywhere you go! Good luck on Pitch Wars!
Wow, you lucky thing. Living everywhere is my dream. And one of my MC's is from Russia. :) I have learned many Russian swears. Haha. Your book sounds fascinating!
Brilliant. I want to travel and write novels in places. It's a dream I entertain from time to time. One day...
This sounds beautiful.
I have a friend from Peru. Her family raised guinea pigs for meat.
Oh, I love reading about Russia! I'm so intrigued and hope I get the chance to read this!
I've loved Russian folklore since I found a Baba Yaga story, somewhere around third grade. Good luck!
What a great origin story! Good luck tomorrow!
Oooo...books written from every country you live in? How fabulous! My books has slavic folklore elements in it: it's a fertile land for the imagination out there. Good luck!!
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