Welcome to Part Two of our interview with YA historical fantasy author, Sarah Raughley. If you missed part one, you can read it here.
As far as writing goes, especially with your trilogy, I want to know what you’ve learned over the course of your experience with The Bones of Ruin that you’ll take with you. Whether it be something you’ve learned as a writer and improved upon you feel like personally, or if it’s something as far as the publishing industry – maybe a hard lesson you’ve learned or something that you didn’t know before and have taken with you throughout this publishing journey?
Oh my gosh, that’s such a good question, because The Bones of Ruin trilogy was really a transformative experience for me. My first series was The Effigy series and still published by Simon & Schuster. I was kind of having fun with it in terms of it’s Sailor Moon fighting monsters, basically. I love stuff like that. I wasn’t as confident with my world building and I wasn’t as confident with showcasing Blackness. Because I was scared that people wouldn’t buy the book.
That is a legit thing to think about. That doesn’t get talked enough about in the industry.
That’s that’s a word because you know what, I think some of us, well, I can’t speak for anyone, I can speak for myself, that I often don’t talk about that, because I worry that people will look down on me. If I were to be honest about how I was… I’ve been writing since I was a little kid. I wasn’t able to write a Black character since that until I was, I think, 14. That was when I was first able to write a Black main character, because I simply didn’t see myself enough in media. I simply didn’t have that confidence that somebody like me could be the main character.
Then when I started out writing, I just didn’t see enough books with people like me in the driver’s seat. I was worried about… I don’t know if readers, you know. Obviously, you want a whole group of readers, a diverse group of readers. You don’t know if people are going to read your book if it stars a Black character. You don’t know if you’re shutting down doors for yourself.
This also has to do with foreign publishers not being interested in this book because they feel their readers won’t be able to identify. Right? Their readers won’t be able to identify with this book, because it stars a Black teen instead of a white teen.
It’s so unfortunate. And it’s real that that’s what a lot of these foreign publishers are doing. When you see the kinds of books that are getting published in a million different languages and the kind of books that are getting huge readers, it kind of affects you.
So for The Effigy series, I was like, okay, maybe I still want to write about a Black character but maybe I should do it in this way. I was being strategic about it. By the time I published The Bones of Ruin, I was like, you know what, I don’t care.
I’m going to write this about Black history and Blackness and it’s going to be at the forefront. There were middling responses. So I was like, I don’t know if this is because I wrote a story about a Black character in a historical fantasy, and it was kind of, it was very…
What do we do with this?
Yeah, yeah. It was very kind of aggressively post-colonial and aggressively anti-colonial. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it.
You confused them.
I confused myself, to be honest. For a while, I was like, I don’t know what to do. But in terms of what I learned, I think writing The Bones of Ruin trilogy and just doing what I wanted, you know. That’s The Lady of Rapture, it’s me just doing what I want and not caring anymore.
I’m going to go full on in terms of what I think fantasy can be, what I think a Black story, a Black fantasy story in historical settings can be. Globetrotting with a little bit of space opera and a little bit of high fantasy and a little bit of world building and stuff like that, and anti-colonial discourse and all this stuff. I’m going to put it all in there because that’s what I want to do.
I learned that you can try to write a book in a way that you think will get you more readers and more accolades and get your foot in the door. But ultimately, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. So you might as well just write what you want to write. Whoever gets it gets it, and whoever doesn’t does it. That was the biggest takeaway.
Also, I think in terms of just craft, I learned that because The Bones of Ruin trilogy does tend a bit longer. I’ve heard from my readers in terms of like, “Oh, if it was only a little shorter.” I know that there are a lot of readers that can handle very, very long books, a lot of young readers. Of course, there’s a lot of adults that read YA as well. But as somebody that writes YA, I want to really be cognizant of the fact that I am writing largely for people 13 and up. A lot of those people are strong readers and can read a book that’s like 500 pages long.
But then there’s also a lot of readers that especially with COVID and how COVID has interrupted with education. As an educator, I see that myself. I think it can’t hurt to also try to streamline a little bit, streamline the world building, not in a way that it compromises the storytelling, but maybe it makes it a little easier for younger readers.
When it comes to craft, what aspect of writing or revising brings you the most joy? What would you say has been the most challenging in a good way? Do you like character building or you mentioned world building. Did the relationship arcs bring you joy? Fleshing out the plot?
Right now I’m actually drafting. I’m writing a book that’s based off of a comic book character. It’s IP work. What that means for those who don’t know; sometimes Marvel or DC or Disney, etc… might approach an author and say, “We want you to write a young adult novel based off of our character.” So they own the IP. You’re just writing a character based off of that. I’m doing that for Valiant Comics, which is a smaller comic book universe.
They have a black character named Livewire, who’s like a technopath. So she controls machinery, basically in technology. They were just like, “Write a young adult story about this.” So I was like, “Okay! Let me do some research on this character and let me go.” I find that the hardest thing, of course, is writing to a deadline. They will give you that deadline and they’ll say, okay. But that is also helpful and positive because I’ve learned how to draft faster.
I think in this drafting process, when things start to come together, and you know the characters well enough that you can just start to have fun with them. That’s the most fun. You’re just writing and the words are coming. You’re not going crazy over I have to hit my word count limit for today. The word count limit is written and surpassed because you’re just having so much fun.
I think when things get a little difficult is when you have to go back and you have to edit. But that’s where the magic comes out in terms of you have this beautiful mess of a first draft and there’s great stuff here. That’s where you can really craft it into something great. That was the same thing with The Bones of Ruin trilogy in terms of when you get in your pocket and you get in your zone and then the hard part when you have to edit it. But that’s when you get a solid final product.
I love that. But I did hear you mention comics. So I want to hear about how you got into comic. Have you always been a comics reader? What’s the deal?
Oh, big comic reader. I grew up with comics, American comics, Japanese comics called manga. I’m really enjoying X-Men 97. It’s like a continuation of the old 90s X-Men.
It’s available now on Disney Plus.
Yes! We need to get the word out because X-Men 97, what I’ve seen is so true, not only to that original show, but also so true to the comics. And I love DC Comics. I’m huge into Bat Family right now.
I would say that DC Comics, maybe comics in general, I think the storylines haven’t been as strong as they used to be, but I don’t really like to get involved in like the debates because I think sometimes debates are taken over by these incel types that are like, “Why are there Black people and women?” I don’t like that. But I love that medium. I love graphic novels. I love anime. I love manga. I love being able to see beautiful art, along with writing.
I’ve just always been a huge geek. So that that’s, that kind of storytelling has often been at the forefront of my mind when I write my stories, which is why even The Bones of Ruin, you can say whatever you want about it, but it still has a lot of X-Men in there.
Yes. Yes! Yes.
Yeah, so that that’s always been a huge inspiration for me.
Okay, that makes sense. So aside from that, what else are you reading? What are you excited about having read when it comes to Black YA authors and Black YA books?
I love that we’re seeing so many more Black YA books coming out and getting their shine.
So like Bethany Baptiste‘s book, The Poisons We Drink. I love Kamilah Cole‘s So Let Them Burn. And I love that she mentioned that I think her inspiration was one of Zendaya’s Met Gala looks because it just shows that you can get inspiration from anywhere, from these visuals, right? These stunning visuals. Ronni Davis just came out with This Night Is Ours.
There are so many great books that have come out that are on my reading list that I haven’t quite read yet. But I have read The Poisons We Drink and I have read So Let Them Burn. I also support Black Canadian works because we’re out here, we’re out here, we’re writing. Louisa Onomé‘s Pride and Joy, which is very much more adult, but it’s kind of multi-generational, (that folllows) a Nigerian family that kind of starts when the matriarch of the family dies. So it’s what happens to the family, and how do they deal with it? It was so real to me, because I was like, okay, now, this is somebody who understands what it means to be African Canadian, specifically, Nigerian Canadian, specifically, and just the various things, the culture. It really spoke to me.
And anything by Liselle Sambury, who’s Caribbean Canadian. She just came out with Tender Beasts. And Delicious Monsters, Blood Like Magic, Blood Like Fate. I just love that we’re out here and we’re getting up there.
How do you refill your creative well, aside from reading, TV and movies?
I think rest is very important. I think rest is so important. I think staying away from social media. Because there are times when sometimes I feel like there’s just too much noise on social media and not just with what’s going on in the world. Because all that, obviously, is very important.
But sometimes, like, there’s so much drama, especially in the YA drama space, there’s always something crazy happening. Sometimes you want to fight with people but it just drains you and it makes you sad. So I’m just gonna disconnect from this. I’m just gonna disconnect and I’m going to exercise, I’m going to go out for walks and get some vitamin D and eat good things, healthy things and just feel good. Feel good again. Health as well. Health of the mind, health of the body and be able to recharge. That’s the only way that you can get through the next book or the next deadline.
As we’re winding down, what are you most proud of having accomplished in the past year?
Oh, in the past year? Well, oh, gosh. I’ve had some academic wins in terms of being renewed as an Assistant Professor. I teach at Lakehead University in Ontario. Usually when you’re an assistant professor, you first get hired, then you have a three year probationary period and then they renew you or they don’t renew you. Based on my CV, they were like, “Yay, we’re renewing you.” It was like unanimous.
Oh, that’s amazing.
I felt really good about that. So next up is tenure. I don’t know when I’m doing that, when I’m going up for that, but we’ll see. That was a big win. I ended up, also based on the work that I did academically, getting what’s called a Merit Award. So that was really cool in terms of just being acknowledged by my faculty and my peers. Then on the creative writing part, in the last year, I finished a trilogy. I finished my second trilogy.
You do need some rest.
You know what, I cried at some point, when I realized that The Bones of Ruin trilogy was finished. It’s out there. I think I’m just gonna make it a habit to like film myself walking into random bookstores, just looking at the full trilogy there, because it was so, so great to see all three books together. The covers are beautiful.
Yes.
She is a Malaysian artist who actually has done work for Percy Jackson. She’s amazing. Her artwork is phenomenal. So I’m so thankful towards her. And there’s a box set now for The Bones of Ruin trilogy.
So I finished my second trilogy. It would be nice if it were to get on the bestseller list but it doesn’t have to. Because there are people out there that are reading it, that are enjoying it, just discovering it, and I finished this thing. I started this trilogy during the pandemic, when my anxiety was through the roof. Even before the pandemic started, I was having problems with anxiety and panic. So I didn’t know how I was going to get this book done. Then the pandemic happened. I was like, “Okay, this is not good. What’s going on?” A family member that I love very dearly also passed. So I was dealing with just a lot of difficult things. The fact that I was able to overcome that, and not only write The Bones of Ruin, but write the whole trilogy as all of these huge life changes were happening. That’s a pat yourself on the back moment for me.
It really is. You did that. Congratulations on all that. That is quite a feat, especially during a pandemic.
Yeah, when I look back on it, there was a time when I had not even written a word of The Bones of Ruin first book. I was crying because I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to get this done. There’s a book called Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont, which is supposed to be a craft book. It’s a nonfiction craft book that just kind of, you know, teaches people how to write. But it’s more about teaching people about the psychological process of writing. It’s very much writing is very much a psychological battle. It is a way that you can, you just got to get the words down, bird by bird, step by step, word, word for word, and that’s it. Now I’m on the other end of it. My trilogy is finished. And I can say, “Yeah, I did that.”
For anybody reading this that is feeling like I was feeling in 2019, 2020… If you’re like, “How am I going to do this?” I just want you to know that it’s absolutely possible. Just drown out the noise and believe in yourself. It’s possible and you can do it.
Someone definitely needs to hear that. I need to hear that. Now I want to end each interview asking people what their favorite word is.
I’ve been oscillating between favorite words. I think my favorite word right now is peace. I think I would love to have inner peace. When you have inner peace, then you can write a book and sell one copy and it won’t matter. You know what I mean? When you have inner peace, all that noise on the internet, people saying this and that and getting you upset won’t matter. But also peace in terms of the world, in terms of I wish very badly that people who are suffering can have peace.
We need to move towards ensuring that people in different parts of the world, people of different identities, different religions, different sexualities, different races, trans, cis, can be at peace. I think people just want to be healthy and happy and live in peace.
That that is the goal.
Peace.
Well, there you have it, everyone. Thank you so much, Sarah, for your time and congratulations on all of your success.
Pre-order The Queen’s Spade by Sarah Raughley today.