Sarah Prineas Interview

1.What inspired you to write The Magic Thief?

I've loved fantasy for a long time and wanted to write a book that had all my favorite fantasy things in it: magic, adventure, wizards, peril, dragons, and...biscuits.



2.How did you start writing?







Some writers start when they're young, but I didn't start until my son was born and he was a baby and I was bored. I started writing fantasy stories, and then novels. That was about ten years ago!



3.What was your favorite part of The Magic Thief: Found?







The moment where Conn finds his locus magicalicus (the stone he needs to do magic) and then...something happens to it (I'm not telling what, because it's a spoiler).



4.What was the hardest part to write in The Magic Thief: Lost?







In some ways, the whole book was hard to write because it's the second book in a trilogy. It had to connect the first and third books and yet stand on its own as a good story. The hardest scene to write was after Conn has blown up his home in a pyrotechnic magic experiment and has to flee the city.



5.What do you wish was different about The Magic Thief?







I wish I'd tightened up the beginning just a little, to get the big story about the attack on the city's magic started sooner. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it.







6.What are your favorite authors/books?







I'm a big fan of JRR Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, and of Laura Ingalls Wilder. My favorite new writers are Ingrid Law, whose book Savvy won a Newbery award, and Greg van Eekhout, whose book Kid vs Squid is a hilarious adventure.



7.If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?





I'd want to have dinner with JRR Tolkien and have a long talk with him about fantasy and how it works to transport readers to other places.



8.If you couldn't be an author, what would you be?





I would be a college professor teaching English literature.



9.Tell us a bit about The Magic Thief: Found?





Sure, I'm glad to! The Magic Thief: Found is the third book in a series. The thief-wizard Conn is trying to find a new locus magicalicus while hiding from the guards who want to throw him out of Wellmet, his city. At the same time, he knows the dread magic, Arhionvar, is readying an attack on Wellmet. Finally he tries a magical finding spell that leads him out of the city, to his locus stone and into further peril and adventures! Also, there are dragons.







10. How many books do you plan on having in the Magic Thief series?







So far I've written four books, but I haven't heard yet from my editor if and when the fourth book, which is called Chimney Swifts, will be published. My next book is a fantasy novel, but not a Magic Thief book. It's about a girl named Fer (short for Jennifer) who goes through a "Way" from our world into a world of magic, danger, and adventure. She has to deal with an evil usurper crow-woman, and she is helped by a tricksy puck named Spook and a horse named Phouka.





If you want to know more about the Magic Thief books: http://www.magicthief.com/

For more about me: http://www.sarah-prineas.com/


Cheers!
SarahP