The Mythic Mic Podcast
Welcome to The Mythic Mic Podcast - a home for readers who dream in magic! Dive into the world of fantasy and romantasy with hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan, writers, storytellers, and book collectors obsessed with epic tales, swoon-worthy tropes, and magical worlds. Join us for deep dives into fantasy books, exclusive author interviews, monthly giveaways, and bookish discussions that will add endless reads to your TBR. Plus, don't miss our "Author's Version" episodes, where we share insider tips and advice to help aspiring authors write their first books! Whether you're a seasoned fantasy reader, a writer dreaming of publishing your own novel, or just discovering the magic, you belong here. Subscribe now and step into the adventure!
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The Mythic Mic Podcast
S.2 Ep. 80: Academic Rivals, Forbidden Curses, and Monster-Filled Woods: Maiga Doocy on Sorcery and Small Magics
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🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where cursed magic, academic rivalries, and enchanted forests collide in one of the most charming fantasy romances you'll read this year.
This week, host Sara Santillan and Mythic Mic Rep Megan sit down with fantasy author Maiga Doocy to discuss her acclaimed debut novel, Sorcery and Small Magics, a whimsical queer fantasy filled with dangerous curses, magical monsters, reluctant allies, and a romance that unfolds one spell at a time.
Maiga shares her journey from writing short stories and participating in Pitch Wars to landing a publishing deal and seeing Sorcery and Small Magics become a stunning special edition beloved by fantasy readers. We also dive into her lifelong love of fantasy, growing up dreaming of magical worlds, and how those early inspirations helped shape the enchanting world of Leo and Grimm.
For readers new to the series, Sorcery and Small Magics follows Leovander Loveage, a chaotic sorcerer with a knack for small magics, and Sebastian Grimm, his studious academic rival. When a forbidden curse binds them together, the two are forced to journey into the mysterious Unquiet Wood in search of a cure. Along the way, they encounter magical creatures, dangerous secrets, and perhaps something neither of them expected: each other.
Maiga also teases what's ahead for Leo and Grimm in the next installment, discusses writing queer fantasy that feels authentic, and shares why writing the story that excites you is always the best path forward.
This episode is perfect for fans of cozy fantasy, queer romance, magical academia, enchanted forests, and stories filled with heart, humor, and a little bit of chaos.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Maiga's path from aspiring writer to published author.
✨ The impact of Pitch Wars and the writing community.
✨ Building the world of Sorcery and Small Magics.
✨ Leovander and Sebastian's complicated rivalry.
✨ Academic rivals, curses, and reluctant alliances.
✨ Writing queer fantasy and authentic representation.
✨ Creating a two-part magic system built on collaboration.
✨ How Dungeons & Dragons inspired parts of the story.
✨ The beautiful FairyLoot edition and special edition publishing.
✨ Why personal stakes can be more powerful than world-ending ones.
✨ What readers can expect from the next book in the trilogy.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Maiga Doocy – @MaigaDoocy
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.
Now, here are your hosts.
SPEAKER_01Welcome everyone to the Mythic Mike podcast. I'm Sarah, and today we have the amazing author, Mega Doosy, author of Sorcerer and Small Magic and the Wild Songs Trilogy. Hello, Mega. Hello. And we have an amazing ref, Megan. Hi, Megan. Hello.
SPEAKER_03Super excited to be here talking about sorcery and small magic and whatever is upcoming in the Wilder Songs trilogy, which listen along. We'll hear about in a few minutes down the road.
SPEAKER_01So before we get into your amazing book and this trilogy, we would like to know more about you. Our listeners love meeting our authors and all the things you guys like to do besides writing, if there is anything besides writing.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Okay. Lordrop time. Yeah, I'm Mega. Um and let's see, I grew up in New England, kind of running around the in the woods a lot and pretending I could do magic. And now that's what I write about characters running around in the woods and doing magic. So that worked out. And when I'm not writing these days, I'm spending a lot of time in my garden, really obsessed with that. I've I've gotten very into growing roses. And other than that, I also just spend a lot of time kind of geeking out over things that I love. I love to read a bunch and I love to watch stuff and just be a fan of other people's work.
SPEAKER_03Your life sounds pretty magical, I have to say. Frolocking in the garden and writing about wizards, that that sounds like most people's dream life, I have to say. I mean, yeah, it has its moments.
SPEAKER_01I have a garden right now, but we've already killed like three of the plants.
SPEAKER_02Huge part of gardening is just, you know, killing an extraordinary number of plants and feeling terrible about it and then trying again. And yeah, like I said, I'm into roses right now and they're so unforgiving. And I'm like, work for me, please. They're like, no, we're gonna die.
SPEAKER_01Last year we like put some carrot seeds in and we're like, we'll see what happens. And then carrots grew, and we're like, we're magicians, and we had a really good garden. But this year, my mom and I both got sick and we were just out for like two weeks and didn't water anything. And then we came back and they were like, it. Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I have um a bunch of wildlife that is currently causing a lot of damage in my garden. So, you know, I woke up this morning and looked out, and there's a deer out there in the garden, and it looks so pretty. But I'm like opening the window and being like, get out of that, get away.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Two years ago, we it was like the middle, it was spring and it has snowed, and my husband left the gate to our backyard open, and I look, and there's a moose in our backyard, and it's so beautiful. My husband's like, There's a moose, there's a moose, and I'm like, but he's eating the crab apple and he's just drawing the tree.
SPEAKER_02And so yeah, totally totally. You know, I I don't think that there was a moment where I really decided, like, ah, this is the life for me. I, you know, as a kid growing up, I think I always liked the idea of being an author, but I I think in my head I kind of decided like that's not very practical. And I had other interests too. I I kind of thought for a long time that I might open a cafe slash bakery. I really loved bake, and so I I spent a lot of time working in places like that and getting that experience. And during the course of that, I kind of decided, like, actually, no, that's not what I want to do. I really enjoyed working in those places, but I was like, I don't want to be the boss of this. It's it's a ton of work, and I think it's just not for me. And once I decided that, it kind of freed up a lot of creative energy. Um, and so I started thinking about writing again more. Um, and I spent a year just uh doing short stories. I did a short story a month for a year, and then um I was like, okay, I want to finish a full-length novel before I turn 30. And so I did that and I ended up entering it into a a mentorship program called Pitch Wars that isn't around anymore, but it was like very big at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was great. So you, you know, you would it was very competitive. There was a lot of people who entered. So I actually I did it one year and I did not get in, and then I did it again the following year, and I was chosen. And so you spend a few months working with, you know, a more experienced writer where I actually had two mentors, and then you're entered into an agent showcase. And that was great. I didn't get an agent out of it, um, but I did make a lot of friends and I learned a lot from doing it. And after that, the book I wrote after that was Sorcery and Small Magics, and uh it just kind of I don't know, it's kind of like pushing a boulder down a hill. You just like gain momentum as you go. So so it wasn't like there was ever one moment where I was like, Yes, publishing, publishing is it. That's when I'm you know, because so much of it is uncertain too. Like you're like, I kind of want to do this, but you don't know what's gonna happen. Getting an agent is really difficult, and then after that, getting your book published is really difficult. So it just kind of things just fell into place over time, and here I am.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, here you are with us talking about an amazing novel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And so sad that Pitch Wars doesn't exist. My co-host and I are both writing our our debut novels, and we would love to be able to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it was it was so good for so many reasons. Like one being obviously just the experience of having somebody who has more experience than you, like, you know, take a look at your work. But also, writing is such a solitary experience a lot of the time. And I didn't have at the time any other friends who were writers. And, you know, I'm not terribly outgoing in terms of just, you know, getting onto social media and getting out there and making a bunch of friends that way. So it was really nice to have the um, you know, the structure of like, okay, we're all doing the same thing, you know, it it's a gathering place and I end up making a lot of friends doing that. And if I hadn't done that, like I don't know, like it it can be really hard to meet people. And so just having that support system was really nice.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it's a good call to like even if the first big thing you try where you know you're you're getting exposure, even if it doesn't work, you keep going because, like you said, you you didn't, and that wasn't the thing that launched your career. But if you hadn't done that, would you be where you are today? Who knows? But I think that's a good message for aspiring authors that you know, just because you you don't slam dunk the first chance you get, that's okay. Keep going.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I was entering into pitch wars, like a lot of people would post their their own pitchforce experience, right? Like every year when you're gearing up to enter, all the people who had done it before would have their blog posts of like, this is what it was like for me. And there was a I remember reading a bunch of people's posts that were basically like, hey, doing pitch wars didn't get me an agent. But my second, you know, like the book I wrote after did. And, you know, of course, at the time you're like, no, that's not gonna be me. Like, I'm I'm gonna do it. Like you you can't you have to go all in, right? Like you kind of have to think that it's gonna work for you. But that is indeed what happened for me too.
SPEAKER_01Wow. So what kind of pulled you into writing fantasy and like whimsical magical stories?
SPEAKER_02I I've always loved fantasy. Like since I was a kid, I loved reading fantasy. And I was always kind of daydreaming about some sort of portal fantasy situation for myself, you know, like like Narnia's the ideal. Like I I wanted uh, you know, I wanted a magical wardrobe that I could find that I could just step into a magical land. And the, you know, the best version of that that I could find was was escaping into books. And, you know, I was a voracious reader from a pretty young age, and just storytelling just captivated me. And and eventually, like I think I was just pulled towards doing that myself. You know, I I loved, I think my first, my first some of the early fantasies that just really stole my heart were like all the Tamara Pierce series and um you know, Diana Wynne Jones. I loved Red Wall as a kid. I loved Red Wall.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I forgot about that one. Yeah. Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I was after that, I anything with a sword on the cover, I was just like, yes, I want, I want that. So yeah, I just I just wanted to spend all of my time in fantasy worlds.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um and then eventually I wanted to create my own.
SPEAKER_01I love MM. But it's funny because I didn't actually discover MM through like books. I discovered it through like manga and manwa, um, because they have a lot of like BL and things like that. And then I found MM in books and I was like, this is a whole new world. I just love the genre. I like what authors can do with their characters and how they show love and how they show authenticity towards the characters and the story and the representation. How, what kind of advice would you give other authors who are wanting to be able to write in this genre, write MM or or otherwise and be authentic to themselves, the voice and the community in which they represent?
SPEAKER_02Ooh, um, well, I mean, my first bit of advice for anyone looking to write anything is just to read. Like, you know, read widely read in the genre that you're looking to write in, read just anything that catches your interest. Like, I think that that's the best thing you can do. And so if you're looking to write queer stories, like there's a lot of really great queer stories out there that you can read. If you're looking to write specifically MM, like you should probably find some books written by men to read too. So always just reading. And I'm trying to think of like what other advice I think like writing the story that you're just drawn to write is is gonna be always how the best stories get written, right? Like you have to feel that spark and that pull towards the story that you want to tell rather than trying to write to market or you know, fit into somebody else's ideas of what you should be writing. And that's how you get the most genuine story and something that you can feel genuinely excited about yourself, and that's what people are gonna connect with. You can't write for everyone, right? Like you have to be okay with that, I think, and let the readers who are looking for what you have to say find you, find your book.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I I find that a lot of authors give that advice. Write the story that you want to read, the one that you want to tell, and then your community will find you. Not a story for the community, because you know, it may not be as authentic to you and your boy. So maybe relate to that authenticity.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, everyone's unique and at the same time, like something that is really personal to you is probably also going to be something that someone somewhere feels that connection to. Um so it can be very unifying.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah. I have found that I wasn't exposed to a lot of like sapphic romance growing up. Everything was very heterosexual. So when I first started reading my first Sapphic romance, I was like, I feel so sane.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's that's the nice thing. Like I I growing up, I remember it was um I was always seeking out queer books, but it was much more of like, you know, me in the bookstore reading back cover copy, being like, does this seem vaguely queer? Like versus versus now, um, you know, you can it's really easy to find lists of recommendations. Um there's so many queer books being published. And not that it's always easy, right? Like there is a lot, there's still pushback, but but there also definitely is an audience for it. And it's so nice that it's easier for those books to be found. Um and like I said, I feel like really proud and excited to have my book be a part of that. So yeah. More of that.
SPEAKER_03And it's nice that it's exposed to people who might not have gone looking for that genre, but they found it anyway because it was recommended to them by someone or similar to something they liked, and now they've been exposed to a whole new genre of reading that, you know, that has opened up some some new doors and some new worlds for them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hopefully. I mean, I think not just in this area, but like there's so much you can discover about yourself through reading, through stepping into other worlds, other other ways of being. And sometimes you find yourself connecting when you didn't expect to. That's the wonderful thing about books, right? Is if we can just like really like let go and immerse ourselves in somebody else's words, then you can really you can learn more about yourself too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And you were just talking about, you know, not being able to find uh, you know, some of these genres in when you were younger or looking for it and and not having them be accessible. If you could go back and give that younger version of you a piece of advice, what piece of advice would you give her?
SPEAKER_02A piece of advice like for for myself as a reader or like just myself as a writer, or either one.
SPEAKER_03Take it any way you like.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think what piece of advice would you give your younger writer self, right? And for a long time I wasn't sure what it would be. But I think now I would say that all of the craft books and advice in the world won't help you if you don't have something to apply them to. You know, I think I for a long time really wanted to find a roadmap, right? But but the best way to get someplace with writing is to just go. And once you do that, once you're writing things, once you're finishing things, then you have a frame of reference for all of the lovely craft books and advice that you might be hearing. And for me, they click into place, clicked into place like a in a completely different way once I had actually done more for myself.
SPEAKER_01Well wow, I love that. I I we hear a lot of advice is like there has to be a story to exist.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah, that's the tricky part. Like, you know, you can't you can't edit a blank page. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And I don't know why, but the first draft is the hardest. I I think you just get in your head and you know the first draft is so bad, and you're like, I can't write. And you you forget that it's it's gonna be bad. It's the first draft.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I think, and it's at least for me anyway, it's it's like it gets worse the more experience you get because you are quicker to recognize the flaws and you're a little less swept away and like, yeah, it's gonna be great. Like you, you you see, you see the mistakes faster, but you still can't do anything about them right away. And so you kind of just have to slog through it, which is difficult for me. I'm definitely perfectionist. I'm like, no, it's bad. I want to fix it, but you you have to just get through it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which I wish Bethany was here. My co-host has spent 12 years on her story. She I was I keep telling her, let someone else read it. You're just too close to it now.
SPEAKER_02You need to let me Yeah, yeah, there is that certain point where you have to decide to um, you know, like let it go a little bit, which is really difficult and scary. But I remember, you know, when I was letting people read things for the first time, it's it's so nerve-wracking, but there's also so much to be gained there.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, 100%, 100%. Well, our listeners are super excited to hear about your fairy loot edition. I want to know how did that happen? Like, how did you make this a beautiful book happen?
SPEAKER_02How it happened is had very little to do with me, really. I was, you know, hoping maybe it would get picked for a book box, but my UK editor sent me an email basically being like, hey, it's been I pitched it and it's been chosen for the October 2024 adult book book box, and I was delighted with that. And then this was only probably like a month or two after I'd gotten my deal with Orbit. So then I had to keep it a secret for well over a year as I was seeing all of this gorgeous art and you know the what the cover was gonna look like and working on the there's an annotated chapter in the back. And while I was doing all of that, you know, I couldn't couldn't say anything about it, but it was really fun and I'm so happy with how it came out. They did a lovely job. It's stunning.
SPEAKER_03But I think this like these end pages here, like they've got to be some of the most beautiful end pages I have ever seen. So they did absolutely fantastic work with your with your novel.
SPEAKER_02I mean, obviously I'm biased. Um I yeah, I think that they're I think that they're really great, but yeah, the foiling on them is is beautiful and and uh the reverse cover is great too. And yeah, so that was very exciting and like a a huge, a huge win. I felt really, really lucky that that happened.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I mean, and it was so quick too. You know, you got your deal and then you got the email that you're gonna be in a book box and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm really glad actually that I like I didn't know anything was happening with it until my editor was just like, hey, this happened and you're in. So that I wasn't I didn't know that I had to be worrying about like, oh, they're reading it and are they gonna pick it. It was just like after it was already a done deal, and I just got to be happy about it before I even knew anything was happening.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, well let's um let's dive into this book. So for the people who either have read it or it's on their to be read list, um, let's talk about it. So for people who who maybe haven't read Sorcery and Small Magics yet, let's just maybe give them a rundown of what it's about and what they should expect with the book.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um sorcery and small magics is um the story of Leah Vanderlovage, who is a somewhat hapless sorcerer who specializes in small magics, and it's also about his rival of sorts, Sebastian Grimm, who's kind of Leo's opposite in every way. He's very studious and driven, and Leo is not. Um and the story kicks off when, uh, due to a series of mishaps, Leo becomes bound by a curse to Grimm, and the two of them reluctantly join forces to uh go on a quest to a magical wood looking for a counter spell and uh encounter all sorts of monsters and interesting people along the way and also have to learn to work together.
SPEAKER_01Very cool. What do you think is driving them as they're going through this journey to break this, break this curse? To break the curse.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, so so in this world, the the curse that has happened uh that they've that Grimm has accidentally cast on Leo is forbidden, right? So at first they're very driven just to get rid of it before anybody knows what's happened, right? Like they could both get in a lot of trouble, and that's that's the driving force of like why Grimm agrees to work with Leo on this, right? Because he's a very by the books character. He's worried about getting in trouble, he's worried about what this could mean for his career. They're they're in the fount, which is kind of like magical college, right? They're they're in their early 20s and he sees this whole big future laid out for himself versus Leo is much more he is kind of aimless at the start of the book. He's at the fount because he he needs to finish his time there to get his inheritance. So he it's important to him also that they don't get in trouble for that reason. But other than that, he's not too worried about uh excelling. Um and that's another point of contention for them, like the the different way they see things and they butt heads over it a lot. They've been at odds for years.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, very much a case of opposites attract when opposites have to work together under cursed circumstances, I suppose you could say.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. They, you know, I it was really important to me to um, you know, I kind of love anything other under the enemies to lovers umbrella. And I I won't say that they're true enemies, right? Like they don't want to kill each other or anything like that, but they have years worth of animosity under their belts. Yeah, yeah. I guess I feel like rivals sometimes isn't even the right term either, because right, like Leo's not trying to compete with Grim, right? Like he's just like, I'm getting through this and then I'm out. Like he's he's not, you know, they're not in the running for the same things, but but it's close, right? That's it's that energy. They like to needle each other. And yeah, so so they they have they have a lot to work through over the course of the book because they come from this background of, you know, really not getting along. And it was important for me that it that it truly felt like at the book, when the book starts, they're they're quite at odds, and it takes a while to kind of unwrap the reasons for that and also for them to see each other in a begin to see each other in a different light.
SPEAKER_03What do you think, you know, what's gonna make readers connect with these two different characters and what are they gonna connect most with about their unique personalities? Well So I love, like you said, the sort of opposites attract thing, right?
SPEAKER_02Like you have two characters who are uh at different ends of the spectrum. Uh so but I think that there is something for people to connect with, hopefully, in each of them. You know, Leo, you have kind of this more free-spirited, chaotic character. He's and he's the he's the viewpoint character, right? He's narrating the story, he's telling it. And so you you get a lot of Leo. This is this is the Leo show. And people will either like that or not. He he can be a little, a little abrasive, like a little, a little bit too much sometimes. Um and some of that I think is intentional on his part. Uh he he's this sort of larger than life character and you know, likes to talk a lot to conceal certain things. Um, there's a lot going on under the surface there. Um, and then with Grimm, you have someone who has a much more rigid way of thinking of things. They have a very different background, too. You know, Leo comes from a wealthy background and Grimm does not. And that's another area where they clash a lot of times because Grimm feels that Leo is just coasting through life without making an effort versus he's really had to try very hard to be where he is. And so yeah, there's there's a lot to connect with, I think, in that they are so different, right? If you don't you don't connect with Leo, maybe there's something about Grimm that you find like, oh yeah, that really resonates and vice versa. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I think everyone's met someone who's a little like Leo or a little like Grimm, you know, in one way or another. And so I think people people will find that connection either with themselves or with someone they've met. There there are certainly some commonalities with with people we know, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So you said your book has more personal stakes rather than like world-ending stakes. Can you talk on that a little bit? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I mean if if Leo and Grimm don't unravel this curse, right? If they don't get rid of it, then the world doesn't end. But I still I like to say personal stakes rather than low stakes because things would go very badly for for them, for particularly for Leo, as this curse kind of erodes his autonomy. And if they can't find a way to undo it, that would be really, really terrible for him. So I I like you know I like the humor in the book and I like to keep things light and very character driven, but I don't ever want it feeling too safe either, right? Like there are strong personal stakes involved in this story. And hopefully you feel that urgency from both of them, particularly as the book goes on and the curse kind of worsens and and becomes you know more of a problem for them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And let's talk a bit about like the curse and the magic systems in this book. So I loved how there was kind of two different, I don't want to say fields of magic, we'll call them pillars of magic and they kind of are reliant on each other in order to to progress into function. Can you explain how this magic system works for readers who who haven't read the book yet?
SPEAKER_02Yeah so in this book you have scribers who write the magic they write spells and casters who cast it and these are kind of innate abilities and you need both to make magic work right so it it nicely underscores the need for them to work together because Leo is a scriber he can write spells and Grimm is a caster. So you know the the magic system is reinforcing the theme of the book that they need to find a way to to work together for for their magic to work for for them to succeed in this quest and and yeah it's it's nice to have a two-part magic system. When I first started writing the book I didn't um that kind of came about over the course of of writing and kind of figuring out what would work best for the story. And once I had that idea a lot of stuff really fell into place and it really helped with the world building and I think with magic systems I I like magic systems that still feel magicy, right? Like that the the there aren't so many rules that it loses that whimsical feel but I do think it is nice to have some rules because it makes it feel grounded and also when you have rules you can kind of know what rules you want to maybe try and break and what the consequences are for that too right like there's moments in the book where Leo does try and cast. He can cast a little bit right but there are consequences and it just you know it adds a little more depth.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I agree a good magic system needs rules. The whole magic means I can do anything to anybody with no consequences and there's no guidelines like that's that's not magic. That's just imagination at this point.
SPEAKER_01I love that he's like it's not magic it's imagination. I like to find you know a healthy in between yeah so our listeners have a question for you and they want to know how you came up with the name Leo Vander Love It.
SPEAKER_02Oh gosh I wish I had a better answer for this I'm such a vibes namer. I don't even entirely remember how I came up with it. I had Grimm's name first. Sebastian Grimm was there like I think like really early on in the concept because I've I've had this I think I mentioned I had this idea for like a really really long time before I actually sat down to write it for real. And Leo was always Leo but I didn't have a full name for him until much later later in the process. And I think when it came time for that I was like okay I need what is Leo short for and I wanted something that kind of felt like it matched well with the name Sebastian Grimm and I was like well I don't I don't want it to be like I know I don't want it to be Leonardo or like any of the familiar names. So I was just kind of playing around with different versions that it could be and when I hit on Leah Vander I was like oh yeah that sounds good and I like the alliteration of Leavanderlovidge and so once I once I had that I was like yes that's it. So but he was always Leo that was that was there earlier and then I just had to expand it to something a little fancier that felt suitable for his character great because he has some flair. Yeah and that felt right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah and way better than Leonardo so good call good call. Yeah so Leo and Grimm uh they go on a on a magical journey and they have to go through a magical forest um and they encounter some interesting creatures and interesting people along the way. Without giving away spoilers or ruining the plot um can you talk a little about some of the creatures and people that they meet on their on their journey to break this this purse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I love writing monsters turns out there's a lot of monsters in this book. I had a lot of fun writing those and coming up with different versions they there's a lot of them that live in the unquiet wood which is the wood where they have to journey through and that's something that you know just felt really fun for me. I I play a lot of DD and you know when I'm playing a lot of times I want to make friends with the monsters which you can't always do but I I played with that a little bit in the book too of like yes they're kind of terrifying but they're also really interesting and sometimes beautiful and have their own their own magic going on. So there's a lot of monsters and also one of my like probably my favorite side character in the book is Sibylla who is this mysterious sorcerer who lives in the woods that they meet and with her I wanted to play around with that archetype right you see a lot of you see a lot of male sorcerers who live in their mysterious towers and uh get to do cool stuff and I I wanted to create an answer for that with with Sybilla and she ended up being one of my favorite characters. It took a while for her to fully form there was a lot of revision there in that process and there was actually like a lot more to her story at first that didn't quite fit. So I'm really happy with how that came out in the final version. Didn't quite fit does that mean later maybe it it will fit somewhere? I don't know I think that there was just there was a lot of a backstory I I think generally with first drafts my first drafts are really bloated and there's a lot of information that doesn't actually need to be there. So that was certainly the case with Sabilla's part in the story where like I had this whole convoluted backstory and then I was like you know what she doesn't she doesn't need that she can just be this cool person. Yeah. It's kind of mysterious and we don't yeah we don't need to explain everything about her she's actually cooler if we don't know all of that. So so who knows if it'll be used in any way but but it it didn't it wasn't necessary for this one.
SPEAKER_01I I just wanted to speak on your monster writing I love monsters myself and also DD you're the third DD author we've had in the last in this week week.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah well it's it's super fun and creative and yeah I think there's probably a lot of authors who are playing DD a lot of people in general who are getting into DD now it's kind of exploding in popularity but yeah I've been playing for like almost 10 years now and it's been great and it's it's helped my writing a lot too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah they they've all said the same thing. I also well I we had a campaign in COVID and we're all doing a campaign my husband and my family and now we're trying to get another one but we're looking for a DM but it does it's like something about because you're storytelling the entire time that you're playing essentially and you're working out these characters and I'd love for you to speak like what class are you like you know what's your currently I'm playing a paladin we've had a bunch of different campaigns over these past almost 10 years.
SPEAKER_02So currently I'm playing a Pally I think my favorite character that I played was a Ranger Rogue, a gloomstalker character and I could, you know, one-shot people from really really far away with my crossbow and just do all sorts of cool you know tricks and I had you know boots of spider climbing and you know I could walk on walls and it was definitely a badass character. So that was really fun but I've also played a barbarian I've played a ro I'm not a a a bard sorry actually I playing a bard was part of my inspiration for Leo who is this very bardic type character I'd I'd played a bard shortly before I started writing the book and felt like I hadn't quite I was so excited to play a bard and then I feel like I just didn't quite nail it I couldn't think fast enough on my feet to like pull off the sort of fancy bard moves. And um and so you know I I put some of that energy into my book and nailed it in the book.
SPEAKER_03It it comes off very clearly I'm glad that is so cool.
SPEAKER_01I've if you could do a book for your monsters would you like show everyone your monsters like like a like a picture book or something like a guide to the monsters or something.
SPEAKER_02That would be very cool. Yeah like that would be that would be really really fun to do.
SPEAKER_01Nice what was a like a difficult moment or a s a scene that was hard for you to write in your book because I feel like the authors we talked to there's always like a little bit of something that just like just drove them nuts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I mean hard to narrow it down honestly drafting is really tough for me. I think I think for sorcery and small magics there were two two things in particular that stand out. There was a there was a lot of moments where I was you know banging my head against a wall but but now that I've had some time away from it two that stick out is one in the beginning I just there was this part where they were you know trying to uh research ways to undo the curse and they were spending all this time in the library and I just could not get them out of the library. They were stuck there for so long and it was just endless. So eventually that a lot of that got edited down and I was like wait this this can be a summary. They don't actually have to be there you be here this long. So that was tough. And then also at the end I I had this whole big ending planned kind of from the beginning was very dramatic and kind of dirt and I wrote it and then I couldn't quite wrap up the book from there. Like I felt like something hadn't quite clicked and I was like I wrote this ending and it's not fitting with the rest of the book that I wrote. So I ended up going back to the beginning and starting revision and just revised up to the ending at least once, maybe twice before the big climactic scene that's actually in the book came to me. And once once it did, then I actually wrote it very easily like one of those rare magical times where the whole scene just kind of flowed out of me and it's actually quite close to what was in the final version of the book. But it took a really long time getting there and a lot of failed versions.
SPEAKER_03Well the ending in it is perfect I have to say so whatever the original one was you nailed it with this one. What are you hoping I'm glad what when readers get to that ending, when they close the final pages of your book, what what are you hoping lingers with them or what are you hoping they take away? Oh gosh I mean I hope that I hope that they want more, right?
SPEAKER_02Like it's the first book in a trilogy so first of all I hope that people people are excited for more and I hope that I hope that it's a book that people enjoy revisiting. You know that that the magic and whimsy works well enough that people want to go back and read it again. I know that I love rereading books. And so I tried to fold a lot of little pieces in there for people who like to reread little tidbits that maybe you're not going to catch on the first time through but that on revisiting you'll it'll it'll make a different sort of sense. So I definitely I think that would be the dream for me, right? That people enjoyed it enough to want to stay in that world and want more and also want to relive the first one again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that's beautiful absolutely well since we're talking about this world and the continuation of this story can you tell us what we're going to expect in the second book?
SPEAKER_02Do the states get higher Yeah let's see I the states do get a little higher actually I think they're you know it's still a very character driven book but there's a little more at stake should Leo and Grimm fail in their quest at the second in the second book. I can't say too much more than that because there's nothing official out yet like we don't have an official summary out yet or release date even there's a first draft finished but I don't know what's going to change in edits so I'm always hesitant to say too much but you know it exists. I'm working on it and I'm hoping to up the ante a little bit in book two in terms of opening up the world a little bit you see you see Leo and Grimm in you know a different different setting doing different stuff. So it should be fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah well we're super super excited for it. So you've got this trilogy and you've got the first draft you finished what's down the road for you? Do you have any kind of future books that you're already thinking of writing or other other trilogies other books that you want to uh give our give our readers and listeners a sneak preview of or let them know what's coming?
SPEAKER_02I always have things on the back burner in my mind but I'm really like I'm so immersed in Leon Grimm's story and because you know I still have a whole other book to write I'm really I'm I know a lot of people can work on multiple projects and I thus far have not been able to swing that. I'm kind of just thinking about them 247. I'm so in that world and maybe that'll change at some point and I'll be able to multitask like that. But for right now I'm I'm in it with them. So I I do have other ideas but I also don't know what I'll be in the mood to write when I'm finished with with this trilogy. And they're not very fleshed out ideas yet they're they're still they've been simmering there they'll be simmering for a while more and I'll just have to see when I'm finally you know when I finally write the end on the third book what I feel drawn towards. Maybe it'll be and maybe I'll have an idea between now and then that's something completely different too. Who knows?
SPEAKER_01Well yeah I I cannot think of anything else but the book I'm writing right now. My friend Bethany and I were both kind of like this is our hyperfixation for the rest of our lives.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah that's how I feel like like I just I don't have room in my head for it. I I wish I could task switch like that. It would be helpful but I'm you know I'll be walking around you know doing the dishes in the garden and I've just got scenes playing like a little movie in my head of different versions of things that I'm working on with with you know Leo's story still.
SPEAKER_01Well we're super excited for book two whenever you know that gets out there we can't wait.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_01But are you ready for some rapid fire questions?
SPEAKER_02Okay yes let's do it which character would secretly binge the most trashy reality TV secretly binge I think probably Grim probably Grim I don't know that Leo could sit still long enough to actually binge a show so so we'll go with Grimbounce it all over yeah if you could do magic what sort of spell would you want to cast I would want to fly I've always wanted to fly like ever since I was a little kid I would have these vivid flying dreams where I would wake up and I would be convinced that like I I can figure this out so that's always stuck with me. So yeah I would probably want to figure out some way to make that happen.
SPEAKER_03If you had to describe your book in three words what maybe music magic monsters ooh and an alliteration love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah always the contentious question who is your favorite book boyfriend oh jeez this is hard this is hard because I feel like I'm just usually so involved in shipping characters within the book that I don't stop and think about who I actually like. You know I've really been loving the witch hat Atelier manga recently and I love Alrugio he seems like he would be a really good book boyfriend. Sarah is your people yeah he's the best you know he he like cares so much about the comfort of the people around him like making them snug stones and like he's he's great.
SPEAKER_01Yes we always call uh keepery and we're like oh it's mommy and daddy and they're yeah yeah they've got some issues to work out but they're always fighting but they love their children.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah I love I'm I'm loving I'm watching I'm watching the anime but I've I'm also reading the manga not I haven't read all the available books yet but I just got 11 and 12 so I'm excited to dive in.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait to you read them yeah it gets it gets crazy but anyways okay last you've talked about this if you were a bard how are your singing skills my singing skills are okay I used to do like chorale and I was I did musical theater as a teenager.
SPEAKER_02So not that I you know I was never like the lead or anything but I did I did voice lessons and so it would probably some of it would probably I'm rusty but it would probably come back to me. I don't play any instruments though so I have to step up my game in that area.
SPEAKER_03Or we gotta find you your uh your musical accompaniment to come with you and just walk behind you strumming that luoch as you as you sing away. Perfect. Yes exactly so where can all of our listeners find your book and find you um on social media, the internet or at events?
SPEAKER_02Yeah so the best way to stay up to date on any news that I have is my newsletter which uh there's a sign up for on my website megaducy.com and then I'm also on Instagram at MegaDuicy and I, you know I put I haven't posted there in a little while but I am there.
SPEAKER_03Wonderful. Where can they buy your lovely book?
SPEAKER_02I mean anywhere books are sold pretty much it's out and hopefully I'll have some more news about book two soon.
SPEAKER_01Wonderful. Well thank you so much Mega for coming on and telling us all about your book and all about your DD adventures. Thank you so much for having me. This is delightful. And thank you Megan I always love having you as my co host happy to be here wouldn't miss this opportunity well thank you everyone so much for listening and we'll see you guys again next time.
SPEAKER_00Bye that's it for this after the mythic mic podcast subscribe