The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer

Guest: Tricia Levenseller - Blade of Secrets

May 10, 2021 Marissa Meyer Season 2021 Episode 66
The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer
Guest: Tricia Levenseller - Blade of Secrets
Show Notes Transcript

For our first live-recorded event, Marissa joins Tricia Levenseller for the launch of her new YA fantasy novel - BLADE OF SECRETS. Topics include: developing a protagonist with social anxiety, and how we put so much of ourselves into our characters; drawing on popular epic fantasy tropes while maintaining a fun, light-hearted vibe; some tips for writing those oh-so-popular hate-to-love romances; and Tricia's technique for ensuring that every scene is fun for her to write (and therefore fun to read). Plus: some bonus questions from the audience! Many thanks to Best of Books and Macmillan Children's for inviting us to co-host this event.

Books discussed in this episode can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or buy them online from the Happy Writer bookshop.org store (that benefits indie bookstores) at https://bookshop.org/shop/marissameyer

Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/

Speaker 1:

Hello, and welcome to the happy writer. This is a podcast that aims to bring readers, more books, to enjoy and to help authors find more joy in their writing. I'm your host Murcia. Myra, thank you so much for joining me. We have a bit of a special episode today because last week I was invited to join the fantastic Trisha 11 seller for the virtual launch event of her new novel blade of secrets. The event was co-hosted by best of books in Oklahoma city and the happy writer podcast. And we had so much fun doing it. Thanks everyone who joined us for the live event. And for those of you who couldn't make it, I hope that you will enjoy listening to this recording.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible]

Speaker 3:

Thank you everyone for coming. Um, we are celebrating the launch of blade of secrets, which you can purchase on best of books, website, if you would like to tonight. And haven't already, I put the link in the chat, speaking of the chats, um, we are going to be having a Q and a session at the end when Marissa and Tricia are done chatting together. So if you have a question, please enter that into the chat at any time tonight, and we will answer your questions. So without further ado, let's get this party started, we're dancing. And, uh, first we I'm going to introduce our amazing, um, I just lost my word. I want to say coordinator, but that's not the right word, moderator Marissa Meyer. She is the number one, your times, best selling author of the lunar Chronicles, heartless they're renegades, trilogy, and instant karma, as well as the graphic novel duology wires and nerve. Um, she is also the host of the happy writer podcast, which if you hadn't seen the, um, the little marketing stuff that we've had on Instagram, on our page and on their pages, we are recording that tonight. So if you put a question in the chat and they answer it, it's going to be answered on a podcast. That's so exciting. So I'm going to pass this off to the wonderful Marissa, uh, for the rest of the evening. Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here.

Speaker 1:

Yay. Thank you so much. I am super excited to be here. I was so, so thrilled to be asked to participate in tonight's event. Uh, as you heard, I'm Marissa Meyer. I am an author and I am also the host of the happy writer podcast. Uh, if you are not familiar with the podcast, it is a series of conversations between myself and other writers in which we talk about, uh, everything from writing craft to publishing to our personal writing journeys. Um, and we talk a lot about how we can kind of maintain this sense of joy in our writing and in our process. Um, and we've had a lot of really amazing guests. I invite you to check it out. Uh, it is available wherever you get your podcasts, or you can listen on my website@marissameyer.com and as you heard, tonight's event is being recorded. So if you just really love listening to me and Tricia, and you want to hear it all again, it will be available on Monday morning as well. Um, so I hope that you will check it out. We're super, super honored to be co-hosting tonight's event. And on that note, let's welcome. Tonight's guest of honor, she's the author of the daughter of the pirate King duology warrior of the wild and the shadows between us, her newest young adult fantasy blade of secrets just came out this week. It is phenomenal. I loved it. I can't wait to talk about it. Please. Welcome Tricia 11 seller. Hey everyone. Thanks so much for coming out.

Speaker 3:

I thank you for that intro, Marissa. I feel more important than I am.

Speaker 1:

[inaudible] how are you feeling? Ah, I'm actually really nervous. I haven't been

Speaker 3:

For any of my events this, uh, this year so far, but this one I'm like, I feel like this is my big boom for blade of secrets, you know, and it's, it's virtual and it's a little scary and you're here and it's anyway. It's great. It's great. Great. I am a very, a very intimidating person clearly.

Speaker 1:

Um, so Trisha on the happy writer podcast, it is tradition to start each episode by talking about one thing that is making me happy. Uh, and tonight it is probably not too surprising, but I am just so happy to be here when, uh, the publicist contacted me and asked if I would do this event with you. It was like a screaming. Yes. I love her books. I would love to do. Um, so you go, what is making you happy this week?

Speaker 3:

Um, I'm happy to have five books out in the world. It seems so surreal to say that, right? Like that's such a big number as far as, as far as books go, you know? And, um, I don't know. I just, you get this idea of what being an author is like right before you're published and everything. And then all of a sudden you're like, I'm this many books out and it's, it's so surreal. And anyway, I'm just, I'm just in that very like odd moment right now and, and trying to process that, but I'm excited. I'm nervous, but I'm also very happy. I know exactly

Speaker 1:

What you mean. The, the surreal vibe never seems to go away. Like the stack of books just gets taller and taller and it's every month you're like, when did I do all of that?

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh. I know. Right. There's a lot of work in here, but like it's in the past now and it's weird and it's yeah, there is. And there's always so much more to do.

Speaker 1:

I know which yay. More bucks. Yes. Very exciting. You have to be this like strange amnesia factor that like, you don't remember how hard it was when the book is done and then you go on and you're like, Oh, I remember you on that note, book number five blade of secrets is out. Congratulations. Why don't you tell everyone what is blade have secrets about?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So blade up secrets is the start of a new duology and it follows a teenage blacksmith with social anxiety who can forge magical weapons. And, uh, one day she builds this all powerful sword and a warlord finds out about it and wants to get her hands on it. And so, uh, zebra, our blacksmith has to take her sister in the sword and go on the run and protect it from this evil warlord intent tent on world domination

Speaker 1:

And hilarity ensues and drama. And, um, so I'll just start off with like the question, of course, that always comes up. Everybody always wants to know where the ideas come from. What was the inspiration for this book?

Speaker 3:

Sure. Um, so I actually have a very clear story for this. So I, uh, I was sitting in a theater watching Avengers, infinity war. Okay. Have you seen infinity war? So I was sitting there and all of a sudden Peter Dinklage, his character comes on is like the giant Wharf, you know, and he's getting ready to like forge Thor's new hammer and I'm sitting there and I'm like, Oh my gosh, a blacksmith who makes magical weapons, what an interesting concept. And then it was like, well, why don't you write that story? But with girls, because you know, I'm all about the lady action adventure. So, um, the Genesis of the idea happened there and I just sort of took it and made it my own and created this whole story out of, out of that from sitting in the movie theater. So I get a lot inspiration from other stories. Um, and, uh, yeah, that one was very clear. It was definitely from a bidding war.

Speaker 1:

I love that because I feel that most of my books, like I can go back to like that specific moment of like the idea, this is what started it. And then it grew and blossomed into you. Do you not have that with most of your previous? Is this the first one where you're like, this was the moment?

Speaker 3:

This is the one that I think it was the most clear. Um, I wrote like daughter, the poet came cause I loved pirates of the Caribbean and I wanted pirate books like that, but I couldn't find them on the shelf. So that was kind of a, I can't find this, so I need to create it moment. Um, but this was probably the first one where it was like, you know, that's the idea. There it is right there. And I just had a moment, like I had a hard time focusing on the movie for a bit, cause my mind's like, no, but our book

Speaker 1:

I'm distracting you. I have other,

Speaker 3:

It's a good movie. No, I was loving it, but I was also like, I think I went home and immediately I was like, okay, let's think about this because this is really cool. Yeah,

Speaker 1:

It is. It's a great premise and I love Ziva so much. She is, You know, I feel like a lot of times, um, with female protagonists in the fantasy genre, like there's this expectation of them being really tough and being able to fight and be strong and brave. And she is all of those things, but she's so layered, you know, the, the devotion that she has with her sister, that there's wonderful relationship between the two sisters. Um, and also the social anxiety aspect. Like there are so many moments where like, yes, there's outside forces working against them, but in so many ways, Ziva is almost like her worst enemy, like conquering her own insecurities is such a huge part of the story. Uh, so tell me about like what, what inspired that, where did her character come from?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So, um, a lot of people are surprised to hear this, but I actually also have social anxiety. Uh, I can be pretty good at hiding it. I think sometimes those of us with social anxiety don't want other people to know because then people might start to like look for things from us or whatever. Um, but I just started thinking about, um, I, I don't know if you do this, but whatever. I set out to write a new protagonist, I'm like, okay, how can I make this girl down front? How stand out from all the protagonists I've written so far, I have this horrible fear because I write in first person point of view, all my books have been so far. I have this fear that my characters are gonna read the same. Um, so I'm like, how can I make her super different? How can I make her voice feel different? Um, and then it just occurred to me, like, why don't you put a little bit more of yourself in it? Um, we don't see very much, um, neurodiversity and fantasy, especially. Uh, and I thought, well, I grew up with social anxiety. I still have social anxiety, but during my teen years and college years, it was especially bad. Uh, why don't you write a story about a girl who has that too? Um, and at first, uh, I was very terrified by this idea because people kind of a look into my head and the way I think, and the way I process the world. Um, and at the same time I thought, would anybody even read this? Like, who cares? Like how could I make this interesting enough for somebody to care about? Um, but I decided to be brave and I pitched the concept to my editor and she was instantly like, yes, that sounds great. Let's do it. So it took a few tries to get the plot just right. But once I had that concept, um, my editor was super on board and we just worked a little bit to get the plot where it was. But, um, then I started writing, um, once the book was under contract. Right. And, uh, it became really scary because to get in the mindset of where Ziva is, I kind of had to go back in time to my worst days, suffering from social anxiety. And it kind of took me back a little bit to when I was like the most scared. And it made me more anxious as a result. I had to actually ask for an extension on this book just because I was like, I'm just doing it, Holly. It's freaking me out. I just need some time. Um, but I am really proud of how it turned out and I'm so glad that I stuck it out because I feel like, uh, diversity is so important, you know, and, and this is the little bit of diversity I can give to fantasy. Uh, and I'm, and I'm proud of it. So yeah, I did it and it's there and I hope that some people can relate to it.

Speaker 1:

I think a lot of people are gonna relate to it. Um, and I think it's really powerful and it's powerful to, to see, I mean, such a realistic interpretation of it, but done in the guise of this very action, your fantasy story. It's really fun to read, but also like, you know, here are some actual struggles and maybe as a reader, you're going through this and you're experiencing this and you know, here's, yeah. I just think that a lot of people are going to be able to relate to it.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much. You know, I try to always stress, like, look, it's still like my other books. You're still got tons of action adventure. The romance is there. You actually get double the romance in this book because there's two sisters and two guys with them on the road. Um, you still get everything that you find in my books. It's just told through a viewpoint character, you know, who occasionally has panic attacks has this deep fear. Every time she leaves her safe spaces and who stumbled her words when she's around strangers. Um, so, so yeah, it's still a Trisha book, but it's just, you know, told from a different kind of viewpoint character.

Speaker 1:

Did you feel like being so connected with her and sharing that with Ziva, did that make it easier to kind of nail her voice and figure out who she was as a character or did it make it harder?

Speaker 3:

So it made it easier to figure her out, but it was harder to write if that makes any sense. It was very easy to be like, Oh, she would react to this way or, Oh, she would say this or wish she could say this, but maybe not quite be brave enough to say it out loud. Um, but at the same time I would just be like a ball of nerves every time I was writing. Cause I just, I felt everything that she felt so deeply because I just been there. You know what I mean? So it was, it was hard, but it was easy to, to get her, if that makes any sense at all.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, it does. I, I have some of my characters that I'm like, this character is very me. Right. And really like the good parts of me. Sometimes we put the parts of in there and it can be really hard to put that on the page sometimes. Absolutely. So you kind of talked about how, like, you know, this is still a Trisha 11 seller book. Um, and I want to just like dig into like the Trisha 11 seller brand. Cause when I see your name on a book, like I know it's going to be a fun, just rollicking, magical adventure, and there's going to be a really great steamy romance involved. And to me, like those are the two things that you've got nailed. Uh, so let's talk about romance first there's short. And in this book there are, when you are starting to think about your romances and figure out who is the love interest in, how is this going to work? Like what are some of the things that you do to, to bring it all to life?

Speaker 3:

Sure. Um, so I'm going to start by sharing this quote and I wish I could remember who said it. Um, but I heard a romance writer once say that if your hero is a firefighter, your heroine should be an arsonist. And I heard that and I thought, Oh my gosh, yes, that's everything you need right there, summed up to write a good romance. Right. Um, so I always start by crafting my main character. And then when I set out to craft her love interest, I always think, you know, what are they going to butt heads on? What are they going to agree on? What's going to create the most juicy conflict that I'm just going to have so much fun to write on the page. And it all just like evolves from that.

Speaker 1:

Is it ever, have you ever found, like you were writing these two characters and maybe they were butting heads too much? Like, does that worry you, that you're going to get to a point where it's like, you know what, maybe these are not right for each other.

Speaker 3:

No, that hasn't happened yet. I feel like, uh, we all love enemies to lovers. At least that's my favorite trope. Um, I haven't met anyone who doesn't like that. Um, and I think the most important thing for the characters is to eventually come to a point where they can accept each other for their differences and love them anyway. So it's not necessarily that anybody can be too different. It's just, can they overcome that? I think. And it's about whether or not you can evolve your characters to get there.

Speaker 1:

I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers. I am also a huge fan of the trope of a very outgoing, flirtatious girl and the very shy, reserved guy that gets me to, and you've got that in this book as well. It's so cute. Tell me, tell me about all of it.

Speaker 3:

Okay. Okay. Um, so remember, I just talked about how I craft my protagonists and I worry that they're all gonna feel the same. Right. I knew early on that I wanted to do like dynamic between sisters. Um, I'm the oldest five kids. I have two sisters, um, and you know, we butt heads all the time, but we love each other very much. And I just thought it'd be fun to capture that in a book as well. Um, so when I was thinking about 10, who is Eva's younger sister, uh, I was like, wouldn't it just be so fun if she was just so opposite of her sister, right? Ziva is shy. She likes to stay at home. She likes to feel safe. Like I did the plays and I want to go dancing and I want all the boys to look at me. And Steve is like, nobody looked at me, nobody looked at me. Right. Um, so I just thought it would be so fun to, um, do that dynamic. And then as I was thinking about 10 red love interests, um, I thought when it just be so fun, if there was this guy who like either just didn't even notice that she was flirting with him or like just, just knew that like a girl, like that only comes on to you for like a temporary moment. So we've got to like hold her at Bay because otherwise she'll steal his heart and run off with it and he'll be left in the dust. So that's just kind of, I don't know. I just ask myself questions and then romantic relationships just sort of evolve that way. Um, so yeah, that's kind of how I crafted Patrick's romance. And that was kind of fun too, as a fun, secondary plot to the book.

Speaker 1:

Would you say that writing the Romans is your favorite part of writing? Oh, definitely.

Speaker 3:

I can't. I can't like I'm if I'm not entertained, like why am I even writing? Right. And I don't know. I've always, it's just always been the romance for me. I love the connections between characters. I think it's so fun.

Speaker 1:

And a reader. The romance is always my favorite part. Yes, definitely. Um, what else? Okay, so we've talked about the romance aspect. The other thing you do so well is just like these really fun stories. Um, they're your books, they're fast paced. They're action packed. Uh, are you a plotter? We'll start there. Are you a plotter? Are you a pantser somewhere in between? What's your, what's your method?

Speaker 3:

I'm mostly a plotter. Uh, I discovery right. My romances, interestingly enough, but my, my major plot points, I always plot those out in a depth. Uh, I just feel better about writing a book if I know where I'm going. Uh, that being said, sometimes things do take me for by surprise. Uh, sometimes I find myself like only being able to plot out like five to 10 chapters in advance. And I just like keep going as I write. So every book I've learned is always different. I always have to write a book a different way. No two are ever the same. Um, but with this one I did plot the whole thing out and I went and it basically stayed the same. It can change very much. The ending kind of changed. Um, that big conflict at the end was very different the first time around. Um, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Yeah,

Speaker 1:

No, it's great. It's so great. I can't wait for, um, so you, you plotted out you more or less go in with a roadmap. It sounds like for the most part, how do you go about deciding like what is, what is going to be the main conflict and what are some of the obstacles that we're going to have to face?

Speaker 3:

So I feel like I always start with conflict. Uh, the plot tends to be the first thing that comes to me and late of secrets, I kind of had that concept first and had to come up with the conflict later. Uh, and that was tricky. Uh, my editor was just like, you're not allowed to do a rebellion story. The world has too many rebellion stories that are so good and we love them, but there's too many. You need a, you need a unique, a unique plot. So I was like, fine. So, um, I had to sit there and plot out different things and figure out what would work with my character. You know, I've got this really shy girl. So I was like, well, you got to make her get out of the house. You know? Um, she wants to avoid conflict. You've got to throw her into the conflict. She has to be forced into it. She's definitely that kind of character. So how can you do that? Right. So just asking myself, those kinds of questions led me to the eventual plot with the warlord and going on the run with the sword and all of that. Um, but yet ask myself questions as the plot starts to LOL, it's always, uh, you know, what does my character want and what can I do to keep her from getting it? I'm constantly asking myself that, um, and it just evolves as you go. So yeah, it's hard to like, pinpoint, like this is my formula, you know, but it's definitely something that just happens as you go along. Right. Question and answer. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you get, what do you do when you get stuck?

Speaker 3:

Well, usually I find that I only get stuck. Well, I don't really get like writer's block because I feel like that comes when you don't know what's going to happen next. And it's very rare that I don't know what's going to happen next because I plot things out in advance, but there are moments where I'm like, I am so bored. I do not want to write this scene. This is an important thing that needs to happen. Um, I'm gonna use an example from the shadows between us two characters needed to have this political scene and discuss this important stuff. And I was just like, this is so boring. I, I, even in the love interests, we're going to be interacting, but the content they were talking about was so boring. So I had to ask myself, okay, well, what would make this seem fun? What would make it so that you would want to write it? Um, and then I had them do the same scene while naked. I made them go skinny dipping in a pool together. And I thought, Oh my gosh, that would make this scene totally fun. Um, I just, I just made them naked. And all of a sudden I was excited to write the scene and so eager to do it because suddenly there was all this tension in the scene that wasn't there before. Right. Um, so I use this, whatever I'm like, Oh, I don't want to write the scene. It's always okay. What would make it fun? What would work in the story that would make you suddenly want to write it? And then really interesting things come as a result, but the whole skinny dipping scene in the shadows between us as a result of that, that is

Speaker 1:

Like some of the best advice I think I've ever heard, because we all those moments where you're, you're facing the scene. Like, yes, there's really important information that we need to convey to the reader and it's going to break and blah, blah, blah. But you just don't feel like writing it. And I do think it is such a great strategy to like pause and step back and recognize it. Like, if it's not fun for me, why would I expect it to be fun for the reader? Yeah. One thing. And that, that like, so perfectly encapsulates, just like one of the things that I think you do so well is that you're of course writing in this seat know high fantasy genre. Um, and typically not typically, but a lot of times, you know, if you you're picking up a high fantasy book and there's the Epic quest and there's the magic and there's the battles and like your books have all of that, but there's also this lightness to them. And like, there's like, I would almost say like a buoyancy to your stories. Like they just are fun. They are fun to read. They are like, they don't ever get like bogged down in darkness and sadness. And I love all of that in books too. Oh, for sure. Your books are just fun. So how do you feel like you kind of strike that balance?

Speaker 3:

Wait, I don't think anyone's ever asked me that before. Uh, I've never actually really thought about it, but, uh, hearing you say that I'm like, Oh yeah, I kind of do do that. Don't I, I think that, um, I don't know. I just, I like things when they're fun and uh, I feel like a lot of that comes from the characters interacting. Uh, I always make sure there's a level of banter in my stories because I love to write it. I loved to read it. It's my favorite. Um, I sent it to someone the other day. Uh, my characters even need to be kissing, talking or fighting. And if they're not doing one of those three things, I'm super, super bored, constantly like having one of those things happening, it helps like keep that level of, of lightness of, of progression of proactivity. Um, and kind of gives it that feel, I guess. I don't know, but that's maybe a way to look at it. I don't know. I just like humor and stories and uh, yeah, I try to, I try to do that in life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well it works, it works. And I feel like your, your voice and your viewpoint of the genre and it is so great. And I, as a reader truly enjoy it. So this is the first of a duology. Are you able to tell us anything about book two?

Speaker 3:

Let's see, what can I tell you for people who haven't book one yet? Um, challenge is not, I know if you have, uh, read book one already, you know, that I kind of left the characters in a somewhat dire situation. So first things first, we gotta take care of that. Right. But you can expect, um, more traveling a little bit more going on the run. Um, you can expect a progression of romances. Uh, I think right now there's like four or five kissing scenes in this book. I don't know how that happened. Actually. I do know how the avid, it was on board. What do I do? And it's tight. Just kiss, you know, so I did a lot of that. Um, so, so yeah, kissing, you can expect more kissing and book two. I'll just leave it at that. I think that speaks for itself, right? Yeah. We're all in. There you go. And kind of

Speaker 1:

Last question, before we go into, um, our bonus round at the end here you are now five books into your career. When this duology is finished, you will have six books under your belt. What do you do? Or what do you think about as far as like, just trying to kind of maintain that connection to your passion for why do you do this? Why do you write stories? How do you keep yourself in love with writing?

Speaker 3:

Oh, you know, I find new things to be excited about first it was pirates, then it was bikings then it was dark romances. You know, I get little snippets of ideas, little, little concepts that come to me and I think, Oh, that sounds fun. I want to explore that. I think each new book is a challenge and it's, it's, it's fun to be challenged. Like it's hard when you're in the middle of it, but I also, I think thrive on, I guess, conflict. I thrive in challenges, things to overcome. Um, I like the challenge of like, Oh, this book is going to be even better. Right. Or, um, I just get excited about the new characters. I come up with the new conflicts that come up with, I love, I mean, the thing that keeps me excited more than anything is just reading, you know, I read what other people are doing and I'm just like, look at all these unique voices, all this amazing stuff coming into the world. I want to be a part of that. I want to give people the experiences that I get while reading. Um, so it's just combination of all that. I think that keeps me going. Um, I also love that. Like I get to write in this office and I don't have to be, you know, around people at a desk job every day. I love that. Uh, also the fact that like, I get to sleep in and set my own hours. I would not trade that for anything. So, um, there's lots of things. Uh, but, but mostly remembered the thing I said about being inspired by other people don't remember them, the sleeping thing. That's legitimate though.

Speaker 1:

Being able to do my job while I'm in my pajamas having a cup of coffee, but yeah,

Speaker 3:

That's just pure it really.

Speaker 1:

You talk about how much pleasure we can get out of being challenged. Um, I feel like that's something that's not that doesn't really get talked about a whole lot. Yeah. Same way. Like they're like, yeah, there are times when a book is just not working and I'm like banging my head against my desk. Like, why can't I get these plot pieces to fit together, blah, blah, blah. Then when the solution comes, it's like the best feeling in the world. And I think those are my happiest.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Something just finally clicks where, and you're like, aha. And then you're suddenly just so excited to put it on paper. Those are the moments I live for. They're so good.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So, so good. Uh, okay. We will now wrap this up with our traditional happy writer podcast bonus round.

Speaker 3:

Are you ready? I'm so ready.

Speaker 1:

Book makes you happy.

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh. So many books, but the first thing that popped into my head was the two princesses of the mayor by Gail, Gail, Carson Levine. I remember reading that book when I was a lot younger. Um, this idea, I guess it's a sister's book. It's another sister's book about a younger sister who has to save the older sister. And, uh, it's a story that I keep coming back to and reading. I just love the idea of this shy girl. I'm just realizing some comparisons between my book and this. Wow, wow. This very shy, afraid girl whose sister is, is dying. And she has to go out to save her. And I just, I loved that book so much and I just, I don't know, it reminds me of my childhood. It reminds me of, of home. And so that, that makes me happy. Sorry, this wasn't like rapid round. Right? I wasn't supposed to answer that quickly.

Speaker 1:

I call it the lightning round and then when nobody ever treated it, like,

Speaker 3:

Right. I like it.

Speaker 1:

What is your personal mantra? You can do hard things. Oh, that's a good one.

Speaker 3:

I'd say almost every day I get out of bed in the morning.

Speaker 1:

How do you celebrate an accomplishment? Such as launching tonight's book?

Speaker 3:

Um, cheesecake, definitely cheesecake. Um, and I like to get together with friends.

Speaker 1:

What is your, Oh, I was going to ask what your favorite thing about being a writer, but I think you kind of already answered that, um, sleeping in, right?

Speaker 3:

You remembered just like I told you to

Speaker 1:

My favorite writing snack or beverage.

Speaker 3:

Um, I really love cherry Coke. I don't do it every day. Cause that's probably not good for you, but I do like to have it. I also have like an entire chocolate drawer down here, which is probably dangerous, but you know, whenever you need to get the writing going, so yeah. Chocolate and cherry Coke, like I have an entire

Speaker 1:

Drawer. You can't just have like,

Speaker 3:

No, it's a whole drawer. There's like chocolate covered pretzels in there. Sort of roll Rolos in there. Like, I don't know what else. There's there's a lot in there.

Speaker 1:

The banks. Uh, so of course we talked a little bit about book two. Is there a title for book two?

Speaker 3:

Yes. It's called master of iron. That's a good title. I like it. Yeah. It was really hard writing a climax to fit that title,

Speaker 1:

But I did it sometimes the title fits the book and sometimes we have to figure out how to make the book fit.

Speaker 3:

I literally got together with my writing friends that I'm like, guys, this book is called master of iron. How do I live up to that?

Speaker 1:

And we

Speaker 3:

Plotted for many hours, but I think I got it there. So

Speaker 1:

Nice. Uh, so you talked a little bit about book two. Do you have anything else in the works that you're allowed to talk about?

Speaker 3:

Yes. So I just sold four new books to my publisher, which I'm really excited about. I can't share like specifics yet, cause we don't have an official announcement, but I will say that you guys are getting another dark romance in the vein of the shadows between us.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Are you allowed to say, is it four, is it a series of four books?

Speaker 3:

It is not theirs. Yeah. Well time for about a week or two. Well, I'll say more as, as we get a little closer because I don't want to get in trouble, but uh, but yeah, more exciting news is coming and I think you guys will be excited. I'm very excited about it.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I am very excited also. I'm excited for all of you. Thank you lastly, where can people find or follow you?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So just my name, Tricia Levin cellar. I have a website. There's an email there. If you want to reach out to me, um, I'm on Instagram. It's probably where I'm most active, but you could also find me on Twitter and Facebook. Um, but yeah, I respond to just about everything that's sent my way, except for the weird spam things from old dudes. So

Speaker 1:

Yeah. To be avoided at all costs. Awesome. On that note, should we open up to some Q and a? Yeah, let's do it. Awesome. Um, and supposedly I was going to get a private chat with the questions, but I don't really know how to do that. I'm just reading.

Speaker 3:

So do you click on the chat at the bottom? I can just see them all. I don't know if you can see them all.

Speaker 1:

I can see, I think this is everybody's chat. Amen. To cheesecake lots of cheesecake glove. Oh,

Speaker 3:

Okay. I can only see the questions

Speaker 1:

Really. I just scrolled up a little bit. Do you have any tips for writers who have anxiety?

Speaker 3:

Oh yes. Um, the first thing is that you need to give yourself permission to write. Um, this was really big for me because out you're like, I'm not a writer because starting out, you're not a writer. You're not a writer until you start writing, you know? Um, but the truth is nobody needs to give you permission, but you kind of need to give yourself permission. And if you have a hard time doing that, then let me give you permission. I give you permission to write. I Trish I'd give you permission to write. Um, you're allowed, you're not some fake, you're not some fraud, uh, go forth and write. Um, no writing has wasted. You're only gonna get better with each new thing that you write every new book. Um, and you know, it's, it's hard, especially for those of us with anxiety, I think to, to receive that rejection that, um, is always going to come our way, regardless of how talented you are starting out. You're going to receive rejection from agents from editors, uh, sometimes even from your critique partners. And, um, just know that that your rejections are not a reflection of you as a person, somebody rejecting your work is not rejecting you as a person. You as a person are valid, you are wonderful. You are beautiful. You are worthy of love and don't let any rejection of your work, tell you otherwise. Okay. If anything, just let it ignite that fire under you and convince you to keep going and keep going. Even harder.

Speaker 1:

You could be like everyone's cheerleader. I feel like that should be recorded. And now every time I'm doubting myself, I'm just going to play Trisha's voice telling me that I can do.

Speaker 3:

That's Marissa. You come to me and I'll give you the pep talk. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Um, let's see of all the books you have written, which is your favorite.

Speaker 3:

Um, so that's the shadows between us just because Alessandra is so morally gray, right? And there is so much freedom and writing a girl with like this many inhibitions, right. And that was just way too fun to explore and to write, she would just say and do things, excuse me, that I wasn't expecting. And, uh, I just loved that. I loved the freedom of writing so many who can kill people and think about murder. It's fun to do things that you yourself would never do, but like do it through a character anyway. That's fine.

Speaker 1:

I agree. I love writing slightly villainous characters and you do it so well. It's so true. Um, Oh, this is, uh, all of, both of your books have gotten me through hard times in my life. What books got you both through difficult times in your own life.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I love that. Why don't you answer first, Marissa.

Speaker 1:

Gosh. Um, what books have gotten me through difficult times? Uh, the first one that comes to mind is somewhat recently cemetery boys, um, by Aiden Thomas and my, I can't wait to read that it's on YouTube is so good. Uh, yeah, no it's super romantic. Um, but also, and it's just a really good book and I was reading it last year around the time that it came out. Um, Aiden was on the podcast for anybody who wants to go listen to it yet. Um, but at the time my grandma's health was deteriorating very quickly. Um, I was going and spending time with her a few days a week and helping to care for her. Um, and at one point actually she liked to be read to. And so I read some of the books to her and I'll always have that mall.

Speaker 3:

I love that. I'm so sorry. Um, for me, it's dark triumph by Robin LeFevers. Um, I love that trilogy so much that his fare assassin trilogy, for those who don't know about, um, nuns or assassinating nuns and medieval France, it's amazing. Um, and, uh, dark triumph, especially it's about this girl who just had so many bad things happen to her that she could not control, but she just Rose above it anyway and was just this queen and not literally, but, you know, and, uh, I just loved reading that because if she could overcome all of that, I can overcome my problems that are not nearly that bad. You know what I mean? And so I just love that. It really, it really pulled me up from where I was at when I read it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Such a huge fan of Robin she's, everything she does is just amazing. So talented also has been on the podcast. I feel like it all

Speaker 3:

The way I support it.

Speaker 1:

What type of research did you do for this book? Especially the blacksmith

Speaker 3:

Aspect. So I watched a lot of man at arms reforged. I don't know if any of you guys have seen that, but uh, they take you through the entire process of smithing and making weapons and they make like really popular, like swords from Lord of the rings or popular weapons from like world of Warcraft and things like that. And they'll, they'll make them for you and show you how they make them. So I actually watched a lot of those videos cause I thought they were so cool. Um, and then obviously I had to use the internet to fill in the gaps of like, well, that's how we can do it now. How did they do it back then? Right. We don't have an automatic, you know, hammer, that'll just pound it into the shape we need. Right. People would use their arms and their hands. Right. Um, so yeah,

Speaker 1:

Little bit.

Speaker 3:

So I did a lot of research cause I knew nothing thing about it. Um, I was just really excited about the concept and so researching, it was super fun

Speaker 1:

Just out of curiosity, were there, or do we know of any female blacksmiths in history?

Speaker 3:

Oh, I don't know of any, I didn't come across any of my research, but I wasn't specifically looking for that. So that could, now I want to look into it. Maybe I'll talk to you.

Speaker 1:

I loved everything about that.

Speaker 3:

Uh,

Speaker 1:

How many projects do you usually work on one time?

Speaker 3:

Oh, uh, only one, maybe two, but mostly only one. I feel like I'm actually physically doing the work for one, so like editing or writing or whatever. And then there's a book on the back burner in the back of my brain that I'm like slowly plotting, but I'm never physically writing or editing two projects at the same time.

Speaker 1:

Keep maintain that. Because at this point where I've got like six different things going on, not, I sounded like fun when I started at all. And now I'm like, this is kind of a lot happening in my brain at once.

Speaker 3:

How do you distinguish it all and keep it all separate and still find time to work on it all,

Speaker 1:

Not very well. I'm finding, um, yeah, I mean, I mean, similar world have like one that I'm like really focused. Like this is the one that I'm writing

Speaker 3:

And then I'm

Speaker 1:

Also like outlining this one and researching this one and this one's an editing. And so they're all kind of in different stages.

Speaker 3:

Sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

There, there have been weeks when I'm like feeling like I've got all these plates spinning and trying to get through it all and Oh my gosh, all of these projects that I can't wait for them all to come. Right.

Speaker 3:

Um,

Speaker 1:

Of all of the characters you've written about, which is you

Speaker 3:

Your favorite? Uh, I think I already answered this with Alisandra, but yeah, she's yeah. It's valid Sondra followed closely by a low set from dotted parking. Love her. Um, do you have a favorite ship from which, from all of your books? Do you have a favorite ship? Uh, Ooh, that is a good question. Um, like I shipped so many of my characters, so, uh, I will say that Ziva and Kaelin do hold a special place in my heart in, in blade of secrets. Um, just because Ziva is so like a relationship. Right. And, uh, Kellen's like, what's wrong with you.

Speaker 1:

It's

Speaker 3:

Really fun to, um, see them like understand each other and, and kind of work around that. And, um, it was really fun to kind of write that slither in Gryffendor romance. So yeah. Yeah,

Speaker 1:

Because they asked both of us. I'm just going to say, I do not have, go ahead, take the easy out. I love them all. They're all OTPs.

Speaker 3:

I realized it was getting dark. Maybe I should turn on a light.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so many fantasy series are trilogies or longer. What made you decide to stick to standalones and do all of,

Speaker 3:

Uh, so my publisher would only buy standalone from me. I actually initially pitched Donner the pirate King and blade of secrets, both as trilogies. Um, and you know, the market's just a little bit, I've been told a lot that, um, fans of WIA are willing to stick out a series because it's so long in between the time when books come out, they'll often, you know, buy book one and then they'll forget about this series and never pick up the rest of it or, um, they'll wait until the whole series is out and then buy the whole thing. And both of those are not very good for booksellers. Um, that being said, wait for my news, that will come at some point and maybe we'll talk about trilogy

Speaker 1:

And you're trying so hard not to give anything away that

Speaker 3:

Your knives so bad, so bad,

Speaker 1:

What's this they're thrilled. They're like, it's sort of a sure. They make these books.

Speaker 3:

I feel like I did actually answer the question though. I, let me just say the ideas come to me really big or they come to me really small and I just, uh, write the way the idea comes to me. I write it as long or as short as it needs to be. That's the real answer. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that's fair. It is interesting how, you know, the markets, they do seem to kind of go and trends and for awhile, all trilogies and like, I don't know if publishers would have even been interested in do ologies and now there has been this switch where suddenly,

Speaker 3:

Oh, Jesus.

Speaker 1:

In depth world and in-depth exploration of these characters, but not quite the same commitment in yeah. But, but I agree. It's what does the book require? What is, how long is it now? How does it come to you? Yeah. Um, let's see. How do you come up with the book covers? Do you have something in mind or do you tell someone to come up with a design,

Speaker 3:

But she loved getting this question? Um, so we have no control over our covers. Um, the one thing I told my publisher, when they were thinking about doing the cover, when they were in the process of doing the cover for daughter, the parking, I said, well, I'd love something, not illustrated. And then they did an illustrated cover. So that goes to like, that's how the cover process is as an author. Um, that being said now that I'm like a little more established, they do ask me a little bit more and let me weigh in a little bit more on the covers. Um, my editor actually asked me like, what concepts do you think would look good for the cover of ablative secrets? And I was like, the sword do the sword. So, um, uh, they, and they did the sword, uh, for the cover of book two. I was like, do her hammer. Uh you'll, you'll learn more about her hammer later on. But, um, and they did her hammer, but not in the way I thought they were going to do. So it's a, it's a give and take, you know, overall the people in sales and the people in cover design, they know the market better than we do as the authors, they know what's going to sell better. So we defer to them and we are always happy with the results. Oh, wait.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I also, at that point, like with the first time where they actually like solicited my opinion on a cover, I was like, Oh, I've reached that point in my career where I get to, uh, let's see, did we, Oh, I've reached the bottom. Who did I miss here?

Speaker 3:

Oh, Oh, sorry. It just like jumped around on me. Uh you're good.

Speaker 1:

Which one of your characters do you think would survive in a world? Like this?

Speaker 3:

Wonder if that like our pandemic world will definitely Ziva. Cause she's like, I wouldn't leave my house and it's fine. It's like my normal life,

Speaker 1:

So

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. She's like, wait, something's going on out there? I don't understand. What about out of your characters? Marissa? Oh, um, core team. The best, yes. Similar. I'm going to say crest and be very comfortable for a long time.

Speaker 1:

You said a spaceship that could be convenient,

Speaker 3:

Definitely with the pandemic.

Speaker 1:

Who are your favorite villains?

Speaker 3:

Ooh, uh, the darkly,

Speaker 1:

Sorry.

Speaker 3:

Uh, I think he's still my favorite. I can't think of anyone. I like more than the darkly right now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Have you watched it yet?

Speaker 3:

Binge? That whole thing in one day is like every, okay. Orange has been my favorite for a super long time. When I heard he was cast as the dark. Like I was like, I had a moment, like a very serious moment and it was, yeah, it was great. So great. So gorgeous. Yeah. He's so good

Speaker 1:

On that note. What are you both watching right now? Besides shadow and bone?

Speaker 3:

Uh,

Speaker 1:

Binge shadow and bone, like two nights ago.

Speaker 3:

I know, right? Like, uh, I haven't had a chance to start watching anything else since then. Um, do you have an answer if you have an answer go, I need to think for a bit.

Speaker 1:

They do my family's out of town right now. My husband took my girls to the beach for the weekend. Um, so I've had the house to myself. So I've been shot on bone and I am bingeing Sherlock, which was like the hip thing a long time ago and I never got into it. So I was like, okay, it's time for me to watch Sherlock. And of course it's

Speaker 3:

Fabulous. Of course it's fabulous. Oh yeah. Um, let's see. I off and on. I've been watching, um, station 19, which is a spinoff of like Grey's anatomy about the firefighters. Um, and it's just been really fun. It's actually like my workout show. So I've got a treadmill and I put it on the TV and then I watched these like buff, firefighter, girls go and like do cool things. And I'm like, yeah, I can be like them. So

Speaker 1:

Whatever

Speaker 3:

Works, you know,

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. My mom is coming over, um, for mother's day. Um, actually she's coming over tomorrow on Saturday. Um, and her mother's day wish she's gotten really into K drama. And so she was like, Marissa, I just want to sit and have a bottle of wine and binge a K drama with you. Like, yes, this is what I've been waiting for. I love it. I think we maybe have time for one more question. Let's see. My favorite protagonist is[inaudible]. How do you pronounce her name? Yeah, you said it red mirror. Okay, cool. Uh, she fascinates me. You mentioned that you use your mental health experience to create Ziva. Do you always encase part of yourself in your protagonists?

Speaker 3:

Uh, yes. I think it's impossible not to let just a little bit of ourselves show even like subconsciously. Um, okay. I've said this before, but I always sort my characters into their Hogwarts houses before I write them, because it helps me figure out their motivations that helps me figure out the way they go about things. And Rasmea is my little baby Hufflepuff and, uh, I myself am a slither puff. So, uh, you know, I drawn different parts of me to write my slithering characters versus my Gryffendor and Hufflepuff characters and re Red's Mira is just kind of the, the do gooder side of me that wants to save and help everyone, you know, and maybe as a result gets a little bit taken advantage of in her story. Um, so, so yeah, and then she just kind of had to like come back from that. So, um, you know, I think we've all had, uh, experiences in our lives when we were nice to someone and they maybe took advantage of that. Um, and so it's, it's easy to draw on little moments like that for different books and to kind of put that into a fantasy world and kind of showcase it that way. So, um, yeah, that's, that's where Rasmea came from. Thank you so much for that question. I feel like warrior the wild is the least known of my books. So I always love it when people ask about it.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Well, I think that is all the time that we have. Um, I know best of books is going to come back and close us out here, but I just want to say thank you again for inviting me to join you this evening. I've had so much fun and thank you, Marissa, that you came out and made it more fun for me. Um, yes. Thank you very much for having me and thanks to everybody who came and joined us tonight. And that was virtual launch event for Trisha 11 sellers blade of secrets, many, many things to Tricia and to McMillan children's books for inviting us to partake in the celebration. I had a lot of fun and I hope that you guys all enjoyed listening to it. And I really hope you will check out blade of secrets, which will come with a signed book plate when you order from best of books. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy this conversation, please subscribe to the podcast and tell all your reader and writer, friends. You can also follow us on Instagram at Marissa Meyer author and at happy writer podcast until next time stay healthy, stay cozy and whatever life throws at you today. I do hope that now you're feeling a little bit

Speaker 2:

[inaudible].