Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite

Question and Answer

If you have a question about Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite–the characters, the setting, the plot, the writing process, anything–I'd love to have the opportunity to answer it!

I'll list the questions and answers below, and give the asker a proper shout-out.

Thanks a lot! This should be fun . . . and please feel free to chime in if you care to elaborate or have any alternative theories. . . .

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The fantastic questions below are from Claudia_Witter, author of The All Mads and The King of the Seven Stars series.  

Q) So, do you create the characters first and then create a world and plot for them to live out their adventure in, or do you create the plot and world and then make characters to fit it?

A) I've tried all options and have had varying degrees of success depending on the story. For Fairy Tale, I began with the main characters and villains. I had the basic plot in my head–two brothers, the princess as a source of conflict, her evil mother and complex half brother, and Scott, the missing fairy father.

From there came the setting. I wanted Pyxis to be cold and realistically placed, meaning that if it actually existed, I could pinpoint it on Google Maps. Then I wanted something tropical and isolated. I chose Hawaii and put them on Oahu. It's the most populated and touristy. I used to live near Salem, MA, so that was an easy choice, and I consulted with my financier husband for Westport, CT. I was looking for something elite, New England, and coastal. For Joe's starting point, I chose Venice, CA because it's trendy and (relatively) affordable, or so I was told by my West Coast-familiar confidantes.

Once all the settings were established, they then further shaped and defined the characters. Andromeda IS Pyxis, Gretchen IS Westport, The Jokuras ARE Hawaii, etc.   

Q) When you start writing the beginning of a story, do you already know how it will end?

A) Yes, definitely, but in loose form. I know who lives/dies, the characters who end up together and those who don't, and the outcome of the major conflict. But the finer details I make up as I go along.

Some of my favorite twists were actually spontaneous and it was usually because minor characters became something bigger than I expected. Examples are Lyra/Ursa, their prince love-triangle drama, the Banker, and my biggest and most haunting best is Crux Chevalier. He started out as just a soldier, and he became pretty much a demon and Chris's future archenemy, and now I have even more villainous plans for him. I honestly never saw that coming.

Q) Do you write each scene in order, or sometimes write those that come later on beforehand?

A) Oh, I jump around all the time. I write down what my brain is feeding me. If there's some climactic scene I can't wait to write . . . I don't. An example would be Unraveled, the Chris/Cassie "getting to know each other" scene. It was one of the first chapters written. It did evolve as the story filled in around it, but I couldn't ignore the conversation they were having with each other . . . in my head.

Q) How did you go about making each character, and was there any other characters or people that helped build their personalities?

A) Chris, Cassie, and Joe are like a split of my personality. Overall, though, Chris is probably the most like me, but I have my Joe and Cassie moments, too.

I really enjoyed the show, The Tudors, and I love European History, so I guess that's my inspiration for Canis Major and Pierre a little bit, too. It would be hard to inspire a "revolution" without a haughty ruling class and those daring writers who despise them.

The Banker is based on one of my husband's old bosses. Let's just say I wasn't a fan. ;)

Andromeda is like a conglomeration of many fairy tale villains, including but not limited to Snow White's evil stepmother, Maleficent, Bellatrix Lestrange, and the Ice Queen from Narnia.

The Wakefields, and their human "family saga," are loosely based on the type of family you'd have in a V.C. Andrews novel, but without the shenanigans between relatives . . . thank God! There's a lot more about them in Disgrace, when loner ex-fairy prince Scott MacRae falls for the wealthy but troubled Skylar Wakefield.