HWM: What made you venture into Gothic fantasy?

CLS: I’m spooky by nature. Scary stories have appealed to me since junior high, and I was writing the kind of books I love to read. — Writing the True with Cynthia Leitich Smith: an interview from Vivian at HipWriterMama.

CLS: Once you have a whole draft, all of the answers to the novel are already hinted at in your manuscript. Your subconscious is always a step ahead of your conscious mind, so it’s important to learn how to read your own writing carefully. Over the years, I’ve heard any number of folks say this in different ways, most recently author Tim Wynne-Jones. — Kyra Interviews Cynthia Leitich Smith by Kyra from Throwing Up Words: Sometimes It’s Your Only Option.

What element(s) would you say make(s) your books unique?

…It’s probably the girl-empowerment themes and the combination of multicultural, religious, and economic diversity in fantasy settings. — Interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith from The Compulsive Reader.

Peek: “In fantasy, you have to succeed at everything you would in realistic fiction, plus make the fantasy elements hold together logically and earn their place in terms of character, plot, and theme. Beyond that, you can in some ways go more dramatic with your theme because the metaphor dilutes the risk of it being too on the nose.” — Interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith by Liviania from In Bed With Books.

BR: If your reader could only take away one emotion, theme, or idea from the book, what would you want that to be?

CLS: Redemption. — Author Interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith from writing it out: Writing Blog of MG Fantasy Writer Beth Revis.

CKR: What inspired the idea for Eternal?

CLS: Eternal is part of a larger three-set of companion books—including Tantalize and Blessed—that draw their primary inspiration from Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula (1897). The nods to the Gothic master become increasingly more pronounced with each new novel. However, Eternal was also inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (1895), which students in my ninth grade English class read aloud in turn over the course of a semester. — Author Interview: Cynthia Leitich Smith by Kimberly J. Smith from Cool Kids Read.