By Chloe Neill, author of Firespell
So, I’ve recently finished writing Hexbound, the sequel to Firespell, and I was thinking about something: Does having magic make things easier…or harder?
Firespell by Chloe Neill
In Firespell, we meet Lily and her new sidekick, Scout. They’re both smart and chic, but they aren’t going to win any popularity contests. And, after being sent to Chicago for school, Lily discovers a world of magic beneath the city.
She also discovers that magic isn’t just about pixie dust and fairy tale endings; in fact, it’s much darker—and dangerous—than she might have imagined.
As a writer, is it fair of me to give that burden to a sixteen year-old?
Being a teenager isn’t easy. If you’re currently there, or you’ve already been there, you know what I mean. There’s getting through school, figuring out who you are and where you fit in, deciding whether you’re going to college or you’re getting a job after graduation. There are also parents and homework and boyfriends and girlfriends and teachers and pop quizzes and after-school jobs and clothes.
Long story short—there can be lots of baggage between being a kid and being an adult.
Now, imagine you had all that typical adolescent drama to deal with—the day-to-day stuff—but also had magical drama. You had to battle bad guys. You had to rescue innocents. You had to strive to get better at your craft. And in addition to wondering if your skirt was too strange or your hair was too short, you had to wonder if your enemies were better at magic than you, and if those enemies were plotting out a way to best you with magic.
Of course, there’s an up-side: If there was magic in the world, you might have powers—and those powers could give you a kind of control. Maybe you could move things with your mind, or shift time back and forth or make yourself invisible when it really counted.
But if you’re neck-deep in adolescent angst and you already feel invisible, does that really help?
Long story short, I guess I need to make sure Lily and Scout get their own happy endings. After all, everyone needs a fairy tale.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a chance to pick up a copy of Firespell at a bookstore near you!
xoxo,
Chloe
