Jessica Spotswood

1.    Are you a plotter or a pantser?  I’m somewhere in-between. I don’t like doing a full, detailed outline – I tried that with STAR CURSED and it was disastrous. But I make a loose outline for the next few scenes or chapters so I know where I’m headed.

2.    What does your daily writing routine look like?  I’m actually working on creating a more consistent writing routine! I’ve never been a steady, 1k-a-day writer; I may not write for several days in a row, and then I’ll write 2-3000 words. I usually write for a few hours in the late afternoon (I rarely start before 3pm), and then if I’m on deadline I’ll write again late at night, from about midnight until 4am. I’m very much a night owl.

3.    Where do you find your inspiration?  Everywhere! I’m inspired by dreams, by snatches of conversation I overhear, by music lyrics. For the Cahill Witch Chronicles, Snow Patrol and Mumford & Sons and Florence + the Machine featured prominently in my playlists. I’m inspired by books I love – and books I don’t love, when I think about how I would write it differently!

4.    How did you come up with the plot for The Cahill Witch Chronicles?  Did the story come first, or did the characters?  The characters came first. I had a dream in which my sisters and I were fighting over a magical locket from our mother, and the idea of writing about the mix of love and rivalry between three sisters with a complicated magical inheritance stuck. The plot evolved from there, and it changed so much in edits. In the draft that sold, the dire prophecy that one Cahill sister would murder another wasn’t even in place yet.

5.    What about witches fascinates readers and writers alike?  Well, historically, women accused of witchcraft were often marginalized in some way – they were eccentric, they were poor, they were too educated, they were unmarried, they lived outside town. I think readers like to root for underdogs, and writers like to explore that notion of powerful women in societies that fear them.

6.    Discuss your research process about historical witchcraft practices.  Which part of the Cahill witchcraft lore is historically accurate and which part did you create?  My research focused mostly on the history of persecuting innocent women, rather than witchcraft lore. I drew more from literary influences like Harry Potter and Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle series to create the magic in the series. The history of the Daughters of Persephone, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood, and the witchery that Cate and her sisters do is all invented.

7.    Without giving too much away, when you first started developing the idea for the romance between Cate and her two very different and very swoon-worthy suitors, Finn and Paul, did you know who she would end up with (if she ends up with either of them) or did it change as you wrote?  I definitely knew that Cate’s heart belonged to Finn. Paul is there to illustrate how much Cate has changed since her mother died, how she can no longer follow the traditional path that’s expected of her, how she’s outgrown her childhood dreams. He’s a good man, but he’s not right for Cate.

8.    Did your process change when writing Book 1 to Book 2 to Book 3?  If so, how?  I wrote BORN WICKED over about 9 months without any editorial input. I had four months to write STAR CURSED and my editor made me outline it first, and it didn’t work; I felt too constricted by the outline and followed it to the book’s detriment instead of following the characters. We ended up throwing out 75% of that first draft and starting over. For SF we identified the major stakes of the story and I went from there, and I had six months, and it was a much more solid first draft.

9.    Speaking of Book 3, is there anything you can tell us about it? (book cover, release date, synopsis, ANYTHING?)  Yes! That’s all been revealed since you sent me these questions. SISTERS’ FATE will be released on August 14, 2014. Here’s the synopsis (warning: major spoilers for STAR CURSED!!):

 A fever ravages New London, but with the Brotherhood sending suspected witches straight to the gallows, the Sisters are powerless against the disease. They can’t help without revealing their powers—as Cate learns when a potent display of magic turns her into the most wanted witch in all of New England.

To make matters worse, Cate has been erased from the memory of her beloved Finn. While she’s torn between protecting him from further attacks and encouraging him to fall for her all over again, she’s certain she can never forgive Maura’s betrayal. And now that Tess’s visions have taken a deadly turn, the prophecy that one Cahill sister will murder another looms ever closer to its fulfillment.

 You can see the cover and add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

 10.How does it feel writing the last of a trilogy?  Is there any way we'll see these characters again?  It’s bittersweet. I wanted to give them the exact perfect right ending, and I hope readers will be satisfied. I don’t think I’ll write anything else from Cate’s point of view; I feel like her story is complete at the end of SISTERS’ FATE. I could see myself doing a short story from someone else’s point of view  – perhaps about one of her sisters, or Sachi and Rory, or Rilla Stephenson. That would be a fun extra. We’ll see. 

11.The covers are absolutely stunning. How much of a say did you have in creating them?  Thank you! I had absolutely nothing to do with it (most authors don't), but I’m really pleased with them.

12.How did you market your series?  I was part of Penguin’s second Breathless Reads tour in February 2012, and then part of the third tour in February 2013. I’ve also done local events in Washington DC and joint signings with other 2012 debut authors in Philadelphia and Boston. Mostly, though, my efforts are online. I blog, though somewhat infrequently; I tweet; I update the Cahill Witch Chronicles Facebook page. I’ve done a few twitter chats and blog giveaways leading up to releases on my blog. I’ve been lucky that Penguin has also done some fantastic marketing, including creating a really stunning book trailer (Preview) for BORN WICKED. Honestly, it’s hard to say what works and what doesn’t. I love meeting readers on tour or at events and interacting with them online, but otherwise I try to focus on writing the next book.

13.Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?  My biggest advice is to take your time. Make sure that your work is the absolute best it can be before you query or submit it. Set it aside for a bit and then go back to it with fresh, more objective eyes. Better yet, ask friends who are voracious readers or fellow writers to read it for you and give you feedback. Ask them what they like and want to see more of as well as what confuses them or doesn’t quite work. Try to listen with an open heart. You don’t have to follow all of their advice, but if two people say the same thing, it’s probably worth consideration. 

14.On your blog, you mentioned you're working on something.  Can you give us a clue as to what that might be?  Sure! I’m working on a sort of Southern Gothic ghost story. It’s very new, but I really love it. I’m not sure yet if that will be my next official book or not; I’ve got several ideas percolating right now!

15.Do you have any book recommendations, anything you're currently working on?  I just read Andrea Cremer’s THE INVENTOR’S SECRET, which comes out in April. It’s a wonderfully imaginative steampunk adventure set in a world where the British won the Revolutionary War. The heroine, Charlotte, is really clever and plucky, and I don’t quite know who else to trust, which I love! I also just read and love love loved ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein, the companion to CODE NAME VERITY. It’s not an easy book – set partially in a women’s concentration camp during WWII – but it’s beautiful and Rose is so winsome.

Jessica Spotswood is the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles: BORN WICKED (2012), STAR CURSED (2013), and SISTERS' FATE (August 2014). She grew up in a tiny, one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania, where she could be found swimming, playing clarinet, memorizing lines for the school play, or - most often - with her nose in a book. Now Jess lives in Washington, DC with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey. She can be found doing yoga, teaching writing workshops for teens, or - most often - with her nose in a book. Some things never change. 

Find Jess online: blog | Twitter | Facebook | Cahill Witch Inspiration pinboard