After her successful series, Timekeeper, which also marked her debut, Tara Sim is ready to bring you into yet another magical universe featuring a vengeful heroine, a thrilling quest, and an atmospheric setting. Pitched as a gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, the first instalment of her newest duology, Scavenge the Stars, is ready to blow your mind on January 7th 2020.
We had the pleasure of chatting with Tara and talk about her upcoming release, her journey as a fantasy author, her writing process and struggles, and her most anticipated book releases for 2020!
You can find Tara on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and also at her website.
The first instalment of your newest duology, Scavenge the Stars, publishes on January 7th 2020! Can you tell us about it and why everyone should include this book in their reading list?
Scavenge is, at its heart, a story about revenge. It’s a new take on The Count of Monte Cristo, but featuring a brown girl with knives and a hapless nobleman’s son who stands in the way of her vengeance. If you like books with a fully POC and queer cast of characters, enemies to lovers, and stabbing, I’d say this book is for you.
Pitched as the gender-swapped retelling of The Court of Monte Cristo, do you always intend the story to be that way or is it something that happened throughout the writing process?
It was always meant to be that from the start. As someone who loves the original source, I wanted to focus on making something brand new that has obvious nods to The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s the sort of retelling where someone doesn’t need to have read the classic to understand the story, but will definitely find those nods if they have.
Scavenge the Stars featured a wide range of characters, a fast-paced and intense plot, and intricate worldbuilding. Amongst these three, which aspect challenged you the most during the early stages of writing?
All three gave me different sorts of challenges during the early stages. I love writing characters, especially a big cast of them, but it’s also a bit like herding cats, especially at the beginning of a project when you can’t remember anyone’s name or hair color. The pacing was also tricky because it’s dual POV, meaning that certain things had to happen to each character within a certain time frame. The worldbuilding was fun—it always is—but also challenging because book one focuses so much on one city, making it more difficult to bring in details of what lies beyond it.
Talking about writing, can you share with us your writing process, such as which aspect you usually start with when you’re crafting a whole new story?
My process actually changes from project to project. Sometimes I start with an idea for a plot, and other times I start with a character or two. A lot of the time it begins with me writing down a bunch of notes until I have enough to actually start organizing them. Then it’s a matter of forming a rough outline, which I’ll either fill out chapter by chapter as I go or else deviate from depending on where the characters and story take me.
How does the story in Scavenge the Stars duology differ from the one that you previously wrote in the Timekeeper trilogy? What’s the biggest contrast between the two?
Whereas the Timekeeper series takes place in an alternate version of Victorian England, Scavenge the Stars takes place in an entirely secondary world. Timekeeper mainly focuses on uncovering a mystery while dealing with time magic and a supernatural love interest. Scavenge, on the other hand, deals with revenge, the way the rich exploit the poor, and needing to understand your past to shape your future.
I’d say the biggest difference between them lies in the main characters’ motivations. Danny would do anything to rescue his father and protect those he cares for, but Amaya is driven purely by revenge and the need to right the wrongs of the world.
Are there any similarities that you delivered in both stories and believe at heart to be part of your brand and identity?
Both series have big casts of characters who are POC and/or queer. They also both touch on class differences and what it means to be on a lower rung of society, as well as colonialism and its effects.
Known as ‘a writer of all things magic’, do you consider fantasy as your writing speciality or are you planning to branch out to other genres in the future?
I’m definitely planning to stick with fantasy, since that’s what I’ve always written and what I always feel like writing. I might experiment and do something different one day (and I’m leaning more toward fantasy horror these days), but for the foreseeable future this genre is my home.
Can you share about the struggles when it comes to writing fantasy? And how did you overcome them?
Some might think fantasy is easy because you get to make everything up. But fantasy is hard because you have to make everything up, from the social structures to the politics to the magic systems to the cultures and religions, etc. And you have to do all that without stepping on real world constructs! Research definitely helps, as well as keeping all your notes in the same place, whether that’s a notebook or a document on your computer. I personally like to use Scriviner as a sort of “world bible” for my projects.
Scavenge the Stars is one of our most anticipated releases for 2020! But what about you? Can you list your top three most anticipated releases for 2020?
Narrowing it down to three is so hard! I’m the most excited for the sequels to King of Scars, Ninth House, and Gideon the Ninth, as well as Infinity Son and Burn Our Bodies Down.
Aside from the next instalment in Scavenge the Stars duology, what’s next for you?
I have a couple of short stories in upcoming anthologies (All Out Now and Fantastic Worlds), as well as something I unfortunately can’t talk about yet (but keep an eye out)!
