Linsey Miller, author of the Mask of Shadows duology, is back with a new YA fantasy stand-alone, Belle Révolte. We chat to Linsey about this magically dangerous new world and its inspiration, along with book recommendations, her upcoming projects, and more!
You can find Linsey on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, along with at her website.
Hi Linsey! Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi! I am a YA author who loves weird magic and morally gray characters. I pretended I didn’t want to write in college before realizing I was wrong and repurposing my biology background for fantasy. I love exploring how magic and medicine intersect and how far characters will go to get what they want. My debut novel Mask of Shadows, about a thief auditioning to be the next royal assassin, dealt heavily in revenge, morality, and identity. It was part of a duology, so working on Belle Révolte, a standalone, was challenging but fun.
If you could describe, Belle Révolte in just five words, what would they be?
Queer magic nerds join revolt.
Your latest novel, Belle Révolte, is set to release February 4th! Can you tell us what it’s about?
Belle Révolte is a standalone fantasy novel that draws from Reformation-era France and follows two girls, Emilie and Annette, in a nation on the brink of revolution. Emilie, the only daughter of a major noble house, wants to be a physician and study the noonday arts—healing and fighting—but is forbidden from pursuing such gruesome work. Annette, a country girl overworked and overlooked by her family, is unable to afford university to study the midnight arts—illusions, scrying, and divination. The two girls swap places. Emilie enters university as a hack, a commoner who uses magic so that their noble patrons aren’t worn down by the power, and Annette takes Emilie’s place at finishing school.
Their swap introduces them to the realities of their nation’s social circles, and the two girls are unable to look away from its flaws. They join the rebellion. But when their king instigates a frivolous war, they must work together to end it before the rebellion is crushed and the king’s continued reign is guaranteed.
What was your inspiration behind Belle Révolte?
There were a lot of small things that inspired me—science history, unions and protests, and magic systems that demand payment. A major one was the Reformation. It happened during a time of great economic and political turmoil. The Great Plague was hundreds of years before, but in its aftermath, people could suddenly bargain for higher wages and better conditions because there was no one else left to do the job. The invention of the printing press allowed for faster dissemination of rhetoric and propaganda. There were several large-scale revolts that ultimately failed but paved the way for future movements, and in France, there were, over and over across hundreds of years, major political figures that sacrificed personal identity and power in order to stop bloodshed (though there was still quite a lot of it).
I have always enjoyed heroes who weren’t classic heroes, and I knew I wanted to write about two girls who would be considered support characters in any other story. Emilie and Annette are the healer and the diviner. They’re not on the frontlines, but their actions are felt at the front. I was really inspired by the idea of two ambitious but ultimately normal girls who push themselves beyond their limits to do what they think is right.
I also knew that I wanted to write about an asexual character within a world where her aceness would affect her in a similar way to ours, so there are several contemporary inspirations behind the world building as well.
What was your favourite part to write? Was there anything you struggled with?
My favorite part was definitely the friendship. I love a good friendship in a book, and I had a lot of fun writing Emilie and Annette navigating their new relationships.
I struggled with the world building and magic and making sure that it was sufficiently explained enough to exist within a standalone but not too glossed over. The book actually started with a different magic system that was too complicated and confusing, and editing that was very needed but very hard. Magic systems should be intricately linked to the world and plot, so making sure everything still wove together smoothly was a struggle but definitely a worthwhile one.
Who was harder to write? Emilie or Annette? And why?
Emilie was definitely harder to write. She’s arrogant and verbose, a bit self-centered, and assumes everyone is out to get her. There were definitely sections with Annette that were hard to put to paper since they were so close to my heart, but I found it harder to write Emilie’s emotional scenes since she’s so emotionally closed off for most of the book.
I loved your writing style! It was bold and poetically thought-out. What are some exercises that helped you create such strong voices in your characters?
Thank you so much! I didn’t really do any specific exercises though I am sure there are names for the ways in which I prepped. Before drafting the book, I made character sheets that listed how Emilie and Annette’s voices would differ in vocabulary, sentence style, and figurative language.
Emilie’s well-educated and likes to show off, so she’s got a slightly more pretentious vocabulary with longer sentences and medical metaphors. I think her chapters are also about one hundred words longer than Annette’s on average. Annette’s educated and reserved, and she lacks Emilie’s self-confidence. She uses fewer words, more contractions, and prefers similes over metaphors. Her syntax is more similar to an American southern dialect. Emilie uses fewer colloquialisms than Annette, but as Annette studies at school, her voice becomes a bit more similar to Emilie’s.
I think it’s useful to keep in mind how your characters’ voices will grow or change over the course of a novel, so there were always new notes being added to those character sheets.
Do you have any advice for aspiring novelists?
Find your people. Whether they’re critique partners or not even in publishing, find the people who make you feel comfortable and safe. Writing is often a solitary job, and it helps to have people who you can go to for help and conversation. Let them help you, and don’t be afraid to write a first draft that fails.
What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects you can tell us about?
Yes! I have another standalone fantasy coming in early 2021 about a young girl caught up in the machinations of a bloodthirsty queen, her violently oblivious son, and a magical door that demands blood sacrifices in order to keep demons from overrunning their world.
And another secret project that I’ll hopefully be able to tell you about soon. 😉
And lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us? Authors?
Always! I love Tarnished are the Stars by Rosiee Thor, Beyond the Black Door by AdriAnne Strickland, Fragile Remedy by Maria Mora, If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann, Ink in the Blood by Kim Smejkal, Running with Lions by Julian Winters, and Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee.
I cannot wait to read Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, The Ninth Life by Taylor B. Barton, You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver, Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, A Miracle of Roses by Diana Pinguicha, Ruinsong by Julia Ember, and Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore.
