We chat with author Ashley Tropea about The Shrouded Queen, which is the first book in this romantasy duology inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology, a slave and a princess switch places during an enemy attack, igniting parallel journeys of love and survival.
Hi, Ashley! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I am an Egyptian-Italian author born and raised in Los Angeles but have recently moved to Orange County. A fun fact I love to tell people is that I lived most of my life on Sleepy Hollow Street, which all but guaranteed I was going to be obsessed with stories. (Though no headless horsemen ever terrorized my neighborhood.) After falling into a wholly unhealthy Vampire Diaries addiction, I studied Screenwriting at LMU because I was absolutely convinced I was going to be the one to write the next hit teen soap. However, I found that my first love, novels, was where I wanted to turn my obsession for romantic drama, and now here we are! When I’m not writing, I’m usually playing Dungeons & Dragons with my friends, struggling to learn piano, or baking.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I have always loved stories. My parents consistently read to me when I was a child, and my mother was an obsessive reader. She used to bring home boxes and boxes of historical romance novels and go through them like nobody’s business. But I would say I first realized how much I enjoyed writing when I was in the 6th grade. We were given an open-ended assignment to write anything we wanted—research paper, analysis, creative, etc.—and I just naturally started to write a short story. My teacher gave me bonus points because she thought it showed such promise, and from then on, I started writing for fun. I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for my teacher’s encouragement (shout out to Mrs. O’Sullivan!).
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: A Series of Unfortunate Events Series by Lemony Snicket
- The one that made you want to become an author: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
Your debut novel, The Shrouded Queen, is out June 16th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
“Princess switch” in Ancient Egypt
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect to follow really complex characters through an exciting new world of gods and magic. Because it is set in a place inspired by Ancient Egypt, while also pulling heavily from the Vikings, it is a brand new sort of fantasy, chock full of complicated decisions, shapeshifting love interests, and the question of what it means to do the right thing.
Where did the inspiration for The Shrouded Queen come from?
The idea for The Shrouded Queen came out of reading a fantasy book and randomly fixating on one of the background characters. The main character had just done something awful and that unnamed servant was left to pick up the pieces. I began to toy with the idea of turning that on its head. Instead of the princess being the star, what if it was one of those passive characters? I thought it would be really fun to watch that character go from passive to extremely active. Voila, Samira was born. Then once I knew what sort of path I wanted for my servant character, I decided that it would be even more fun to flip the whole thing completely on its head and make the princess just an awful human being.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I adored exploring Samira’s insistence on “doing the right thing.” As a people pleaser myself, it is something that I’m always aware of, and I enjoyed forcing Samira to really dissect what that means for her versus the kingdom as a whole. How it affects her, how far she’s willing to go in order to uphold this impossible standard she’s placed on herself. And then I had a blast contrasting that with Amunet, who is the polar opposite. She is selfish and brutal and so unlike myself that she was so much fun to write.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
As much as I love Amunet, she is also my problem child. She is such a tornado of a person that I often struggle figuring out how to make her follow my carefully laid plans. She is also so different from who I am that it takes a lot more brainpower for me to work through her motives and actions. Like most of the characters in the book, I’ve learned to work with Amunet by letting her do what she wants. I let her go wild on the page and then reel her back if I have to. It’s easier not to fight the Queen of Ashorah.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was a longggg road! As I mentioned earlier, I knew from about the 6th grade that I wanted to write, and when I was 14, I finished writing my first book and posted it online. It got relatively decent feedback, so I tried to get that published. I should point out that it was not ready to be published, but I did try. Then I wrote another book called Missing in the Pages when I was about 16, and completed its entire trilogy by 18. Those books did really well online, reaching over a million readers collectively. I attempted to publish those, too, without much luck. Throughout college I worked on another trilogy, which again garnered a positive response online, but there were no takers in the traditional publishing world. However, there were so many people online asking me to self-publish, so I did. Right after I got out of college, I self-published the Missing in the Pages books, and then got to work on The Shrouded Queen. In effect, I had been trying to get published for about 10 years before I finally got my wonderful agent, Jenna Satterthwaite, and was picked up by Gallery Books.
What’s next for you?
Currently, I’m working on the sequel to The Shrouded Queen, with about 3 other brand new stories in the very early stages of drafting. The whole journey of publishing The Shrouded Queen has been so amazing that I am beyond excited to build my career and see where it goes!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I am positively obsessed with the This Woven Kingdom series by Tahereh Mafi, and I am mentally bracing myself for the publication of the final novel in the series. It is perhaps one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read with the single most devastating romance ever. I aspire to write something half as gorgeous!
