Australian author Bonnie Wynne started writing her debut fantasy book The Ninth Sorceress when she was only sixteen! All the time that she was finishing high school, university (studying law), and building her career, she was quietly working away on her novel until it came into the world. Bonnie graciously agreed to have a chat to us ahead of the release of The Ninth Sorceress on February 13th.
You can find Bonnie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, along with at her website.
Let’s get started with my favourite question – are you a planner or a pantser (or to use George R R Martin’s terms; a gardener or an architect)?
That’s a good one! I consider myself a ‘plantser’ (or a garchitect?). I like to plot out the overall structure of the book – so where do we start, where do we finish off, where are the high points and low points, what are the character arcs, etc. But I don’t plan out each individual scene or chapter. I prefer to let the finer details of the story emerge naturally.
That being said, I completely pantsed The Ninth Sorceress, because I started as a teenager with no plan and no clue. Probably why it took me so long, and why I ended up deleting so much material! Oh well – I learned from my mistake.
Can you tell us more about Ninth Sorceress?
The Ninth Sorceress is about Gwyn, a seventeen-year-old apprentice herbalist who’s spent her life hidden away like a dark secret. But when she finds herself marked out by a goddess and pursued by wizards of the Syndicate, Gwyn must step out of the shadows and take charge of her destiny – even if the price is her own soul.
What is your favourite thing about the fantasy genre?
I just love the possibilities. Fantasy gives you that feeling you had when you were a kid, when everything was mysterious and potentially magical, and anything could happen. As an adult, there aren’t many surprises left, and most of them are bad. It’s nice to open a fantasy book and return to a simpler time.
I also just love stories with big stakes! Looking at the news these days, it so often feels like we’re heading towards the end of the world. Fantasy books can really capture that anxiety; that feeling of apocalyptic doom. But there’s also often a hopeful note, with individual people taking a stand against evil. I think that’s a really important message.
I noticed at the end of The Ninth Sorceress you said you’d been writing the story for several years, could you elaborate on that a little more?
I was about sixteen when I started this story. I wasn’t sure what it was about yet, but I had the character of Gwyn, and a basic concept of the world. I started writing with no idea what I was doing, and it took me a long time and a lot of drafts to figure out the actual story I wanted to tell.
Of course, I was doing things other than writing in my twenties. I went to law school, and barely did any writing over those three years, because my brain was mush. Then I was busy establishing my career, moving out of home, travelling… I was still writing, but not very seriously. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to knuckle down and actually get this book done.
Which authors and other texts have had the strongest influence on you as a writer?
Robert Jordan is my absolute favourite author, and I can definitely see his fingerprints all over my writing style. I was devastated when he passed. There’s no way The Ninth Sorceress would exist without him.
I also really adore Frank Herbert. I don’t think my style is that similar, but I’m inspired by the sheer scale of his writing and the world he created in Dune. Amidst all the galaxy-spanning conflict, you get a sense of the individual characters, their psychology, their struggle. He had a real talent for marrying the personal with the universal. Love Dune, love his work, very excited for the Denis Villeneuve movie this year!
From where have you drawn inspiration in your worldbuilding?
Oh, pretty much everywhere! I studied modern and ancient history in high school, and kept up the interest as an adult. So real-life history is one influence, especially in terms of crafting the various countries and cultures and technologies. My world is roughly 17th century, minus firearms, plus magic. I do a lot of research!
Another slightly off-beat influence is the world of the Elder Scrolls games. Back in 2011 everyone was playing Skyrim, but I started a bit earlier, in 2002, with Morrowind. I always enjoyed how each country and region felt so distinctive, and there was a real sense of history; of a true, living world. It’s something I try to capture in my own work.
There’s a great quote that goes somewhere along the lines of ‘everybody is trying to re-write the poem they first fell in love with’; I think that we could easily replace ‘poem’ with ‘book’. What is the book that you first fell in love with?
Well, it wasn’t the first, but there’s one book that’s basically the love of my life. It’s Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World. I read it when I was a teen, and I’ve never forgotten the feeling of just entering this huge, huge world. The magic is so tangible, and you just fall in love with the characters. Even though it was released in 1990, it could have been written yesterday. I must have read it about a thousand times. It could probably quote the whole book in my sleep.
After The Ninth Sorceress, what can we expect from you?
I’m about to hand in Book 2, and I’ve already started work on Book 3! So you’ll be seeing a lot more of these characters and this world over the next few years.
After that, I have a cool idea percolating in the back of my mind. It’s about witches, set in the modern day. I love the world of The Ninth Sorceress, but it will be fun to have a change of pace.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
My fellow Talem Press author Bronwyn Eley put out her debut novel Relic last year, and it’s amazing! Lots of twists and turns, and an ending that’s totally jaw-dropping. I try to push this book on basically everyone I meet, because it’s such a fun read and Bronwyn is an awesome writer. Book 2 will be out this year, but the wait is killing me. I’m going to try to get an advance copy.
Otherwise… do I sound like a broken record if I say The Wheel of Time again? A lot of people haven’t read them, because they’re kind of old and very long and there are about a million books. But it’s so worth it. Seriously; I consider them essential reading for any fantasy lover, especially with the TV series coming out soon.
