A world of enchanted injustice needs a disenchanting woman in the newest fantasy series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.
We chat to author Charlie N. Holmberg about her recent release Spellbreaker, fandoms, book recommendations, and much more!
Thank you for taking the time to do a Q&A for The Nerd Daily! To start this off, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks for having me! I’m a romance-loving fantasy writer from Salt Lake City, UT. Mom of two, married to the love of my life. Glasses-wearer, dog-lover, songwriter, God-fearer. I also like shaving patterns into the back of my head. 😉
Did you always want to be a writer or were you set on a different career when you were younger?
I got interested in writing when I was 13, and decided I wanted to be an author during my teen years. Before that I wanted to be Britney Spears…
As a teenager, you used to write fanfiction – what fandoms did you dabble in and who were your favorite characters?
I wrote fanfiction for anime! Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi, Rurouni Kenshin. Fushigi Yuugi was my favorite (I have an almost 500,000-word fanfiction for that show that’s basically a self-serving Mary Sue). I adored Nuriko and Tasuki from that series. (And Saitou from Kenshin.)
Do you feel that fanfic helped you develop the skills to become a published author or did you find that the process for writing original fiction is very different?
Yes! They say that, as an author, your first million words are crap. Well, my first million words are fanfiction. 😉 That was my first experience with reviews as well. Writing original fiction is fairly similar, except that I have to create all the worldbuilding and surrounding cast instead of borrowing it.
Has your writing routine changed much with the *gestures wildly* everything of 2020?
My writing routine hasn’t changed much! I’m a stay-at-home mom and a stay-at-home writer, so when everything closed down, I wasn’t directly affected as much. But it definitely changed promo. All my events were either cancelled or moved online, which has its pros and its cons.
How would you describe your newest novel Spellbreaker in one sentence?
In a Victorian world where a person can either make spells or break spells, one plucky young woman plays Robin Hood while trying to sort out the sudden string of magician-murders plaguing England.
Spellbreaker’s heroine Elsie supports the Robin Hood mentality – do you agree with her belief that the ends justify the means?
Any time that idea comes up, I think it really depends. It depends on the ends, it depends on the means, it depends on every individual situation.
The magical system in Elsie’s world is fascinating with the four different types of spellmaking from physical, rational, spiritual to temporal runes. Which would you choose to specialize in if you were able to cast these spells?
I think I would do rational. I think it would prove the most useful in our modern world—be able to hear what people are thinking, speak to others without being overheard, manipulate people you’re arguing with… XD (I’m not a sociopath I swear.)
As a fan of slow-burn romance, the gradually developing romantic tension between Elsie and Bacchus is intoxicating! Do you enjoy drawing out the unresolved tension between the main couple or do you prefer writing the part where they’re together?
I love the tension! Obviously the resolution of the romance is fantastic, but it also signals the end of the tension, which is where the page-turning lives. So scenes with a lot of tension are my favorite!
Lastly, what have you read recently? Do you have any recommendations?
I’ve been burning through a lot of Amy Harmon’s books! I recently read and loved Where the Lost Wander and Running Barefoot. I also really loved Stain by A.G. Howard and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Definitely recommend all of the above!
