Q&A: Maggie Stiefvater, Author of ‘Call Down The Hawk’

Image Credit: Stephen Voss

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Raven Boys, a mesmerising story of dreams and desires, death and destiny.

We had the absolute pleasure of chatting with author Maggie Stiefvater about Call Down The Hawk, which is her upcoming novel and the start to her new Dreamer series. She talks about the inspiration behind the series and what part she really enjoyed writing, along with what’s next for her and book recommendations. We also just had to ask about the Syfy adaptation of The Raven Boys!

You can find Maggie on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, along with at her website.

Hi Maggie! Tell us a little about yourself!

I’m an artist, musician, and writer who lives in the dreamy Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I was born here; it’s a place full of secret stories and hidden magic. Also lifted pick-up trucks and dairy cows. It’s a good place for me to write, play my bagpipes, and raise a family.

Your new novel, Call Down The Hawk, publishes on November 5^th. If you could only describe your book in five words, what would they be?

Fever dream supernatural family thriller.

Let’s hear a little more! What can readers expect?

The trilogy revolves around Ronan Lynch, a young man who can take things out of his dreams, and Jordan Hennessy, a gifted art forger. The two find themselves deep in a black market world of magical artifacts and forged art while also trying to take care of their unusual families. They don’t realize a bigger problem is bubbling on the horizon: a group called the Moderators are doing their level best to take out every dreamer they find, as they’ve got it on good authority that one of them is going to end the world very soon.

What made you want to write Call Down The Hawk?

As a musician and as an artist (I was a full-time portrait artist before becoming a full-time author a decade ago), I love exploring how the gift of dreaming things into being can be a metaphor for all the pleasures and dangers and weight of creativity. I’m also fascinated by the idea of what makes something an original versus a forgery.

And as one of five children in my family, I also love messy family stories, and the three Lynch brothers have plenty of mess in their pedigree to go around.

Was there a certain chapter, character, or scene that you really enjoyed writing?

I had a pretty good time writing this entire book, to tell you the truth — it’s got everything I like in it: dreaming, forgery, mindgame magic, car chases, sibling battles, doppelgangers. But I will have to say that I enjoyed playing with the character Jordan Hennessy very much. She’s been in my head for ages. In fact, the first and only fiction writing prize I ever won — a national first chapter contest, entered in my teens — was a Hennessy chapter, which is a little odd to think about. I wonder if I still even have that chapter? Back in the day I wrote everything on an ancient IBM. Floppy drives and corruption, that’s where my early works are stored.

Anyway, Hennessy: Everything about her character lets me explore concepts I find curious. What makes identity? Are we different people in different situations? How much of yourself can you give away before there’s nothing left? Hennessy is my answer to all of that.

What’s your writing process like?

I have to know what the book feels like.

To me, that’s the most important thing. That’s what the reader will remember long after they forget the nuances of the plot. They’ll remember what it felt like to be lost in the pages.

It means I don’t have any qualms about throwing out hundreds of pages of plot that feel wrong in order to rewrite them with the mood I actually want. I don’t really want readers to feel as if they’ve read a book. I want them to feel as if they’ve gone somewhere.

Now, we can’t not ask about the Syfy adaptation of The Raven Cycle series. While I’m sure things are heavily under wraps, what has this new venture been like and how is it going?

Oh, man. All I can say is that I was asked to write a pilot for the show and that writing for TV is basically the opposite of writing a Stiefvater novel. In a novel, the thing I control the most is the mood. Writing a script? That’s the first thing you delegate. It’s been fascinating and educational and I have my fingers crossed we’ll end up with something that entertains.

What’s next for you?

Call Down the Hawk is a trilogy opener, so I’m just finishing book two of that now. I’ve got a Swamp Thing graphic novel with DC coming out in 2020 — weirdly enough, it is also about magic and identity. And after that? I’m working on something big and ambitious, but I don’t want to say anything about it yet. Ideas can get a little bitey if you try to hold them too tight in the early stages.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?

I have Shaun Tan’s Tales from the Inner City currently sitting on my desk, and I love it. Magic and art and restrained words. I read Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind Canvas while writing Call Down the Hawk, and I enjoyed it hugely. And finally, I recently reread L’Engle’s A Wind in the Door and found that it held up just as marvelously as in my childhood, so I’ll add that too, for some slippery mindgame magic.

Will you be picking up Call Down The Hawk? Tell us in the comments below!