With her debut novel, Beyond the Ruby Veil, Mara Fitzgerald introduces us to a blood soaked world with a villain protagonist and a slow burn enemies to lovers that will leave you begging for more. I recently got the chance to ask Mara some questions about what her publishing journey has been like, the inspirations behind the intense atmosphere of Beyond the Ruby Veil, and what has been bringing her joy in this chaotic year.
Hi Mara! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions for The Nerd Daily! Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Thank you for having me! I’m so happy to be here. The first thing you should know about me is that I hate being perceived by others and am reluctant to tell you about myself, but I will give it a try. I am but a simple writer who currently lives in Tennessee. One of the fictional characters I resemble most is Ben Wyatt. I own a Venus flytrap that I am emotionally invested in.
What can readers expect from Beyond the Ruby Veil?
It’s a dark fantasy with a villainous protagonist that also has: classic fantasy tropes turned around, goth horror aesthetics, sapphic chaos, and blood. People always mention being surprised by the amount of blood, so I feel like I should emphasize that.
Can you tell us a bit about the journey of bringing Beyond the Ruby Veil from story idea to published novel?
While in the midst of trying to work on another book idea that wasn’t going anywhere, I woke up from a dream about two characters who were looking for something. I immediately began to interrogate this—what were they looking for, and why was it missing in the first place, and why did it matter so much to them? It’s probably also worth mentioning that a couple days later, I went under the influence of anesthesia for unrelated reasons, and immediately afterward was when I began to write. But I’m sure that had no impact at all on how strange it turned out.
Getting any book from story idea to published novel is a long journey. Beyond the Ruby Veil is a bit of an unusual book, or so I have been told, and my writing process is very chaotic. It took me a long time to figure out my vision for it even was, let alone how to execute that vision in a way that could get an agent and editor onboard. Hopefully this will be a glimmer of hope to someone else—I got a lot of rejections that amounted to, “wow, this sure is something, but I don’t know what I would do with it.” But here it is!
What has been some of the most helpful advice you’ve gotten during your publishing experience?
Keep your eyes own your own paper. It only takes one “yes” and you never know if yours is right around the corner. And most importantly: don’t self-reject! There’s enough rejection in this business already—you don’t need to pile more upon yourself because society has made you feel like a person like you, with books like yours, can’t get published. I promise that a lot of us out here want to read them.
One of the things that struck me while reading Beyond the Ruby Veil was how incredibly different Emanuela is from almost any other YA protagonist I’ve ever read (PS. I LOVE HER FOR THIS!). How did you approach creating such an unlikeable character, that ultimately readers end up rooting for?
I think what I’m about to say goes for all characters, not just “unlikeable” ones—we as writers can be well-served by letting go of the idea that we can control how readers feel about them. Part of the fun of a book is seeing how different people react to different things. Rather than declare with a megaphone “this character is unequivocally a good person and is your new favorite,” my favorite authors let us decide by paying attention to who in the story is allowed depth and complexity. If we are able to see someone’s reasons for their actions—able to see them at their best and their worst—than we can choose for ourselves how we feel. I think of Beyond the Ruby Veil as a book where the obviously one-dimensional “villain” dies in chapter three, and everyone left is struggling over the best way forward. Emanuela is definitely terrible. But hopefully, you as readers understand why.
Beyond the Ruby Veil is incredibly atmospheric. What were some of your inspirations for creating the feel and essence of the world in the novel?
I love classic fantasy, like the Wizard of Oz, and I love stuff that’s weird and spooky. And also, I remember how it felt to love dystopian YA in 2012. I wanted to bring all of those things together, and apparently, add a lot more blood.
If you could cast any actor, from any time period, for each of the four main characters, who would you choose?
Don’t get mad at me at this copout but here is how it goes in my head…it’s either a cartoon with a fabulous aesthetic, or if it’s real people (also with a fabulous aesthetic), everyone is played by an unknown except the watercrea, the aforementioned villainous witch who gets killed like ten minutes in. The watercrea would be played by someone famous. Like Idina Menzel, for example. Much to think about.
Even with 2020 being the chaotic year that it is, what have been some things that have brought you joy this year?
On a minor note, everyone says millennials need to find hobbies that they don’t monetize, so I’ve been playing the cello and taking requests for songs on my Instagram. Another more important thing that always makes me happy is watching progress being made in YA publishing. This year, the Melanin in YA database launched. This is a directory for everyone in publishing to use: you can search for Black authors, agents, editors, cover designers, narrators, influencers, and more. I highly recommend you bookmark it!
Are there any books, movies, or TV shows you’ve read/watched in 2020 that you could recommend?
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown invented enemies-to-lovers and is also a great example of intricate world building. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is that iconic splashy YA fantasy you’ve been looking for. I mentioned in an earlier answer about still loving tropes from 2012 YA and wanting to reinvent them—Legendborn totally does that, showing us that they were never dead in the first place (love triangles, anyone???). Outside of YA, The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is dark and spooky and caused me to scream more than once.
Lastly, what are you working on now or in the near future? *crosses fingers for Beyond the Ruby Veil 2 hints*
I’m currently writing the sequel to Beyond the Ruby Veil. It’s a duology, so this will be the end of the story! It’s been quite fun, because I set up a lot of dominoes in book one and now I get to knock them all down and dive deeper into some elements and characters we didn’t get to see enough of previously. My hint about the content: it’s actually less bloody…but it’s weirder.
