The Lady Alchemist, which releases May 26th, is the debut novel from Samantha Vitale. The story is a blend of alchemy, magic, and fighting for your true self. I recently got a chance to ask her a few questions about her novel, her writing process, and where she pulls inspiration from.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your debut novel, The Lady Alchemist?
I’m an engineering manager working in a very complex field. That, plus a husband and two kids, means that I don’t have a lot of time for writing! (Which, in turn, means I treasure every minute I can grab.)
The Lady Alchemist is a Brothers Grimm meets Fullmetal Alchemist retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. It’s about as nerdy as it gets, and I’ve stuffed it full of things I absolutely love – plot twists, creepy magic, scary monsters, kissy scenes. Many elements of the story, particularly Sepha’s emotional journey, come straight from my heart. I loved writing about Sepha and her friends, and I can’t wait to share her story with everyone.
Where did the idea behind The Lady Alchemist come from?
The concept for The Lady Alchemist came to me while I was at a conference to pitch a different book. The pitch for the other book DID NOT GO WELL, so I needed another pitch immediately, or else I might as well have gone home early. The other book was also a Rumpelstiltskin retelling, and I wanted to stick with the base story of Rumpelstiltskin.
So I found myself with less than twelve hours to come up with an entirely new concept. I spent the night furiously researching. One thing led to another, and suddenly the idea of a Rumpelstiltskin retelling clanged against the aesthetic of Fullmetal Alchemist (an awesome show/manga). Just like that, I had the basic concept: a Rumpelstiltskin retelling in which the main character is challenged to alchemically transmute straw into gold.
I put together my new pitch and fell even more in love with the concept during the remainder of the conference. The new pitch garnered some interest and I dove into writing the book as soon as I got home.
What was your process for building such a complex magic system?
In a word: slow. It took me a very long time to work out the rules for alchemy and magic. Alchemy and magic are both very powerful, so having either exist without serious limitations would result in a world full of over-powered characters.
In the end, actual science helped me build limitations into my alchemy system. I’ll spare you the technical details and just say that I combined the concept of particle-antiparticle annihilation and the law of conservation of mass to build the mechanism for how alchemy works in The Lady Alchemist. From there, I added detailed rules about how different kinds of alchemical exchanges could be performed, and that was that. (…she says nonchalantly. Really, it took a long time to conceptualize how it would work. It took even longer to figure out how to explain it simply and clearly.)
When it came to the magic system, I wanted to twist the concept of elemental magic. Unlike with typical elemental magic, my magicians are able to use their power on anything, not just on their element. But that freedom meant that I had to provide strict limitations in other ways. In The Lady Alchemist, I visualize a magician’s amount of power almost like a stamina bar in video games – certain actions make the magician’s “stamina” run out faster than others. The magicians have very serious personal consequences if they run out of magical “stamina,” and there is a very specific method by which they can regain it. These limitations helped to ensure that magicians couldn’t just decide to take over the world whenever they felt like it.
In the context of your magic system, would you rather be an alchemist or magician?
I would rather be a magician. I’m way too impatient to be an alchemist.
There are quite a few plot twists in The Lady Alchemist. Are the twists planned out beforehand or do they manifest during writing?
The majority of the plot twists were planned from the very beginning. Because the story is told from Sepha’s point of view, a lot of information had to come as a twist, or at least as a surprise. She comes from a history of emotional and physical abuse, and has had very little education or life experience, so she discovers a lot of information about her own world at the same time as the reader.
That being said, some of the twists did come about through discovery rather than from premeditated outlining. Parts of the world and plot revealed themselves to me as I wrote, which was a new and exciting experience for me as a writer.
When you are in writing mode, what does an average day look like for you?
During the week, I wake up early (around 5, 5:30 AM) to get up to an hour of writing in before work. The early morning is the only time of day that everyone else is asleep, so that’s my most reliable writing time. After work, I grab twenty-minute intervals during the afternoon (if possible) and then try for at least half an hour after the kids are asleep.
On the weekends, it’s the same thing – I wake up early and do a marathon session of writing, cramming as much work as I can into my free time.
It’s pretty exhausting. I have to be careful not to stay up too late and wake up too early because, you know, sleep is super important.
Where do you pull your creative inspirations from (other books, TV shows, eras in history, etc.)?
Of course I get so much inspiration from other authors – Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, Sabaa Tahir, S. A. Chakraborty, Susan Dennard, and Maggie Stiefvater are all hugely inspiring to me, to name a few. There are so many talented people out there creating amazing stories, and I am seriously in awe of what they can do with words on paper.
I also find a lot of inspiration from nonfiction books, magazines, and documentaries. Our universe is weird and fascinating and improbable, and I’ve had some really exciting breakthroughs come from nonfiction sources.
What piece of writing advice has helped you the most?
The best writing advice I’ve gotten wasn’t about writing at all. It’s a quote from the Netflix documentary series, Abstract – the episode about the artist Christoph Niemann. At one point, Christoph says, “It’s not about waiting for hours for this moment where inspiration strikes. It’s just about showing up and getting started, and then something amazing happens, or it doesn’t happen. All that matters is you enable the chance for something to happen. And for that, you have to sit at your desk and draw, and do, and make decisions, and hope for the best.”
I have turned to that quote more often than I can count! Sometimes I get into this state of mind where I feel uninspired or unmotivated. This quote reminds me that creating art isn’t about feeling motivated or inspired – it’s about sitting down, staring the computer in the face, and doing the work. There’s nothing tragic about my lack of motivation. There’s nothing divine about other authors’ completed books. It all gets done the same way: by people who sit down and hope and write, and keep writing until they’re finished.
Can you tell us about what you are working on next?
Right now, my main project is the sequel to The Lady Alchemist. I’ve finished a rough draft, and I’m really excited about where the story is going! I have a few other adult and YA fantasy projects in the works that I’m also excited about, but they’re on the back burner until I get the sequel turned in.
