When one thinks of Sarah Henning, you can only envisage epic action sequences, villains made relatable, and epic storytelling that leaves you wanting more. Hitting the publishing scene in 2018 with her origin of Ursula’s plight, she has gone from strength to strength. In her new novel, The Princess Will Save You, Henning once again knocks it out of the park with her gender bent twist on the classic fairytale narrative. Talking all things publishing, strong women and holiday destinations, Nerd Daily contributor Tasha Leigh had the opportunity to ask these burning questions!
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. So to start off, what drew you to writing?
Thanks for having me, Tasha and The Nerd Daily fam! You all are so supportive.
To answer your question, I’ve always been drawn to writing. As a kid, before I could write words, I was drawing stories out on construction paper and stapling them together in order to form a story. Once I could write words and sentences, that’s where I wanted to be.
For those out there who have never read any of your work, how would you describe your writing style/ novels?
Honestly, I can say I’m sort of all over the map! My fantasies, Sea Witch, Sea Witch Rising and The Princess Will Save You all have almost a historical fiction element to them—particularly the first two—and the writing style matches. More descriptive and evocative, etc. But my contemporary debut, Throw Like a Girl, is more of a commercial style—less about gorgeousness and more about action and economy. But what they all have in common is that the heroines use their strengths and don’t sit back.
Throughout your body of work, you do a lot of alternate retellings and gender bending. What initially inspired you to embrace this now popular style of storytelling?
I didn’t do it to be popular (LOL), I did it because I was interested in it. I actually don’t consider Sea Witch to be a retelling, though it is often referred to as one. In my head, it’s an origin story with elements of a retelling. Sea Witch Rising is actually much closer to a true retelling of The Little Mermaid…except that everything falls apart after it all goes wrong. The Princess Will Save You isn’t a retelling exactly either—it is a story inspired by The Princess Bride. If you’re going into it thinking that you’re getting The Princess Bride but completely gender bent, you might be surprised. It takes the scaffolding of The Princess Bride and turns the damsel-in-distress trope on its head in a way that I hope readers will appreciate.
How does your writing process differ between retellings such as Sea Witch and other types of narratives such as your January 2020 release, Throw Like A Girl?
Honestly, it’s actually not that different. As I mentioned earlier, the language varies between types of stories, but my process doesn’t. As a small example, all of my books have some element of an action sequence in them and, in my experience, it’s not that different to write a battle scene versus a sports sequence. I have a background in sports journalism and every magical action or battle scene in the Sea Witch books or The Princess Will Save You drew on that personal history of mine just as much as the football and softball scenes in Throw Like a Girl. The types of words are difference but the cadence and momentum are the same.
Beyond examples like that, I should say I just like telling a good tale and I’ve been lucky so far in my career that I’ve been able to tell widely different types of stories. I view it sort of like being an actor—some actors try to have a varied resume, and thrive on playing a wide spectrum of characters, while some, either by design or not, are pigeonholed into the same type of character all the time and do it well.
Your signature style of storytelling always involves strong, independent female characters. In the ever-evolving world of publishing, how important do you feel it is to see these types of protagonists?
I think it’s crucial to tell stories with female characters that have agency and stand up for themselves. This is part of the reason I wanted to touch on what I love about The Princess Bride in The Princess Will Save You. I love The Princess Bride to death, but I have always found a certain amount of discomfort with it. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I could put my finger on what exactly bothered me: the scene after Buttercup’s sham of a wedding to Humperdinck.
Buttercup has given up on everything. Somehow she has managed to secure not only a dagger but also a private room, and decides that she must end it—a future with the traitorous Humperdinck is far too bleak without the hope of ever seeing Westley again. The Buttercup we met at the beginning of this story, or even in the middle of it, would’ve taken that dagger and paid revenge. As fierce as she was, she would have done whatever she could have to reclaim her life and her love. And yet she didn’t. I wanted to address the discomfort I had with her inaction—and that of other damsel-type characters—in my own way.
In all your narratives, there are underlying romantic themes, regardless of setting. Do your relationships come first? Or the narrative?
The narrative does for sure. I love romantic elements because that’s who I am, but I have never written a tale that I consider to be purely about the romance. It’s secondary in how I plot my stories and it’s secondary to how I write them. I think this is because we as people are more than our relationships, even though love stories are so resonant.
So your next novel is The Princess Will Save You releasing from Tor Teen in July. Its been described as a genderbent The Princess Bride. Can you tell me a little about the novel?
The Princess Will Save You is the story of Princess Amarande of Ardenia, whose commoner true love, a stable boy named Luca, is kidnapped in a bid to push her into a political marriage. But rather than play the game, she changes it—setting out to rescue Luca, and possibly her kingdom’s future in the process.
This is a quest tale in which you will find sword fights, pirates of questionable talents, and a pursuit within a pursuit. There are scheming princes, potions, and smart women who want more. There are beasts, a fairytale setting that both feels familiar and faraway, and science that borders on magic. And, of course, a big portion of it is an exploration of what women can do in the face of those who believe they won’t succeed, no matter the reason.
Around halfway through Princess, the audience is given a reprieve from the action when it seems that everything is okay but then you come out with some more big plot points. Do you plan out your action before hand? Or does the narrative shape itself?
I knew exactly what I wanted to happen in the second half but even then I let my characters surprise me because I figure that if I’m surprised, my readers will be surprised. Therefore, I’m sort of a hybrid plotter and “panster.” I have to plot out more than I used to because I’m to the point where my agent and editors often need to know exactly what I’m doing, but when I’m in a scene, if my brain is telling me to turn left when I’d planned to go right, I turn left. I believe flexibility is important and that your stated idea might not always be your best one.
Now, I have to say, that Epilogue made me feel a whole spectrum of emotions in those few pages. Should we brace for more revelatory moments in the as yet untitled followup to The Princess Will Save You?
I’m very glad you had that reaction to the epilogue! Yes, the second book will build on what we’ve learned and, believe me, there’s so much even the main characters don’t know.
Can we expect to see more Ula, Urtzi and Dunixi in the future?
Oh, my pirates! I do love them. Yes, they’ll be back.
If you could read fanfic about any of your characters, who would it be?
I’d love to read any of it! I do think there are some characters that would make more interesting fanfic than others. Like either Addie or Ryan from Throw Like a Girl would be super fun. Or Ula or Osana from The Princess Will Save You.
What is your favourite fan ship of any of your work?
Oh, gosh. I hear often that readers want to know more about the relationship between Addie and Nick in Throw Like a Girl or I get asked if they’ll have their own book. I also hear from folks who want more from Runa and Will in Sea Witch Rising. That said, I’m fairly certain Ula from The Princess Will Save You is going to sail several ships. And I’d be happy with that! LOL.
How has the current COVID-19 situation changed your usual pre-launch routine?
Oh, well, it’s definitely made things different! Typically by now, I’d be confirming all of my travel arrangements, buying clothes I don’t need, and sweating how it’s all going to work with my current deadlines! But instead, I have a wonderful team at Tor Teen who is coordinating with all of the bookstores that were to host events and helping to make everything virtual. It’s always so nice to meet readers and wonderful bookstore owners, but it’s safest for everyone this way.
Where can readers expect to see you in the near future?
I have several virtual bookstore events scheduled the first two weeks of July. The best thing about them is that you can visit from anywhere! I’ll have final information on my website but for now, know I’m doing events with Amanda Sellet (By The Book), Miranda Asebedo (A Constellation of Roses), Amalie Howard (The Beast of Beswick), and Bethany C. Morrow (A Song Below Water). I’ll also be doing live events with YATVLive and Crossroads Reviews among others.
And last question for a bit of fun, if you could only read 5 more books in your lifetime, what would they be?
Books I haven’t read? Or new ones? Hmmm. I suppose I’ll go with books I know I love and would read repeatedly: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, The Providence Rider (Book 4 in the Matthew Corbett series) by Robert McCammon, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
QUICKFIRE ROUND
- Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction
- Plotter or pantser? Hybrid!
- Favourite bookish trope? Friends to lovers.
- Least favourite bookish trope? I like any of them as long as they’re done well! If they’re not executed properly, any of them can be the worst.
- Coffee or tea? Coffee (Thanks, publishing!)
- Pizza or pasta? Pizza.
- Beach holiday or hiking in the bush? Hiking in the mountains.
- Convention crowds or smaller signings? I like both!
- Sunny or rainy? Gimme sun!
- If you could pick a single holiday destination for the rest of your life, where would it be? Summers in Colorado.
- Music, books or Netflix – you can only pick 2? Books and Netflix.
- If you could recommend five authors to the general public that are must reads, who would they be? Kellye Garrett, Megan Bannen, Ashley Woodfolk, Adib Khorram, Robert McCammon
