We chat with co-authors Dana Schwartz and Dan Frey, writing under the pen name S. D. Coverly, about The Arcane Arts, which is a thrilling and sensuous dark academia fantasy, an ambitious graduate student and her advisor dive into studying a taboo branch of magic, igniting a dangerous passion between them.
Hi, Dana and Dan? Can you tell our readers a bit about yourselves?
Dana: I am an author and a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles. I also host a podcast called NOBLE BLOOD which tells stories of royals throughout history. I think I tend to be drawn to darker stories—I wrote a YA duology (Anatomy: A Love Story, and Immortality: A Love Story) about a young woman in 19th century Edinburgh becoming a surgeon and falling in love with a grave robber. That’s one thing I loved about writing The Arcane Arts with Dan; we were both excited about exploring darker impulses and creating a book that was moody, bloody, sexy and romantic all at once. I think that covers most of the biographical basics. I have two cats, named Eddie and Beetlejuice. My son is called Arthur. I wish I was the type of person who did more hobbies but I’ve discovered that I’m too impatient for knitting and when I bake, I end up just eating it all myself.
Dan: Also a screenwriter and author living in LA, realizing I’d better start a podcast soon to compete with the breadth of Dana’s career. I gravitate toward all the nerdy genres: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, really anything with a speculative what-if to it. As for hobbies… I attend Dana’s well-hosted book club and a rowdy D&D group, and I manage my anxiety by hiking and biking and rollerblading. The rest of my free time is consumed with two daughters, who are now old enough to play make-believe and ask for endless bedtime stories, so the imaginative work never stops.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Dana: I loved writing for as long as I can remember. My mom still has a book I “wrote” when I was three years old about ducklings being lost in a storm. Reading really became my escape when I was younger. I would disappear into my room and read for hours, sometimes the same books over and over again until they became soft and the covers fell off.
Dan: I escaped into books when I was growing up too–from Arizona heat, from suburban ennui, from a tumultuous home life–and my gateway authors were the initial-guys, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. (No wonder we landed on S.D. Coverly for our pseudonym). My first stab at writing came at age 8, when I finished Return of the King, and started writing what we’d now called LotR fanfiction.
Your latest novel, The Arcane Arts, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Dana: Sexy professor-student magic mystery.
Dan: A fantasy book about fantasies.
What can readers expect?
Dana: We set out to write a romantic book that didn’t shy away from darker impulses that felt real. I think neither of us wanted to recycle “tropes” that readers have seen a million times. One of the benefits of writing a dual-POV book is that Dan and I could challenge each other with new ideas and make our characters as specific and lived-in as possible. This is a story about two obsessive, big-hearted people who think that the world wants them to distance themselves from their emotions, and they find something messy and beautiful in each other.
Dan: This is a book that seeks to indulge a taboo fantasy, but also interrogates it. Why are we drawn to power dynamics? And is it possible to balance that type of eroticism with a real relationship, built on trust and respect? Can you tie someone up, even control their mind–and then have a healthy partnership and make decisions together?
Where did the inspiration for The Arcane Arts come from?
Dana: Dan and I met at the release for his book DREAMBOUND, and immediately hit it off. We realized we were both screenwriters living in LA and writing books, so we met for coffee, and it really was just apparent in a second that we shared an artistic sensibility—we love things that are romantic without being maudlin, epic without being cliché. We both wanted to write exciting, thrilling plots centered around fun ideas without sacrificing nuanced characters. Our first idea for a book was to do it entirely in emails back and forth—an epistolary novel—but eventually we realized we wanted to really get into our character’s heads to make the book as strong as possible. Although the sexy emails remained!
Dan: THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR was an inspiration for the structure and the collaboration we undertook. And I think we inspired each other throughout the writing. I was impressed with the emotional depth Dana had found writing excellent YA romance books, and she saw how that could merge with the type of speculative fiction I’d written. It’s rare to find someone who really challenges you–creatively and personally and intellectually–and out of our conversations, this book was born.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Dana: For me, I think working with Dan on the world-building was so much fun. It was more ambitious, really, than anything I had worked on on my own, because we were trying to create a system of magic that was grounded and felt real, and might actually exist in our real world. It was fun talking through the ramifications of how magic would have affected history—when did people first use it, and when did they stop? We got to invent history, which is only slightly more fun than the historical research I do for my podcast every week.
Dan: The emails were always the most fun parts to write, especially because we did it from our actual accounts, so at any point in the day I might get a new micro-chapter from Dana. And the exchanges particularly felt like a tennis match, since the characters are always playing an intellectual game, and each of us constantly wanted to surprise the other and raise the bar.
Can you tell us about your co-authoring process?
Dana: I authored the chapters from the point of view of Ellsbeth, the young graduate student…
Dan: And I wrote the Rawlins POV chapters. But we started with an overview of the whole story, so it felt like there was a structure within which we could improvise.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Dana: I think the biggest challenge is just my impatience and insistence that I’m always right. Luckily, Dan usually came around.
Dan: Unfortunately that’s all true. Also, writing together is vulnerable; sharing your work always is, but even more so doing it with pages mere minutes after they’re typed. We had to teach other other how each of us gives and receives feedback, and trust in the shared vision.
What’s next for you both?
Dana: We’re working on the screenplay for the film adaptation of The Arcane Arts, and I’m writing a new novel re-imagining the teenage years of Queen Elizabeth I—if she were haunted by the beheaded ghost of her mother, Anne Boleyn.
Dan: A kids’ movie, of all things; I co-wrote the last film in Disney’s Descendants franchise, as well as the next one, which releases in July. And some other film projects that hopefully I’ll be able to share about soon.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
Dana: I love Lily King, and so I devoured HEART THE LOVER. Some other books I’ve loved this year are YESTERYEAR, TYLL, and, for a grounded rom-com, CONSIDER YOURSELF KISSED.
Dan: NONESUCH is a banger. I really liked YESTERYEAR too. Finally read POSSESSION, which is a classic for a reason. And I’m looking forward to many, including Emily St Mandel’s EXIT PARTY.
