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.

Will you be picking up The Lady Alchemist? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Samantha Vitale, Author of ‘The Lady Alchemist’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Sepha has the livelihood of her town, Three Mills, riding on her strange alchemy skills. When her alchemy demonstration for the Magistrate goes awry, Sepha is commanded to turn straw into gold or face execution. As she desperately tries to perform the impossible alchemy from her jail cell, Sepha is approached by a strange magician who makes a deal with her: he will turn the straw to gold, if she agrees to give him her first born child or alchemically create him a new body in one year. Desperate to save her town and herself, Sepha agrees and suddenly finds herself becoming The Lady Alchemist to the Magistrate. But Sepha’s troubles are far from over as she navigates alchemist politics and uncovers shocking truths about the origins of magicians, alchemy, and herself.

The novel is complex in ways that work both for and against it. There is a lot going on in this book and it is sometimes hard to keep hold of the plot. Sepha feels pulled in her actions by the contract with the Magician, her mysterious connection to Ruhen, and eventually other internal things. It felt like there were too many things pulling on Sepha and in turn, the plot, which led to confusion.

While a complex magic system is always appreciated, the alchemy and magic in this one never quite clicked. The bones of the system were there, but it felt like we were being bounced from evil magicians to court alchemists to spirit alchemists and more. Either more fleshing out of how everything worked or a paring down of the magic system was needed for the magic/alchemy side of the story to work.

Sepha is a sympathetic character that many readers will relate to. She doesn’t always make the best choices, but she is always trying. There is an odd blend of confidence and naivete in her, but considering her strong alchemy skills and her sheltered, tragic childhood, it makes sense. Along with Sepha, there are three other main characters that vary in their characterisation. Ruhen is a clear love interest from the start, but he has hidden depths that help his character come along as the story progresses. Henric is the typical haughty boy, but he vacillates far too much from being a jerk (sometimes just for the sake of being a jerk) to seeming introspective and helpful. Destry is the level headed one of the group and having her around brings a much needed sense of logic to the story.

The hardest part of the story to work through was the homunculus side plot. First, there is the fact that the homunculi are treated like slaves and the eventual explanation of their subjection is not satisfactory in the slightest. Second, they are a deus ex machina for the story and in terms of the plot, are just remarked upon randomly and then forgotten for a time. There are actual moments where Sepha’s homunculus does something completely out of the ordinary and Sepha basically goes “Hmm, that was odd. I’ll think about it later.” This happens at least twice before it’s ever actually addressed (which, of course, happens just as they need something to help them defeat the Magician). All told, the story would have been far better without the homunculi.

The Lady Alchemist is a good debut. It has its faults, some bigger than others, but it is easy to see that Vitale can craft intriguing worlds and stories. As her writing continues to grow and improve, I think we can expect some fantastic fantasy stories from Samantha Vitale.

The Lady Alchemist is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of May 26th.

Will you be picking up The Lady Alchemist? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

In a land torn between magic and alchemy, Sepha is an exceptional alchemist, able to bend the rules in ways no one else can. But when a slip of the tongue lands her in prison with a mountain of straw, even she has to admit that she can’t transmute straw into gold.

With the threat of a death sentence hanging over her, she’s forced to make a deal with a conniving magician. Sepha escapes with her life – but at a cost: she has one year to alchemically create a body for the magician, or else her firstborn child will be his.

As Sepha’s deadline approaches, she uncovers a deadly secret. How can she save her country when the body she owes the magician will be used to destroy it?

The post Review: The Lady Alchemist by Samantha Vitale appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read the official synopsis below, along with the first chapter! Be sure to add this one to your Goodreads!

In a land torn between magic and alchemy, Sepha is an exceptional alchemist, able to bend the rules in ways no one else can. But when a slip of the tongue lands her in prison with a mountain of straw, even she has to admit that she can’t transmute straw into gold.

With the threat of a death sentence hanging over her, she’s forced to make a deal with a conniving magician. Sepha escapes with her life – but at a cost: she has one year to alchemically create a body for the magician, or else her firstborn child will be his.

As Sepha’s deadline approaches, she uncovers a deadly secret. How can she save her country when the body she owes the magician will be used to destroy it?

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The post Exclusive Excerpt From ‘The Lady Alchemist’ by Samantha Vitale appeared first on The Nerd Daily.