We have another exciting interview for you today! F. T. Lukens’ next book releases tomorrow and this interview is for anyone who’s impatiently waiting for it (less than 24 hours to go now!). For those of you who haven’t heard about this one, there’s still time to look into it and preorder Spell Bound here! But, if you need a bit more convincing, let this interview be a start!
As ever, you can, of course, also follow F. T. Lukens on twitter.
Have you always known you wanted to be a writer? How old were you when you wrote your first story?
Honestly, no. When I was asked as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up the answer was a typical kid answer of fireman/acrobat/actor. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I started considering that writing could be a job rather than just a hobby. But I was in third grade when I wrote my first story. It was about a knight rescuing a princess from a dragon and my teacher in school loved it so much, she printed it out and hung it in the computer lab. From there, my love of writing grew but it wasn’t until much later that I gathered my courage and decided to try and write professionally.
What pieces of media would you say were formative for you? Do you see any of their features in your own writing?
There are so many. For movies – Star Wars was one of the first movie franchises that I really fell in love with and wanted more beyond the movies. So I read a ton of the novelizations and expanded universe books. I was a child of the 80’s and 90’s and there was so much great science fiction and fantasy content that was produced in that era that really shaped my love of the genre and I feel that comes across in my writing. As for books – for my thirteenth birthday, my brother gifted me The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the more than complete version that had the first four books and two short stories) and from there I was sold. That book really influenced my sense of humor and how language could be used in different ways.
When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, what do you see? An actual apple, a sketch of one, a blackness? Do you think that impacts your writing process?
I see an actual apple and I do think that influences my writing. When writing action scenes or when wanting to describe a setting, I will close my eyes and imagine the scene. Then I type out the movement of the characters or the surroundings and describe the details that stand out. I think that gives my writing a visual feel.
When you’re building your world, what do you focus on? How do you try to make it come to life?
When developing the world for Spell Bound, I actually started with the magic system first. It was an idea that I had for a while about how to create a natural magic system in an urban setting. So it was really fun to come up with the differences of how magic as a resource would work in a city. And that is what I built off of first. Then as the story and the characters progressed, I made sure to add in the small details that brought the world to life – like how would a coffee shop work in a world with magic. What do folks use magic for and how can I have that going on in the background of the story? What stays the same and what is different? And those small details are what I think really brings the world to life. And is fun for a reader to see how the world in the book is similar or different than our own.
What projects are you currently working on? Can you share any details yet?
I just turned in the initial draft of my next book. At this point, the title hasn’t been announced. But it is a YA contemporary fantasy romance that mixes aspects of Faust, Greek mythology, and the liminality of corn fields.
Three pictures that capture the aesthetic of your book?
Three songs you would put in your book’s soundtrack?
“Save Me” by BTS, “Magic” by TXT, “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay (specifically for the character Antonia).
What would be your dream project?
I have quite a few. One of my big dreams is to work on a Star Wars or Marvel novel. Another dream is to work on a tv show or movie based on one of my works. I also have a dream of writing a really expansive alternate history novel or series.
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
Antonia Hex from Spell Bound. Easy. She’s powerful, so the zombies would not stand a chance, and she’s pragmatic. She is going to take whatever measures necessary to protect herself and those she considers friends and family.
You’re stuck on a desert island and you’re allowed only three (LGBT) books. What are you taking?
I am taking The Honeys by Ryan La Sala, all the Sidekick Squad series by CB Lee (it counts as one!), and The Mermaid, the Witch, & the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (and the forthcoming sequel!).
You can collaborate on anything with anyone in the LGBT community: who would it be and why?
Janelle Monáe. Because they can do it all. She is an icon and talented in so many different things. There would be no limit to what could be created.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels So This Is Ever After, In Deeper Waters, and the forthcoming Spell Bound as well as other science-fiction and fantasy works. Their contemporary fantasy novel The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic was a 2017 Cybils Award finalist in YA Speculative Fiction, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Gold Winner for YA fiction and won the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.
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