Big 4 With Bec: Sarah J. Maas

Photo by Josh Wasserman

1. Before the release of Throne of Glass, you released 4 novella-length prequels. How did that idea come about and do you prefer writing novellas or novels?

We actually got the idea for doing the four novellas because we learned that THRONE OF GLASS would be a Fall 2012 book (we’d originally thought it’d be out in Winter/Spring 2012), and that meant making my long-time fans wait an extra six months or so to read it. Because my fans had been so, so patient and awesome all these years, I was super sad to make them wait even longer–so my agent and I thought a great way to tide them over (introduce new readers, too) would be to write a few novellas set before the events of the novel.

I’d never written a novella until I drafted THE ASSASSIN AND THE PIRATE LORD, but I had such a great time writing it (and the other three novellas) that I’d do it again in a heart beat. As for what medium I prefer more (novellas or novels)… I think my default setting is to always love novels, but I absolutely adore how novellas allow you to add more depth to your world/characters/plot.

2   The central character of Throne of Glass, Celaena Sardothien, is a young warrior who must face fearsome opponents in order to win her freedom. How important was it to you to present your female readership with a strong role model, and who are some of your own favourite fictional heroines?

Honestly, when I sat down to write THRONE OF GLASS, I never thought to myself “I want to make a strong role model for young women.” I just wanted to write about a heroine who was more than capable of saving herself (and who got to do the FUN stuff that boys usually get to do in books/movies), and whose moral compass was a little skewed (which makes her really fun to write).

As a reader, I was always drawn to strong female characters, so writing about them was a natural progression. I grew up reading books like THE HERO AND THE CROWN (Robin McKinley), GONE WITH THE WIND (Margaret Mitchell), SABRIEL (Garth Nix), THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Philip Pullman), and THE MISTS OF AVALON (Marion Zimmer Bradley)–and the strong heroines I found in those novels had a huge impact on me…Not just as a writer, but also as a person. To this day, the heroines of those books are still some of my favorite.

3. Sarah, you did a degree in Creative Writing. Can you tell us a bit about that and what impact it’s had on your writing career? Would you recommend formal writing training to aspiring writers?

Actually… I’m probably not the best person to ask about that. I enjoyed my Creative Writing classes, but they didn’t particularly help me in any way, either in terms of writing or getting published. For me, it was just FUN to get to write for homework/in class… But I was also writing high fantasy novels in classes where the focus was usually on contemporary short stories. So winning over my classmates/professors was always something I had to contend with, and got a little tedious after a while.

I had some very nice professors, but…my problem was that I was already a disciplined writer, KNEW what I wanted to write, and KNEW that I wanted to be published. Most of my classmates were just trying out writing for the first time, and didn’t even know what a query letter was. So, it was a mostly positive experience, but not necessarily an educational one. I’ve learned more from my critique partners about writing than I ever did in a creative writing class.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Celaena. Always Celaena. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been working on the THRONE OF GLASS series for over ten years, but… She’s always felt the most alive to me, and is the character closest to my heart. <3

Sarah J Maas website