HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY TO JULIE KAGAWA!
Today, I’m thrilled to host this Q&A with the author of Night of the Dragon. To celebrate her upcoming book release, Julie Kagawa is answering a few questions about her writing, the book, and her creative process.
Her young adult fantasy novel is released today, March 31, 2020. Published by Inkyard, this Q&A is part of the Harlequin/Inkyard Blog Tour. Thank you so much for gifting me an e-copy!
Now, let me introduce you to Julie Kagawa.
Julie Kagawa, Author of Night of the Dragon – Q&A
Q: What were your biggest influences when creating this world in story, whether they be legends, folklore, anime, manga or other novels?
A: Anime, Manga and video games have been my biggest influences when writing the world of Shadow of the Fox, but also the works of Akira Kurosawa like The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Rashomon.
Q: What was the hardest scene to write? What was the easiest?
A: The hardest scene was the last battle with the Final Boss at the end. Without giving away spoilers, there was a lot of kitsune magic, illusion and misdirection, and trying to show everything that was going on without making it too confusing was a challenge. I don’t remember an easy scene to write, but I did enjoy writing one of the final chapters (where I hope everyone cries).
Q: Did you hide any secrets in your book? (names of friends, little jokes, references to things only some people will get)
A: There are a few references that only those very familiar with Japanese folklore would get. For example, the names of the Reika’s two dogs, Chu and Ko, come from a Japanese novel called The Eight Dog Chronicles, which has been adapted into manga, anime, and even video games. In Soul of the Sword, Yumeko and her friends are on their way to the home of the tengu, when they encounter a pair of magical stone guardians called Yoshitsune and Benkei, two real life historical figures that inspired countless legends and stories. In folklore, Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a near mythical swordsman who had been trained by the king of the tengu, and Benki was a warrior monk who was his stalwart companion.
Q: Is there a character that you found challenging to write? Why?
A: Taiyo Daisuke was probably the most challenging, because it was a balancing act of making him a noble and making him likable. Nobles in fantasy stories tend to be arrogant, snooty, mocking, and manipulatieve. More often than not they are the villains, or at least an unpleasant obstacle the heroes must get around. Daisuke was very clearly an aristocrat, so I made very certain to give him qualities atypical of a noble. Kindness, humility, and viewing everyone, even the ronin, as an equal was certainly not the mindset of a typical samurai, but it was necessary to make Daisuke a well loved member of the team and not a person the reader, and the other characters, hated.
Q: How does a typical writing day look like for you?
A: I work from home, so times vary, but I try to head into my office and start writing around 9am everyday. I have a quota of 1,000 words a day, except when I’m close to deadline, then the word count jumps by a few hundred words. Sometimes I reach my quota in a few hours, sometimes it takes me all day, but I try not to stop writing until my word quota is reached.
Q: What is your current read?
A: At the moment, the words on my computer screen, lol. Its deadline crunch time, so my current WIP is the only thing I have time for now. Hopefully I can get back to pleasure reading when I’m finished.
Q: What part of the Shadow of the Fox series was the most fun to write?
A: I really enjoyed writing the parts with Yumeko’s kitsune illusion magic. One of my favorite scenes was when Yumeko and the others attended a formal tea ceremony with a snooty noble of the Shadow Clan. I won’t give away spoilers, but what Yumeko does at the tea ceremony still makes me smile, and remains one of my favorite parts of the series.
Q: What is it about fantasy that draws you to it?
A: Is everything a good answer? I love myths and legends, other worlds, magic, swords, wizards, dragons, evil gods, epic quests, and the battle between good and evil. I read to escape, but also to travel to far away places and encounter creatures and beings I would never meet in real life. Who hasn’t daydreamed about flying on the back of a dragon? I read fantasy for the same reason.
Q: How much research goes into your books and at what point do you stop using research and build off it?
A: It depends on how much I already know about certain aspects of the book. For example, from the amount of anime and manga I’d consumed over the years, I knew a lot about kitsune, oni, tanuki, and various other Japanese monsters. I still did a fair amount of research, though it was more about the samurai and the Sengoku Jidai, the era I was basing the book off of. I never really stop researching, though most of it goes into book one, which is where much of the world building takes place.
Q: Finally, out of all the books you have written, which has your favorite world and why?
A: Probably the Iron Fey series, though Shadow of the Fox is a close second. I love fantasy and all the fantastic creatures that populate it, so the Nevernever is my favorite world for that alone. Even though I wouldn’t last a day there without getting eaten by an ogre, a redcap or a kelpie. Maybe if I could find a big gray cat…
Night of the Dragon by Julie Kawaga – Synopsis
All is lost.
To save everyone she loves from imminent death, kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko gave up the final piece of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. Now she and her ragtag band of companions must make one desperate final effort to stop the Master of Demons from using the scroll to call the Great Kami Dragon and make the wish that will plunge the empire into chaos.
Shadow clan assassin Kage Tatsumi has regained control of his body and agreed to a true deal with the devil—the demon inside him, Hakaimono. They will share his body and work with Yumeko to stop a madman, and to separate Hakaimono from Tatsumi and the cursed sword that trapped the demon for nearly a millennium.
But even with their combined skills and powers, this unlikely team of heroes knows the forces of evil may be impossible to overcome. And there is another player in the battle for the scroll, a player who has been watching, waiting for the right moment to pull strings that no one even realized existed…until now.
BOOK DETAILS
- Author: Julie Kagawa
- Publisher: Inkyard
- Release Date: March 31, 2020
- Book Length: 368 pages
- Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal
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About the Author – Julie Kagawa
Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, Talon, and Shadow of the Fox series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.
Julie now lives in North Carolina with her husband, two obnoxious cats, and a pair of Australian Shepherds that have more Instagram followers than she does.
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I am so excited to read this book!!! This was such a fun interview! 🙃