Everyone please give a warm welcome to Robin LaFevers, author of Grave Mercy, book one of His Fair Assassin trilogy!
Welcome Robin! I see that you have a couple of Middle Grade series published, but this is your first book in the YA genre. Was it difficult writing for an older teenage audience?Not at all! In fact, in many ways it was incredibly freeing to be able to tackle subject matters I could never touch in MG and deal with more sophisticated themes and more complex layers. I’m not so sure the world is ready for a ten year old assassin, nun or no. :-)
Hahaha, I see. What sparked the idea for Grave Mercy and the assassin nuns?
Well, I did go to Catholic school for the first three years of my life. And truthfully, the seed was planted back then. The nuns were all so mysterious to me, so powerful, as all adults seem when you’re seven. I spent more time than I should wondering what they did behind those cloistered walls—when they weren’t teaching us, that is. When I got older and learned that the reality didn’t match up to my imagination, I decided to create a reality that did.
I went to a Catholic school too, so I totally get what you mean lol Now talking about school, one of my favorite subjects was history and Grave Mercy is a historical fantasy. How much research did you do beforehand, and what was your favorite topic to research?
Tons of research went into these books! In fact, for years now my husband has teased me that I only write so I have an excuse to do research. :-) While I wouldn’t quite go that far, researching is a big and much loved part of my process. Some of my favorite things to research were the folklore and mythology of Brittany and then find ways to weave them into the story. Also, learning as much as I could about Anne of Brittany was another favorite area. She was such a formidable child! Unlike any twelve year old we can think of today. And to have inherited such a political quagmire and to have tackled it was as much intelligence and determination as she did—well, let’s just say I was hugely impressed. (There is a partial bibliography listed on my website for anyone else who is as big a research geek as I am. http://www.robinlafevers.com/history/a-selected-bibliography/)
I get lost in research myself sometimes! I just sit there with my headphones on, head bobbing to the music, with 10+ sites of research stuff open. Is there anything you must have when you sit down and write/research? Coffee, Music, Cookies?
Pens. Lots and lots of pens, preferably in at least five colors, and notebooks. High quality, spiral bound notebooks. I use at least four to eight notebooks for each book; one for character journaling, one for plot ideas, one for research, one for scene outlining...and then more to simply write the story in. I actually switch back and forth between longhand and a laptop, depending on the scene I’m working on.
I do love color pens, and those are a lot of notebooks for one book! If you could sum it all up and describe Grave Mercy in five words or less.
Teen assassin nuns in medieval France. (Prepositions don’t count as full words, do they?)
Haha, this time they don't count. What was your favorite scene to write?
Boy, I had so much fun writing the entire book, it’s hard to pick just one. However, there was one scene that was like a touchstone in my mind—an end point that I was writing to, and that was the scene toward the end when Ismae returns to Guerande and goes looking for Duval. (It’s hard to describe without spoilers!) The anguish and hope encapsulated in that scene were my true North, and whenever I’d get tangled up or lose my way, I’d remember that scene that I was writing toward and find my way forward.
Oh, I remember that scene! I couldn't click the pages to turn fast enough. Duval is one of my favorite characters and I had to know what happened!
If you could spend an afternoon with one the characters from your novel, who would it be, and what would you do for fun?
Sister Serafina. Not just because I want to learn all her poison knowledge and healing skills, but because I suspect she knows a lot of the convent’s history and possibly even has some juicy dirt on the other nuns.
Those would certainly be useful skills to have, and I so want to know more about the convent's history. Luckily Grave Mercy is the first of three books. Can you tell us what's next in store in His Fair Assassin trilogy?
Book Two will tell Sybella’s story. She kind of just burst onto the page in all her damaged glory in an early draft of Grave Mercy, and I was utterly fascinated by her and eager to learn her story and how she came to be at the convent. Book Three will tell the story of Annith, who has been at the convent since birth. However, she begins to fear the convent she once called home will end up suffocating her.
Thank you so much Robin for stopping by Amy's Book Den! I'll be eagerly waiting to read Sybella's story in Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin 2) and Annith's story in Dark Hope (His Fair Assassin 3).
Anything else you'd like to say to your fans and future readers?
Ack! I always freeze at this question and usually end up saying something rather hokey but sincere—and that is that I hope they enjoy spending time with the characters and the world of the book as much as I did!
Lovely bloggers, I've already ordered my copy of Grave Mercy!
Have you?
Grave Mercy
(His Fair Assassin 1)
Author: Robin LaFevers
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Order: Amazon ♥ B&N ♥ TBD
Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
