Q&A with author Sarah Maas

Sarah Maas, 26-year-old young adult fantasy author, will be coming to Flyleaf Books.

Staff writer Melissa Bendixen spoke with Maas about recent achievements. She said the book’s success recently elevated it to The New York Times Best Seller List.

The Daily Tar Heel: Can you tell me a little bit about “Crown of Midnight” and the series?

Sarah Maas: So the first book, titled “Throne of Glass,” is the story of an infamous young assassin who competes in a to-the-death competition to become the next royal assassin in the corrupt fantasy empire. And “Crown of Midnight” is the second book, which just came out. It picks up right where “Throne of Glass” left off and follows my heroine as the king’s champion.

DTH: What was your inspiration for this particular series?

SM: So I am a huge fan of music; most of my ideas come from music, and I’m also a big Disney fan. So when I was 16 I was listening to the soundtrack to Cinderella and I thought that the music that plays when Cinderella flees the ball was way too dark for the actual scene, and that it would better fit the story if Cinderella had done something bad. That kind of epic, really dark music made me think, “What if Cinderella was an assassin?”

Once I had that idea, I wanted to know who she was, how’d she become an assassin, who had sent her to the ball to kill the prince. And “Throne of Glass” isn’t a Cinderella retelling anymore, but it started off as one, and then slowly became its own thing. But the original kernel came from about 45 seconds of music.

DTH: What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing?

SM: I love sharing stories, and I love getting feedback while I’m drafting. I’ll send the manuscript as I’m writing it to my friend Susan Dennard who will give me advice and feedback and be a cheerleader, and I love that kind of collaborative process. And I love that when my books are finished, people get to read them and either like them or dislike them. I just love that what I’m writing gets a chance to go out into the world.

There’s nothing big that I really dislike about writing. Every writer, I think, has suffered from some doubts. About whether the story is good, about whether anybody will read it or care about it. So it’s never fun to have doubts about yourself and your writing, but I also think those are a natural part of the process.

But writing has always been my dream job, there’s not much that I can ever really complain about.

DTH: What would you really love to write about that you haven’t yet?

SM: I’m a huge fan of adult paranormal romance, and I would love it if I ever had an idea that could lend itself into one of those stories, but right now I don’t, and I just remain a huge fan. So it would be awesome if one day I woke up and had the idea for a story, but right now I am very happy to be a fantasy writer.

DTH: Where do you see yourself and your writing in 10 years?

SM: No matter what happens, if I’m still publishing books, in whatever medium, and still have people reading my stuff, and if I still get to share my stories with people, I’ll still be happy. That’s kind of why I got into it in the first place, for the love of sharing and telling stories. In 10 years if I’m still able to do that, I’ll consider myself really lucky.