Robert Beatty is a New York Times bestselling author who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. His fourth novel, Willa of the Wood, was released July 10. Staff writer Veronica Correa sat down with him before his speaking event at Southpoint Barnes and Noble.
The Daily Tar Heel: How did you start writing?
Robert Beatty: I had a corporate career and was the founder and CEO of an internet software company and had a full life, but throughout that whole life the thing I most wanted to do was become a published author. So I just kept writing and practicing and improving, and each novel would get a little better. And then one day I decided to write a novel for my daughter. We started working on it as a project together. Me and my three daughters and my wife and I fell in love with that. It’s so fun to be able to write for my daughters and to write for a specific audience like that, and they add a lot to the creative process. We ended up writing Serafina and the Black Cloak, and that turned out to be my breakthrough novel.
DTH: Would you say your family was what inspired your Serafina series?
RB: Yeah, and in particular the character of Serafina was inspired by my middle daughter Genevieve, who used to love to sneak around the house and prowl around. So we incorporated that characteristic into the Serafina character and went from there.
DTH: What did you particularly enjoy about writing this most recent book, Willa of the Wood?
RB: I loved writing Willa of the Wood because it’s about some things that are very dear to my heart. First of all was the idea of the magic and the beauty of the forest. I love the mystery of the deep forest and all that it has inside of it. The other inspiration was the idea of a little girl or boy who grows up in a society and this is the only society they know, but they slowly begin to realize that the society they’re in has some things about it that are bad, and she has to decide what she can do.
DTH: What are some unique or memorable experiences you have had in your writing career?
RB: For Willa of the Wood, I really wanted to get close to nature and create a very atmospheric feel to the book, so when you’re reading the book you feel that you’re in Willa’s world and inside her mind. My daughter and I went to the Great Smoky Mountains and spent a lot of time there walking the paths and trails. We would sit beside the river and think of Willa’s characteristics, what she looked like, what her magic powers were, what dangers she would encounter. It was really a fun and inspirational trip where we brainstormed most of the content that was in the Willa story.
