Author Interview: Jenelle L Schmidt

Today, as my last post in this amazing blog tour, I get to interview Jenelle and dig a little deeper into the fabulous story she wrote. I'm beyond excited, and I'm sure you are too, so we'll skip all the gushing and fan-girling and just get on with it ;)

What is your favorite part of your story? 

I really enjoy all the action-y bits of the story, and any time Ritioghra is on the page everything is really fun. But my favorite part would have to be the conversations between Echo and Branna, when Echo is being all socially awkward and trying to come up with things to say and failing miserably at presenting herself as a “whole human,” as my family is fond of saying. These moments were pulled directly from my own experiences as a fairly shy individual who often finds talking to people to be extremely difficult.

What was the most challenging part to write? 

The ending! It took a long time and many drafts to get that right. I think I rewrote the ending at least twelve times before I hit the one that made my editor say, “I think you’ve got it!”

But like all challenging things, I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t just go with my first draft. The story is far stronger with the ending it has, and I’m grateful to my beta readers and my editors for not letting me settle for anything less than my very best. Echo needed an ending worthy of her story, and I love where this ended up.

Who is your favorite character and why?

Every character in this book has a special place in my heart. I don’t know if I can choose between them. 

Echo and her neurotic social awkwardness and huge heart is of course the main character and I loved going on this adventure with her. 

But Jana’s irrepressible, jump-first-ask-questions-later nature is so fun and I love her to pieces. 

Runa and Gareth, though not as major characters are extremely dear to me as I identify with parts of their story and ache with them through their loss.

I love the tragedy of Malilia and her grit and determination to atone for the wrongs she has done.

Eirloch kind of stole my heart unexpectedly. I intended for him to be a minor villain, but he surprised me by refusing to be a villain. He’s a bit of a trickster, but it doesn’t come naturally to him... he tries to play the cunning game, but he does it because he feels it’s expected, not because he enjoys it (and he’s not very good at it, either). In truth, he’s a dear, sweet boy with a heart of pure gold.

And Ritioghra, the Winter King. Well, if he isn’t my favorite character, then he was definitely the most fun character to write! (He probably is my favorite character).