Interview: Malinda Lo

Today, we have a very magical guest here at Lucid Conspiracy. As you may recall, awhile ago I posted a review for the very spellbinding Ash, which was released earlier this month on September 1st. If you haven't already, you should definitely check out Malinda's blog - great content and wonderful images of food; what more could you ask for? And now, presenting the fabulous... Malinda Lo!

In Ash's world, there's a multitude of amazing new fairy tales. Did you come up with these yourself? How?
Many of the fairy tales are based in Irish and British folklore, especially tales collected by Katharine Briggs, an English folklorist. It's amazing what's already out there!

Do you have a favourite among those?
The story of Kathleen, a girl who basically wastes away dreaming of fairy land, was one of my favorites. Yes, it's kind of depressing. :)

Ooh, I really liked that one as well, despite how sad it is. Now, there's no denying that Ash's world is a little different from our own. Do you visualize it as being more medieval in setting, or mostly modern, or somewhere in between?
I don't envision it as being medieval, exactly. There's certainly no modern technology, but it's also not nearly as messy as the Middle Ages really were. So, maybe if the Middle Ages were cleaned up and everybody had running water. :) It's a fantasy land!

Works for me! So the word around the grapevine is that you're working on a companion novel to ASH about the first huntress. Are there any details that you're at liberty to share with us about it?
Sure! It's an adventure. The main characters go on a quest, and they get to visit the land of the Sidhe (the fairies).


Sounds very amazing, definitely looking forward to it! If the apocalypse were to come tomorrow and you could only choose three books (in the entire world) to keep safe and bring into the "New World", which would you choose?
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
IN THE EYE OF THE TYPHOON by Ruth Earnshaw Lo (this is my grandmother's book!)
ASH by me — because I couldn't leave it behind!

I guess I wouldn't be doing much to "save literature"! LOL.

Good choices, nevertheless. Words of wisdom - what do you do when the muse has gone on vacation?
If I'm encountering a block, I usually try to just power through it at first by ignoring the block and just writing anything. Sometimes that works. If it doesn't and I find myself getting increasingly frustrated, I will actually physically leave my desk and change the location of where I'm writing. I'll go sit on the couch or go to a cafe or something. If that doesn't work, then I'll stop writing entirely, taking a break from it by going for a walk or reading a book for enjoyment. Anything to totally switch my mind off from writing. When I feel rested and refreshed, I'll go back to the project, and usually it's fine by then.

Something particularly striking about ASH is the almost lyrical quality of the writing. Do you listen to music or have any other writing rituals?
I do listen to music when writing; a playlist of songs that I listened to while writing ASH is here.

Thanks for asking me to do the interview!

Thanks for stopping by, Malinda!

And here I'll leave you off with some links: Malinda's website, Twitter, Facebook, and at AfterEllen.