Hello readers! It is Friday and it’s time for an author interview. This year I have been reading a lot of cosy fantasies and I discovered Casey’s books. Casey is a bestselling author of adventurous, feel-good fantasy novels with ambitious heroines and plenty of banter. Thank you so much Casey for the interview and I loved finding out more about the Tea Princess Chronicles.

Interview

What was your inspiration for the Tea Princess Chronicles?

There were a bunch of seeds for Tea Princess Chronicles that crystallized into one thing. One of the big ones is that I used to work at a root beer store, and I had all these very bizarre stories of the day-to-day of managing work there that people kept telling me I should turn into a fantasy book. That’s where the idea for a tea shop using magical ingredients came from!

I’d also read something about a former Japanese princess (Sayako, Princess Nori) who became the lead priestess at Ise Grand Shrine, talking about how when she left the imperial household, she left her titles behind and to prepare for non-royal life practiced grocery shopping. A lot of the seeds for Miyara came from that: learning late in life how to do “common” tasks, serving as a kind of priestess figure, transitioning from a royal life to something different but not lesser.

It’s sort of funny to me that this is currently the series people know me for, because historically my MO has been to write badass heroines who solve their problems by magically punching them. After reading how Rachel Aaron handled the climaxes in her first DFZ series with Julius the nice dragon, Tea Princess Chronicles was also a challenge to myself to write dramatically satisfying fantasy with a main character who took a less violent approach than is my usual custom. =P The really ironic thing is this actually made me much better at writing action scenes!

And honestly, I began brainstorming this book way back in 2016, when due to the presidential election the news cycle was just unbearable. I was also in the middle of a difficult edit for a darker book and I desperately wanted something in my life to look forward to that was a breath of fresh air and would make me smile.

What was your process for writing the series?

Tea Princess Chronicles was originally written as a weekly posting web serial. So I had a very thorough outline before I even started writing, because I didn’t have time to get stuck; I wasn’t writing far enough ahead for that. I wrote each chapter in a marathon writing session on the Saturday, at some point in the next week gave it a quick edit pass, and posted on Thursday. For book 3 I spaced out the posting schedule a little, but I wrote all three books that way.

What drew you to writing a cosy fantasy series?

At the time I started Tea Princess Chronicles, “cozy fantasy” wasn’t a term yet! (Though I started using it before it was cool, haha. The reason all my books have pun titles is because I started calling it cozy fantasy borrowing from cozy mystery tropes—you know, a young woman starts over in a strange town and makes a bunch of quirky friends who are maybe witches and maybe also has a talking pet and they solve local problems…) But I really wanted to write a fantasy series that was uplifting, about people trying to do good and help each other, that could really focus on character work and intimate conversations and evolving relationships. Traditional publishing wasn’t interested in that at the time, so I decided to manifest it another way.

How did you choose which character to focus the story on?

It’s actually the other way around for me—I started with Miyara, and the arc she needed to have, and designed the story to facilitate it. I’ve written side stories in Tea Princess Chronicles from other characters’ perspectives, but what I focus on in the main trilogy wouldn’t be as satisfying from another character’s perspective because it’s targeted specifically at Miyara’s fears and dreams and abilities.

What is your approach to world and character building?

I always start with the protagonist, either where they start or end, and figure out their arc from there. (Like, the first image of Miyara she is trapped, powerless, and alone among strangers; at the end of book 1, the final image is of her free, empowered, and supported among friends. Growth! *jazz hands*) That gives me clues for what they need in their backstory and surroundings that would put them in their current situation, and how to change it. So I brainstorm worldbuilding only after I’ve started the main characters, because then I only build aspects of worldbuilding that are relevant to the story I’m trying to tell and the characters in it, which helps keep me focused and not inventing, like, plot-irrelevant fantasy sewage systems. (This is… not a random example. Isn’t it lovely that artists can continue to learn and make new mistakes rather than the same ones? XD)

How would you describe The Tea Princess Chronicles in five words?

Uplifting, magic tea, found family.

Did you have a favourite moment to write?

I had SO many with this series. But the scenes with Miyara and Deniel awkwarding at each other were always a particular joy.

What was your favourite book growing up?

I’m not sure it was my favorite, but I encountered Polgara the Sorceress pretty young and then reread it approximately a thousand times. I was desperate for fantasy stories centering clever, powerful women. (Others existed, but I had trouble finding them.)

Do you have a favourite genre to read?

Romantic fantasy in all its subgenres. Give me powerful women who get happily ever afters every day of the week.

If you are interested in Casey’s books follow the link below. It is an affiliate link so I will get a small commission with no additional cost incurred.