All about the novel Voyage of the Damned

Who is Frances White?

Frances White is the author of Voyage of the Damned, a fantasy murder mystery at sea, coming in 2024 from Penguin Michael Joseph. Born in Leicester and now a Nottingham resident, Frances is a creative writing graduate from Royal Holloway University of London. She has a soft spot for writing unlikely, flawed, messy heroes and loves mixing humour and heartbreak. Frances is also passionate about bringing more LGBTQIA+ representation and fat positivity into fantasy. When not writing, she can be found sewing costumes for comic conventions. She also loves to perform on stage, with a fondness for musicals and Shakespeare. 

What is Voyage of the Damned?

For a thousand years, Concordia has been able to maintain peace between its provinces, protected by a wall known as the Bandage. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the Goddess’s mountain.Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.Except Ganymedes Piscero – class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their Blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia? Or will the empire as he knows it fall?

Interview

What was your inspiration for Voyage of the Damned?

When I wrote Voyage of the Damned, it was the first book in a long time I wrote primarily for me, for my own enjoyment to help me fall in love with writing again after struggling in the query and submission trenches for a long time. I ignored the usually sensible voice in my head and leant into all the fun things I previously wouldn’t let myself indulge in. 

I set out wanting to combine all my favourite aspects of fantasy—magical worldbuilding, political intrigue and epic emotional moments, with everything that keeps me glued to murder mysteries—a cast of colourful characters, one location from which there is no escape and a deadly ticking clock. 

There are echoes of lots of books and media I adore in Voyage of the Damned, including video games and anime like Danganronpa and Zero Escape, combined with more classic crime novels like And Then There Were None from Agatha Christie and The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji. 

It would be remiss of me not to mention Gideon the Ninth also which gave me the kick up the butt I needed to lean into all my weird and wackiness, especially when it came to the voice of the MC. 

I hope both crime and fantasy lovers will find something to enjoy in the book!

What drew you to writing?

I struggled a LOT with reading when I was a young child. I was impatient and stubborn and I remember several huge screaming matches with my mother who was equally as stubborn but luckily for me a whole lot more patient. 

It’s thanks to her that I managed to grasp the basics of reading and once I did I was obsessed. I read like a child possessed. I remember getting six books from the library every week and half would be read by the time we were home. If it wasn’t for this love of stories there is absolutely no way I would have become a writer, so I owe my mum an awful lot. 

For me writing has always been about escapism. To become someone else, someone entirely different even for a little while. If life got boring, or difficult, these stories gave me somewhere I could escape off into.

As I got older, I began to realise that my characters were perhaps not so different to myself as I first believed, and that sharing some of my own flaws and anxieties with these characters made me feel less alone, and motivated me to face my own battles in the real world (none of which involve hunting murderers and/or dragons, thankfully). 

Now, I just adore the entire process and can’t imagine my life without it. Character creation in particular is the aspect I most enjoy about writing, followed closely by with coming up with devilish plot twists (for some reason, usually in the bath.) 

How did you choose which character to centre the story around? 

I originally had a different main character. He was more of your typical mild mannered, downtrodden and sensible detective type. Dee was the side character, the comic relief and assistant to the detective. 

But I found myself more and more drawn to this white-haired exuberant assistant. He just kept stealing every single scene I put him in. What WAS this guy’s deal? I wanted to know why he acted so over the top. What was hiding behind all his jokes? 

Simply put, I found him impossible to resist.

The moment I put Dee front and centre the heart of the story fell into place, and I knew he was the protagonist. I’d never written a main character like him before—loud, boisterous, someone who just says and does THE THING without much thought. He was so exciting to write, a total breath of fresh air and his voice flowed out of me without much effort at all.  

I suspect Dee may be the sort of character people either love or hate, and I’m completely content with that! I just hope that some people connect to his struggles and feel less alone even in some small way. 

What was your process for writing Voyage of the Damned?

First I screamed, then I cried, then I screamed again.

But really, this book was HARD to write. I’d written mystery plotlines within a larger plot before, but never one that was so firmly in the murder mystery genre. If I had known how difficult combining that with fantasy was going to be perhaps this book would have remained in the planning stages.

As it was, I went in naively and paid the price.

My first draft was a zero draft. Pure trash but enough to tell me the main plot and all the things I needed to fix for next time (lots). 

Then I realised I would need to use a beat sheet for this novel. I used the ‘Save the Cat’ beat sheet which is genius and so helpful and I highly recommend. 

I also realised that my brain wasn’t big enough to contain and remember everything it needed to while writing. So I made spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets. Spreadsheets with clues, spreadsheets for pacing and scenes and one particular spreadsheet which mapped every single character’s movements for every single moment of the journey.

Then I edited my zero draft again and again and again. I did a pass for each character, I did a pass for inserting clues so it would look like I knew what I was doing all along, and finally I did the most enjoyable pass of all which was to make it read nice and pretty. 

Then I sent to beta readers, they had questions, so I edited again to answer them. So did my agent, and then so eventually did my editor.

As you can see, it was quite the process, and this is why I urge authors not to compare their first drafts to published novels. 

I am proud of the book that came out the other end, but it was a long and arduous process, and I’m very lucky that despite all this I still felt passionately about the story and the characters, because that is what pushed me through to the end. And also pure stubbornness. 

What is your approach to world and character building?

The two, for me, work in tandem. The characters need to feel like they belong to the world they’ve come from, and I like to see that world imprinted on the characters in almost every way—how they interact with people, their goals, their prejudices and approach to life in general. 

In Voyage of the Damned I felt like I was having to world build almost 12 different distinct worlds! All the provinces, although they do have some overlap, generally are quite self-contained and different from each other. 

Often, I would think about what kind of person that particular province would create, or even better, who would be the most interesting person to be put in a leadership position there. 

For example, there is Bear Province, a place where physical strength is prized above all due to their trade in cattle combined with their province being filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures that want to eat said cattle! I considered what it would be like if the heir wasn’t physically strong at all, what if he was chronically ill? What effect would that have on him? How would he view himself and his worth? 

My choices in the worldbuilding informed the characters, and vice versa. My hope is that this makes the characters feel authentic, and that they could only have been produced by the worlds they grew up in.

How would you describe Voyage of the Damned?

‘Magical gay murder mystery cruise.’

I’ve also heard a few others which I love: ‘Fruits Basket but gay and with murder’, ‘Knives out on a boat’ and ‘If Agatha Christie wrote fantasy.’

If that doesn’t convince you, it concerns 12 heirs to an empire with secret magical abilities who take a 12-day journey at sea and start dying off one by one. Our MC, a hugely chaotic bisexual, has his own secret—he lacks the magical ability he should have, but if he wants to survive he’ll have to find the killer without it. 

It has a cast of quirky characters with rainbow hair, and exploding glitter dragon butlers, all onboard a magical labyrinth of a ship. 

If you like your humour with a little heartbreak or vice versa then this book might be perfect for you! 

Did you have a favourite moment in the book to write?

I love writing the moments when the twist is revealed. You do so much careful, intricate work beforehand, laying down clues, sneakily alluding to it, all to lead up to THAT moment when the truth drops. I love the build-up of drama and the moment the realisation hits.

Obviously, I can’t say exactly what this moment concerns in the book, but when you read it…you should hopefully know what I mean!

Another worthy mention is there is a scene which is a flashback to an important moment in Dee’s past. It’s soft and dreamy and tender, and I really enjoyed writing a different side to Dee who is less cynical and more eager and innocent. I love soft, intimate character moments like that. 

What was your favourite book growing up?

Not just one book but a series of books. I was obsessed with Animorphs by K.A. Applegate. 

I think what drew me to them was that they were incredibly deep and quite dark for a children’s series. The characters’ actions had real consequences, nothing just went back to how it was before—all sunshine and rainbows—once each book ended. It made every action the characters’ took feel incredibly important. 

The books also dealt with themes of war, identity, and leadership without shying away from the heavier aspects of those topics. That series was the first I read that showed me how deep and impactful literature could be (even literature about teenagers morphing into anteaters). 

Do you have a favourite genre to read?

Fantasy has always been my favourite genre. I read a lot of different genres, but I just don’t think you can beat the absolute escapism of fantasy.  Reading for me has always been an escape, stepping into another life, another world, even if only for a little while. Fantasy is such a varied genre in itself that it’s rare I can’t find something to suit what I’m in the mood for, whether that’s something epic and world-ending, cosy and feel-good, or intricate and political. I just love how fantasy can take the best of all the other genres and put its own unique, magical spin on them.