All about the prequel to the A Curse of Salt – A Sea of Wolves
Who is Sarah Street?
Sarah Street is a YA fantasy author, born and raised on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia. She has a BA in English and Criminology and spends her days amid a hoard of books, playing Hozier songs to her houseplants and deciding what great body of water to write about next.
What is A Sea of Wolves about?
Pirates are tearing Mersey’s seaside city apart like wolves.
A fifty-year-old treaty lies in tatters, and Mersey wants nothing more than to live her life at sea, to make those pirates pay and keep her people safe, but a promise to her beloved grandmother ties Mersey to the forests and a future that doesn’t feel like her own. Afraid she’ll never get to be captain if she stays, Mersey sets out to free her city – and herself – from the hounds of the Heartless King.
When a reckless plan fails, Mersey finds herself caught up in the world’s most notorious pirate crew, and the arms of its cold-blooded first mate. These pirates are determined to take Mersey’s city for themselves, leaving her caught in the beginnings of a war; one she knows will have disastrous consequences for the people she loves, but just might be the thing to set her free.
Amid lies, betrayal, and a blossoming love for someone she is supposed to want dead, Mersey finds herself torn between two lives, each as steeped in red as the other.
Interview
What was your inspiration for A Sea of Wolves?
The characters in A Sea of Wolves are featured in my debut novel, A Curse of Salt, but Golde and Mersey’s story was begging to be written. Alongside my own journey of coming into queerness, I was hugely inspired by my favourite TV show, Black Sails, and a rewatch of the childhood classic Hoodwinked (2006) which is the kind of Little Red Riding Hood retelling I was going for.
What drew you to writing?
I have always been a writer – I couldn’t say when or where it started, but I was always fuelled by my love of books and desire to recreate some of that magic for myself!
How did you choose which character to centre the story around?
Golde was always my favourite character in A Curse of Salt; she meant so much to me before I even understood why I wanted to tell her story. Even though Mersey is more of the ‘protagonist’ in this book, their story is as much about falling for one another as it is about their own journeys, so it was really cool getting to dig deeper into characters I already knew.
What was your process for writing A Sea of Wolves?
It was sort of madness, honestly. I think I wrote the majority of the first (very, very rough) draft in about 10 days while at my grandmother’s beach house, pacing around the kitchen and blasting Hozier songs. The process after that was piecing together my mess of scenes and trying to fill in the gaps, then many a round of edits to get it all in shape.
What is your approach to world and character-building?
I’m a very character-centred writer, so the story usually starts there. I find I unconsciously write small parts of myself into my protagonists and then flesh them out in a way that suits their context, plot and world. With world-building, I try to colour the atmosphere around the characters, often drawing on real-life inspiration I find in nature.
How would you describe A Sea of Wolves in five words?
- Swashbuckling
- Fierce
- Gay
- Chaotic
- Salty
Did you have a favourite moment in the book to write?
Ooh. It’s a tough choice between all of the fight scenes, but there’s one in Chapter 9 that takes the cake, featuring lots of knife-wielding tension.
Which of the characters do you relate to the most and why?
I relate to both protagonists in A Sea of Wolves a lot, but probably Mersey, for her stubbornness and determination to be independent.
If your book were made into a movie, which actors would play your characters?
Oh gosh, that’s really hard. I don’t really have ‘casts’ of my characters in my mind, but I would love to see Mersey played by a buff, axe-wielding Sadie Sink or a freckled Sophie Turner, and I think a very snarky Jung Ho Yeon could play the perfect Golde.
Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you see yourself?
I think in some ways it has. Publishing is such a long process that by the time a book comes out, you feel quite removed from the self that wrote it, so I think that has allowed me to reflect a lot on the things that I’ve needed to write about at different points in my life and see parts of myself through my craft.
Are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?
I’d say there are probably too many to name. I read voraciously as a kid, and have wanted to be a writer ever since, but these days my fantastic author friends are the ones who continue to inspire me and push me to be a better writer, like Vanessa Le and her stellar book The Last Bloodcarver and Tiffany Wang, whose debut Inferno’s Heir is out later this year.
What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?
I would just say follow what excites you. Writing a book can be a really long process, but as long as you are working on the thing that makes you happy and fuels your passion, the hard work won’t feel that much like work at all.
What’s your favourite writing snack or drink?
It’s hard to snack without compromising the cleanliness of my keyboard, but I will always have a cup of tea on the go if I can.
Do you play music while you write — and, if so, what’s your favourite music?
Yes, almost always! I make playlists for every project that I work on – you can find the ones for A Curse of Salt and A Sea of Wolves on my website. I’ll listen to anything that gets me in the right mood or atmosphere for whatever I’m writing (lots of Hozier, Florence + the Machine and Paris Paloma.
Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?
My parents had no idea I was writing seriously until I told them I had signed with my agent, but ever since then, they’ve been unflaggingly supportive and always encourage me to take the time that I need to focus on writing.
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