Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women's rights, and ice cream. Her previous YA books include My Love Lies Bleeding/Hearts at Stake, Blood Feud, Out for Blood, Bleeding Hearts, Blood Moon, Blood Prophecy, Haunting Violet and Stolen Away. Her most recent book, A Breath of Frost, came out January 7, 2014, and Whisper the Dead is set to follow this fall. You can find her at her website or on Twitter (@AlyxandraH). :)
A: It’s definitely a life-long love! My agent once dared me to write something without supernatural elements and I said “Okay! Fun! I’ll do time-travel!”. she had to remind me that’s not exactly un-supernatural. ;) It’s just where my brain goes!
Q: With all the paranormal elements, the intrigue, and the mystery, do you find it important to include moments of friendship, clever banter, and levity?
A: Always. For one, I love a good friendship story and I’m addicted to banter. But also, when you’re writing paranormal stories, it’s that much more important to make sure there’s an identifiable foundation such as concrete details and friendships…i.e. something for the reader easily relate to. And I just can't pass up a good snark!
Q: Out of all your books and all your characters, is there one who was your absolute favourite? One who was fun and exciting every time you sat down to write? Or, on the other hand, was there one who was an absolute pain and would do whatever they wanted to do?
A: I generally like the character I’m working on the best, because I’m right in there. But I have to say that Lucy from the Drake Chronicles was definitely the easiest to write. Her voice is so strong, I just have to listen and get out of the way.
Q: As an author from Canada, do you feel like there's an obligation to include bits and piece of Canada in your books? Or is more about where the story takes you?
A: I try to follow where the story takes me. That said, since I’m Canadian there's very likely Canadiana that I don’t even know I’m using! It still bugs me that I can’t use the Canadian spelling for words like ‘glamour’ and ‘neighbour’. It just looks weird to me the other way!
Q: Out of all the Canadian-authored YA that you've read, which would you recommend to readers? Have any brought you to tears? (with me it's Erin Bow's Sorrow's Knot)
A: Anything by Charles de Lint, always! And I would love it if Tanya Huff wrote YA, I think she'd rock at it. Currently, I've just started "Sea of Shadows" by Kelley Armstrong.
Thanks so much to Alyx for stopping by today. Go check out all of her books! :)
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