'Avoiding Tangles; Following the Rules'
“Somany people think that if you're writing fantasy, it means you can just makeeverything up as you go. Want to add a dragon? Add a dragon! Want some magic?Throw it in. But the thing is, regardless of whether you're dealing withrealism or fantasy, every world has rules.” – V. E. Schwab
Born in July of 1987, VictoriaElizabeth Schwab is best known for her novels – 2013’s Vicious and 2020’sThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,nominated for a Locus Award as Best Fantasy. The daughter of aBritish mom and “Beverly Hills” dad, she grew up on both the West Coast and inthe Deep South, a lover of fairytales, folklore “and books that make me wonderif the world is really as it seems.”
A graduate of Washington Universityin St. Louis, she studied everything from Physics to Film to Art History andEnglish and held a wide variety of jobs before turning to writing in the20-teens.
Her work has received criticalacclaim, been translated into morethan a dozen languages, and been optioned for TV and Film. She said she loves working in many differentgenres and writing for all ages. “Istill get rejections - frequently - and my goal isn't to never fail, to neverbe turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't,” she said. That having been said, her next novel Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil has been accepted for publication in 2025.
“Ithink a lot of writers are tempted to add complexity by over-complicatingthings, but always remember that most natural rules/laws are, at their core,simple. Start simple and build from there, or you risk getting yourself andyour readers tangled.”
@font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
