INTERVIEW with THE ANCILLARY REVIEW OF BOOKS

...about THE MOUNTAIN CROWN. Here's an excerpt of me talking about Méka as a protagonist:

"I wanted to write a woman who is not a warrior, who is at peace. She’s not wild, she doesn’t have snarky comments everywhere, she doesn’t extend her energy beyond what’s required in the moment. She’s very capable and not intimidated by these people who have invaded her world, but she understands how to maneuver in it. It’s economical. She will wait. She will act when she needs to act, and not when she doesn’t. I wanted to write that kind of personality because I don’t see it often in fiction, and especially with women, because people interpret it as passive. They interpret passivity as a negative. But if you’re trying to not impact the world, and you want to be in harmony with the world, how do you move through the world? You’re not going to assert yourself and demand attention, or move with self-righteousness. I took a risk in having her as a point of view character. It would have been so much easier to do from Lilley’s point of view, right? He’s much more overtly dynamic. But I chose Meka, because if I’m going to introduce her culture, I want it to be through her lens. The ultimate statement of the story is through her eyes. She’s an atypical protagonist, because she doesn’t try to assert her will upon the world, and she doesn’t feel entitled to anything. I have to check myself and my own programming, too. When I was writing, I kept thinking “wouldn’t she resist here? wouldn’t she fight?” I had it that she thought about it, but then thought, “what’s it going to get me?” She knows she’s maneuvering in a world where she has very little power, societally speaking. If she wanted to assert herself, she could damage everything because of her abilities, but she doesn’t. So as a writer, I had to resist the urge to make her Action Hero Meka. Her actions come from her whole worldview. When creating characters, I can’t just throw characteristics onto personalities; to me, they have to be holistic to them as people. I knew going into that some readers might not dig it. They might think she doesn’t have enough personality, or whatever. But to me, there’s something very beautiful and powerful about people who move through the world with that kind of innate confidence and strength, and they don’t push it onto other people."

Full interview HERE.