[ID: notes labelled “Samantha Shannon interview”, ordered in a “question and answer” type style. the text reads:
Out of PRIORY and ADOFN, which do you recommend people start with ?
Both books are their own self contained journey
For no spoilers, she recommends reading ADOFN first. If you read PRIORY first you're going to know about key character deaths
However PRIORY is an easier read. ADOFN is more politically complex and is samantha diving very deep into the world.
PRIORY was originally a stand-alone and she went to her agent saying this
However, building the history of the world helped to encourage her to write another
She was more intrigued by the Grief of Ages the more she wrote
3rd book will be another prequel
She would love to do a 'guide to the world of PRIORY' companion novel or even an illustrated edition
Experience of PRIORY blowing up
PRIORY exploded on tiktok around the pandemic
Samantha didn't know what tiktok was but her sales figures had exploded
She believes PRIORY has outsold the entire bone season series by itself
She thought PRIORY was going to be quite niche when she wrote it
Samantha had a lot of trouble writing The Song Rising and she wrote PRIORY right after it
She didn't have a book deal for PRIORY when she started writing it
Why write another book while still working on TBS?
Samantha believes her craft would have stagnated if she'd only written in Paige's voice for 10 years
She wrote the Mask Falling after PRIORY and says that it's a lot better as she was able to infuse the lyricism of PRIORY into Paige's voice
Roots of Chaos books take her about 3 years
What drew you to making the key relationship in PRIORY sapphic?
Wanted Sabran's court to reflect Elizabethan court
She was reading a book about Elizabeth's relationships with her ladies of the bedchamber and the author said 'It was very heterosexual for people of the same sex to sleep with each other but she was like 'what if it WAS gay, sounds gay to me'
Loved the idea of a relationship between a Queen and her Lady and while writing it she realised she wasn't as straight as she thought.
She thought why not make PRIORY as gay as possible as so much fantasy is misogynistic and homophobic
Many people associate fantasy with history and the constraints that come with that history
She isn't saying it's not important for people to tell stories including those things but she didn't feel she needed to
Anything you do to get into the ROC/TBS zone?
She often needs to take a short break to mentally divorce herself so she doesn't confuse them
They're very different so she doesn't think she would confuse them but still - however she'd love to see paige riding on a dragon
She remembers editing priory very late at night hysterically listening to hymns rocking back and forth - 16th century music for ROC
How meticulous are you when planning a book?
It's easier to plan PRIORY book as they are standalones
The idea is that all ROC books will work together to tell a larger story eventually but you can just pick one up if you just want a singular journey
The Bone Season is planned quite rigorously and she changed quite a few things about the plot
She recently discovered an old synopsis she sent to bloomsbury - there was a whole paige pregnancy plot 'renesmee ype thing'
Names all her chapters first and writes a mini synopsis for them
PRIORY is multi POV and she also writes them chronologically, dotting around characters in the way that we'd read it
Ead was initially envisioned as the main character with the whole middle section to herself and some of the other characters feel as though they're not as prominent as her for that reason
Her editors wanted all the characters in the middle part so she had to stretch out their stories which was hard
Wulf is on one continent and she needed him to get to the other continent but with medieval transport she couldn't
There's a slightly insane scene in original draft where Wulf tames a fire breathing dragon just to get to another place but her editors said there was no foundation for this in the books, as the dragons are meant to be chaotic and evil, and she agreed
So instead she had to delay all the other characters while Wulf was making his long journey
Based on medieval bestiary where it was known mongoose were happy to fight snakes
Consequently, mongooses seen as the enemy of the dragon
She was fascinated by teeny tiny mongoose going up against dragons - she said 'what if i just make them BIG?'
She used to but she doesn't use many visual references
Used them for TBS and priory
TBS fashion is dark academia (like victorian but modern)
The way she handled world-building is making herself answer question - she'll ask herself if it's a dry country how are they getting water, where is food grown etc
The feasts in PRIORY inspired by grandeur of Henry VIII feast
If you had to choose between ROC or TBS, who are you saving?
It has to be bone season, her first series
She still loves priory but she has emotional attachment to TBS
Which do you enjoy writing more?
Enjoys elements of both but TBS is slightly easier, writing from one pov
It's both easier and harder to write in the real places - TBS5 has a huge urban battle in rome, lot of damage done to certain structures but this mean she needs to know all the details
Writing battles in ADOFN she can conjure places when she needs them, more freedom
In terms of voice she knows paige's voice so well and she loved writing from her pov
PRIORY is a more serious and weighty character
Niclays is very funny, but he usually comes rock bottom in fans favs but she loves him. He's so angry and bitter and she finds him comical. 'Niclays would shout at you to get off his lawn'
If you could save 2 characters from ADOFN and PRIORY, who would it be?
Save Wulf bc he goes through so much, he cannot catch a break
And maybe Glorian as she thinks Dumai and Tunuva can handle themselves
She's not going to save Niclays although she loves him (she did actually save himas one editor wanted him to die)
Described niclays as 'grumpy grandpa
Final answer Ead and Tané
What prompted you to come up with this idea of Berethnet queens
Background of house came from St George and the dragon tale
Sabra is one of the original names of the damsel in the legend
She read a very old, pretty gruesome and problematic version of St George - was interested in how character of Kalyb, this mysterious enchantress, has disappeared from modern tales of St George
Joan of Arc one of Glorian's main historical inspirations
She was interested in Joan of Arc being called to battle from a young age
Glorian was interesting to write as she's mentioned in priory and is the most famous of the Berethnet's and considered to be this prodigy queen
Samantha wanted to examine that story and challenge it as Glorian was just a child with a lot put on her
She wanted to examine the theme of storytelling and how we tell each other stories of the past and what details we bring forward and what ones we change/omit
Mentions how the reading order affects Glorian's story, you will either discover Glorian's legacy and see it broken down or see the real Glorian and view how she is falsely portrayed in the future.
