Nani The Fucko??

Starting talking about the world of ACOTAR and when/where it came to SJM

She loves to travel and has always been obsessed with fairytales

She got the idea in 2008/2009 and was out in LA with her creative writing degree

She even applied to BN and they didn't give her a job LOL

She was trying to get TOG to an agent and was brainstorming and was listening to music when she got the inspo for Feyre

She wrote the first two books of ACOTAR while she was publishing TOG

She used to think writing two books a year was too slow for her (LMAO OKAY MA'AM)

She rewrote ACOMAF from its original format after ACOTAR was getting some attention and that's where she got the idea for the prison and what else that could become (seeing it again in acosf)

After she started working on ACOWAR, she started getting the idea for ACOSF. She started writing about what would happen after the war and what would happen with the characters/where they would go

She knew she wanted to write Nesta's story from there

She wrote that bit to help her figure out how to get ACOWAR done because she knew where she needed Nesta to end up at the beginning of ACOSF and set it up in ACOWAR

She's always loved Nesta

Talking about writing "unlikable" characters - which she doesn't like that term at all but she thinks/ties it with the way she writes trauma

On a subconscious level, it's a way to work out some of her own trauma/feelings.

With Feyre, she didn't realize how her anxiety and depression were shown through her character.

When she wrote ACOSF, Nesta's journey with her emotions was similar to her own.

2016-2017 were rough years for her. She felt like she was severally disconnected from herself. and it took her some time to get the help she needed.

When she started with ACOSF, she was in a place that matched Nesta in the beginning. The first time she reread it, it was a painful upsetting experience because she saw so many pieces of herself and the thoughts she had about herself.

This is tangible proof for her that with writing Nesta she climbed out of that hole with therapy and getting help. She saw where she was and how she overcame it. (She's getting kinda emotional here and I love her so much SOBS)

The hike with Nessian was inspired by her in NZ going with Josh because it was her own journey going through one of her rough spots.

She feels like she was walking step by step with Nesta. ( She got choked up here again sobs )

The thing she wanted the most on the journey was inner peace, the same as Nesta. When she was rereading the book she cried so hard at the hike and when Nesta named the sword because that was also what she was looking for (inner peace).

Talking about the community helping the heroine ( both on feyre and nesta's journeys) and talking about found families and how she loves the sense of finding your place and the people you want to be around.

One of the things that have helped her with her own issues is that she isn't alone and has found her own group of people who love her and support her. It's a comforting thing. The feeling of belonging and safety.

For Nesta, she has her sisters but she has baggage, and part of her growth is finding that family separate from her sisters.

Rereading the moments between Nesta/Gwyn/Emerie and how Nesta was worried about them seeing all the "horrible pieces" but they don't walk away was so important for her.

The moment when Nesta makes the decision in the blood rite to stay behind to pay a debt and Emerie tells her there's no debt is such a personal moment/profound because it relates to her bff and how she was also waiting for her friends to leave because of her "baggage"

It was a moment of healing for her that she wanted Nesta to have

( she makes a joke that it seems like it's autobiography LOL but it's not but she felt like she saw her healing through writing and letting Nesta heal )

Talked about Cassian being a hero who doesn't step ahead of her and supports her.

What do Rhys and Cassian represent for us as readers because they talk a backseat for their girl was asked and Sarah has to remind herself to write the guys doing something (LOL)

In the original draft she didn't write Cassian with Azriel finding eris

She makes him watch the blood rite through a magic mirror so he can keep an eye on Nesta (LOLOL) There were chapters of Cassian just marveling at Nesta's training (sounds on brand HAHA)

Her editor was like "Um he has to do something" LMAO

She puts the female character first.

The scene with Cassian would rather die than hurt Nesta and she explodes she always had that scene in mind.

She referenced when Amren said "when you explode let it be felt across the world" (I know the wording isn't right but y'all know what I mean) and IT WAS WITH THAT SCENE

About Cassian: "He's so good."

Talked about Feyre's trauma and how Rhys was supporting her journey (Sarah MacLean talks about how important it was for readers to see how Feyre handled leaving Tamlin and his abuse).

Everything is about these men being super supportive

Talked about Josh being her bff and how lucky she has that kind of love and relationship facing things together as equals 🥰

"Everyone deserves a partner who doesn't respects them." (Something also about not always seeing your partner as only good but I missed the exact wording)

She has no interest in writing dudes who tell you to stay at home.

While rereading the series she notes about Rhys: "This man is so hot"

It was fun and refreshing to write Rhys from Nesta's POV

No person is universally loved so Rhys is "perfect" in someway but also not in some ways, esp through Nesta's eyes

It comes from a place where Nesta was jealous of Feyre's found family and people who love her so much and how Rhys also has these people who love him so much because she wants that for herself and wants friends so much. She started with the House.

How much do you save for future books? How much of the idea gets into the book you're working on? Are you cooking future books with current texts?

She knows where the series is going to go with major plots but what she enjoys about drafting and editing is that she has vague ideas and it becomes moments of discovery and those small things link up to overall themes. Sometimes it surprises her when things line up.

With this world in particular (we have a new map in the BN special edition), she left a lot of it blank to fill in while Feyre learns more about the world. She didn't want to box herself in to give herself space to explore it on the continent and etc

A lot of her travels end up in her books because she's inspired. The lake and mask and the Bog of Oorid were inspired when she was on her trip to Ireland. She read about the mythology of the bog road (?)and it scared her

1st Q - Tell us one thing you like about each sister - Feyre: her compassion and that even at her lowest she felt for other people. Unbreakable love and compassion for others and herself. Nesta: she loves so many things about her but to go with something silly, she loves her obsession with smutty books. Elain: she's the quiet dreamer and different sort of strength than her sisters. In her reread of the series, she loves the moment when Feyre went back to the cottage and the way that Elain looked at it with hope and was the stronger one for it.

She loves that Nesta is not scared of anyone. She loves the moment when she sees Helion for the first time and just goes "nope" and keeps walking as well as the moment she points her finger at Hybren

She believes that (heroines and people in the real world) no one is perfect and with Nesta she didn't want to write someone who didn't have moments of growth, moments you regret.

Just because she's done/said some things that aren't nice that doesn't mean she can't grow and reflect and be a better version of herself; when you reflect on why you did what you did, that's when the true growth is and able to move on. You're not doomed to be an asshole forever and any day is a day you can change.

With Nesta she wanted her to go on this journey with room to grow.

It's a way to get characters to grow. She talked about Feyre in the Weaver's cottage because it's a huge moment of growth when she realizes that she's strong and not going down without a fight.

Same with Nesta and the Bog because it triggered her feelings of helplessness and her assault. She realized she isn't powerless.

Sarah threw her keyboard down with a big YES when she finished that bog scene and that last sentence. It felt good because it was Nesta getting to that breaking point emotionally similar to the blood rite journey.

Sarah: Let's be real I would be killed immediately. I live with the fantasy that I could survive. (Same girl).

2nd Q - Why did she choose to write from Nesta's POV?

She was the one who needed her story to be told the most and when writing ACOWAR, it was the story that was calling to her

She wanted to dig into that and was obsessed with Cassian so she wanted to write the Cassian romance HAHA

One of the worst moments was when she was doing copyedits for the book at her kitchen with her dad next to her and got to the scene of the BJ and her dad was trying to read over her shoulder

Still hasn't asked her dad if he's read this book and hopes he didn't\

Who knows what characters are coming because there are question marks on the map to reveal new people

She knows who she wants to write stories about and there are so many!!!

There are a lot of moments where she goes "You're the next character/story."

3rd Q - The next acotar book regarding elain. Will we get elain pov / Azriel pov in the next one?

We'll see Elain in "some form" but she's not going to promise anything because she hasn't written anything yet. Didn't mention Azriel at all.

What's coming next: CC3 and she's having a lot of fun writing it

How many books in CC - She's contracted for 3 but said there are 4 houses and each book is named after a house SOOO

The first three books are Quinlar but there are a lot of characters who are walking by and she want to follow them. She has an idea who is next and waiting to see before committing to a spin off.

When TOG was mentioned and the host said it that it technically ended , Sarah said "But is it?" The door is not fully closed on that one.

Every now and then she misses Rowaelin and whole TOG gang

4th Q - (Weirdly worded and longwinded) - We got introduced to Gwyn and lightsingers (and how "evil" they really are) and with Azriel being a shadowsinger, is it a counterpart to that and does that mean that Azriel has a beast form as well?

Sarah laughed and said she loves careful reading. "I don't want to say conspiracy theory….but fan theories let's say"

She hasn't written that book so she won't say anything but A+ for reading lol

Does she have a favorite creature? - She loved the bone carver and kelpie because it freaked her out

She loves music so much. She played piano badly for three years lolol

5th Q - In acosf Gwyn talks about 26 worlds and Nesta finds the harp and the 26th string is time (Sarah smiled big here), could there be room for time travel?

She loves these fan theories, A+ reading. She's not committing to anything and she doesn't know why we ask these kind of questions when she's not going to answer anything (LOL)