Hello bookworms! During the Storytellers on Tour blog blitz for The Iron Crown, I had the pleasure to rave about the book with you all! As promised, here is my Q&A with the author. Many thanks to SOT for coordinating this interview and giving me a chance to chat with the author. Let’s first learn about The Iron Crown and L. L. MacRae before we dive into the conversation. Find my reading experience and link to the full review at the end of the post.
The Iron Crown
(Dragon Spirits #1)
Epic Fantasy
Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.
Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.
But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.
Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.
A new high fantasy series bursts into life with the DRAGON SPIRITS who reign supreme in the magic-drenched world of Tassar.
Content Notes: Swearing, Torture, Violence.
About L. L. MacRae:
Lauren is a fantasy author of character-driven stories and epic adventure. Her books usually contain dragons, rarely feature romance, and are typically fun and hopeful. She lives in a tiny village in the UK, has a degree in Psychology, and was a professional copywriter before going full-time as an author (it’s just more fun to write about dragons than corporate copy!) She has previously published under the name L.L. McNeil.
Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, her website and Goodreads.
Hi Lauren! Welcome to Armed with A Book. It is my pleasure to host you today. Can you tell my readers a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer?
Thank you so much for the opportunity!
I live in a tiny village in the middle of the British countryside – it’s super peaceful and perfect for writing! Professionally, I’ve been a Copywriter for a number of years (and still freelance on the side from time to time). I published my debut novel in 2017, and have been a full-time author since 2019! My books usually contain dragons and are typically fun and hopeful.
Chosen ones is a popular trope in Fantasy and when I first started the book, I thought it would be similar. However, you surprised me and it was quite refreshing to read your book because Fenn is one of the lost ones, chosen or not we learn later. As I progressed through the plot, I really appreciated meeting others like him and seeing the danger they were in. What led you to make Fenn one of the lost souls?
Originally, The Iron Crown was going to be a portal fantasy. Fenn was supposed to be from our world and end up in Tassar, hence being lost and not knowing anything.
However, as I drafted the story, I felt it would work better as an epic fantasy, so I tried to figure out how or why he would be lost and out of place. The curse made perfect sense, and also tied into the main plot anyway, so it felt like a good fit. Almost as if it had always worked that way!
The realm of Tassar is full of dragon spirits as well as terrifying creatures like the Myr. Do the Myr exist in mythology and old legends or did you create them?
I didn’t really write with any specific theme in mind, but the idea of life vs death cropped up numerous times in early drafts. The Myr essentially represent death. They are feared, hated, and suck life from the environment wherever they go. For many people, that is terrifying and makes them their greatest enemy. For others, the Myr are part of the natural order of the world.
Our main characters (and side ones!) have experience with death in some way, and have vastly different takes on it. It wasn’t something I wanted to explore too deeply, but it certainly appeared enough that it made me think while I was writing certain characters in certain scenes.
Conversely, dragons are life. They are created when life floods an area – for example a forest, a lake, a new village etc. Dragons and the Myr have opposite, conflicting magic, and that is always a fun idea to incorporate. That conflict was something I wanted to create and have as a central aspect of the series.
The Iron Crown has many characters and I loved the interplay between them. Calidra is stubborn and her banter with Jisyel was quite entertaining. Did you have any real world inspiration for your characters?
I’m so glad you liked the characters! Writing characters is historically one of my weaknesses with writing, so several drafts and revision passes were dedicated specifically to making them as well-rounded and believable as possible. There weren’t any real world inspirations as such, but there are certainly snippets of conversations or arguments that I’ve experienced that have made it into the book!
Your debut book written under L.L. MacRae, The Citrine Key, takes place before The Iron Crown. What is that book about and are there any major characters that see development in it?
The book is a prequel novella, set five years before the events of The Iron Crown.
It follows Apollo for the most part (it’s told exclusively from his POV), but Malora and another minor character also feature. Essentially, Apollo is given an impossible task to save himself from execution by the queen, but the lifelong thief isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet! There is magic, a dragon, and a curse, too. A very good flavour of the world!
It’s not necessary to read it to understand The Iron Crown, but it works nicely as an introduction to the series!
What has the response from your readers been like, especially from those who have not read The Citrine Key?
Response overall has been pretty positive! It’s always scary to publish a book, especially one in a new universe.
There are of course critiques that I have taken on board, and every new book is a learning experience, but overall, people seem to enjoy it – which is probably the most important part of being an author!
You have published numerous books as L. L. McNeil. What are some lessons you took away from your publishing career as L. L. McNeil and brought to writing as L. L. MacRae?
I’m still writing the same books (always fantasy, always with dragons!), I’ve just changed my author name. All my backlist will be republished under MacRae. I like to think that with every book written, you improve as a writer. I’ve written one million words between my debut and The Iron Crown, and I’m sure the quality will improve the more works are completed!
What does your writing process look like? Do you have a set of events in mind before you start writing or do you let them come up as you write?
I have to plot. Otherwise my ideas fizzle out into nothing. I have plenty of concepts and ideas that pop up all the time, but unless I actually plot something out with them, I’ll lose steam within a few thousand words.
I don’t meticulously plot everything out, mostly just the main events. Then I have plenty of flexibility and freedom to let creativity reign when I write what happens at those events, and in between them!
New ideas will invariably crop up while writing, and I’ll look at the planned outline again, see where I can change things around or add new ideas in.
Reading Experience and Review Link
Thank you for hanging out with me and L. L. MacRae today! 🙂 July is almost over and I will be back with Ariel on the 31st with our horror recap.
Cover Image: Banner Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
Background in promo with book cover Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
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