Interview with NY Times Bestselling Author Beth Revis: GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE

If you crave terrifyingly dark teen fiction filled with danger, impossible choices, and twisty political intrigue, GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE, is your next book!

Sometimes to make things better, we have to do things that seem wrong or even horrible to others. Does that make us monsters? Or saviors?

Seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her rural island home to attend the prestigious Yūgen Academy as a scholarship student, studying medicinal alchemy. Nedra doesn’t really fit in, until she meets Greggori “Grey” Astor, the son of an influential politician. But that’s okay. Nedra isn’t going to school to make friends. She’s there to make a difference, to become an alchemist to help the sick and suffering.

Grey is immediately taken in by her intelligence and deep interest in her studies. Nedra has feelings for him too, but she’s determined to find a cure for the deadly plague that has been sweeping the northern region of the island and creeping toward the cities. Nedra tries to push away her feelings for Grey, worried they are distracting her mission. But just as Grey and Nedra grow close, the sickness spreads and the body count soars. The deadly plague threatens her family, and Nedra finds herself making the most unforgivably dark and impossible choice–turning to the forbidden practice of necromancy, a magic so dark and dangerous that it requires unthinkable sacrifice. Will Nedra be able to cure the plaque without losing everything she loves and her soul?

I’m a big fan of Beth Revis’ ACROSS THE UNIVERSE series, so she had a lot to live up to in this book. Not only did she bring it, but she exceeded in delivering a dark fantasy filled with political intrigue that kept me awake devouring pages, especially toward the end, and shook me to my core, making me queasy at times. GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE starts out like a warm hug from a friend, but then it wraps you in its tantalizing hooks and drags you breathlessly through its heart-thumping climax to its twisty ending, leaving you with the question, “How far would I journey into the darkness for those that I love?”.

Like in Carrie Ryan’s FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, Beth makes the darkest, most shocking moments in this story beautiful. Reading GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE required a bit of floor pacing for me to walk off the emotions and stunning imagery that arose as Nedra had to make such desperate choices. The storytelling is masterful and worth close study.

I had the pleasure of talking with Beth Revis about GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE and writing!

Welcome to The Winged Pen, Beth!

Readers already know about your brilliant ACROSS THE UNIVERSE sci-fi trilogy, STAR WARS REBEL RISING, and A WORLD WITHOUT YOU, which is contemporary fiction. GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE is dark, dark fantasy. It seems like you can write everything. Will you tell us what inspired the story?

This story is one I’ve worked on for years, always coming back to the central idea that all magic has a price. There are roots of it Fullmetal Alchemist, which I first viewed a decade or more ago, but which stayed in my mind, fermenting into new ideas. The story started off as an exploration of who is labeled a monster and who is not, but it certainly shifted over time to become this new thing, a story all its own.

For the first one hundred or so pages, Nedra is a very sweet, simple girl who loves her family deeply and cherishes the opportunity she’s been given to study at Yūgen Academy. As the plague ravages her island, Nedra transforms into a powerful and barely recognizable necromancer, but we still see the glimmer of goodness shining through her actions. As someone who obsesses over character arc, I feel there’s a lot to be studied here for you to have pulled off a dramatic transformation so seamlessly. Did you have the character arc flushed out before you wrote GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE? Or did Nedra’s transformation come to you naturally as you wrote the story. Do you have any tips to share for mastering character arc?

Whatever you do, don’t do what I did! This book took over two years to write because I couldn’t find the right story. The first draft started after Nedra was already a necromancer, and it basically cast her as a Darth Vader from the start. But none of my early readers could find any sympathy or empathy for her. And I found that I kept going back and back, relying on flashbacks and memories to tell the story. Eventually I realized I needed to show what had happened in Nedra’s past—as it was happening—rather than tell it in a flashback or memory. Isn’t “show, don’t tell” one of the most common bits of writing advice? And yet I spent more than a year doing the exact opposite, in a draft that was almost entirely scrapped.

(If you’re interested in the development of the novel, I go into a lot more depth of that here.)

I have friends who can churn out novels every year, but my stories tend to be entangled with me as a person and take longer to fully develop. As I read Nedra’s story, I got a sense that there were some strong personal messages shining through about grief and owning who you are and being willing to follow through with that vision of yourself, even when it’s uncomfortable or dangerous. Because of this, GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE affected me deeply beyond the brilliant plotting and engaging characters. Were those messages consciously woven into the story?

They were, although not in the first draft. The big turning point in my writing of this story was when I had lunch with a writer friend of mine, Carrie Ryan. I was talking about how I couldn’t seem to get Nedra’s story right, and she told me that what I really needed to do was show the major moment where she experiences grief. By showing that, the character and the story suddenly both made sense.

But as I was working on this part of the book, my father fell ill. Pancreatic cancer is almost undetectable and strikes fast. His death was sudden and horrific, and suddenly I found myself writing Nedra’s grief as my own.

The way you handled grieving was so heartfelt. Thank you for putting so much of yourself into GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE. Besides being a NY Times bestselling author, you’re also a HUGE friend to up-and-coming writers. You regularly offer support to our community through the form of critiques, the Paper Hearts craft books and workbook (which is always next to me at my laptop), and workshops. Do you have any upcoming workshops?

I do! I’ve partnered with fellow author Cristin Terrill to help run the Wordsmith Workshop Retreats. They’re five-day-long writing retreats that combine serene writing time with one-on-one and classroom lessons. Cristin and I each teach a different workshop in the morning, then spend the evenings working one-on-one with participants in critique sessions. We’ve already scheduled our 2019 retreats, and there are a handful of spots still available (although some are already sold out). You can find more information here.

I’ve also started dabbling in online courses, and I am using Udemy to help provide the information to students. I currently have one course available on developing novels using journaling, and the course comes with a digital copy of the Paper Hearts Journal. I’m working on a second course that will hopefully be available by the end of the year. You can get the first course for sale by using this link.

Can you tell us about your next book?

There is a sequel coming…which I’m actually working on right now. Send coffee, lol.

How exciting! I can’t wait for that. Buckle up for the lightning round, Beth! *hands her a giant chocolate chip cookie for strength

If you had a superpower, what would it be? Teleportation

Wooden pencil or mechanical? Mechanical

Coffee or tea? Coffee

Sweet or salty? Both at the same time

Dog, cat, or other? Dog

Plotter or pantser? Both, depending on project

One last question: Any advice for all those aspiring authors out there?

Writing takes practice, no one can deny that. We all like to think that the first book we write will turn us into JK Rowling, but the truth is that you need to hone your craft and, like any art, practice. But that said, if you have the choice between staying at home and writing or going out and having an adventure, choose the adventure. Practice is important, but your stories will come from your adventures.

GREAT ADVICE! Thanks so much, Beth!

Beth’s book tour starts soon. Check her event schedule to see if she’s coming to a bookstore or book festival near you.

Look for GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE at your favorite bookstores on September 25th. Better yet, call them today to make sure it will be there and preorder! Also, request it at your favorite library.

Beth Revis is a NY Times bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages. Her latest title, Give the Dark My Love, is a dark fantasy about love and death. Beth’s other books include the bestselling science fiction trilogy, Across the Universe, and a novel in the Star Wars universe entitled Rebel Rising. She’s the author of two additional novels, numerous short stories, and the nonfiction Paper Hearts series, which aids aspiring writers. A native of North Carolina, Beth is currently working on a new novel for teens. She lives in rural NC with her boys: one husband, one son, and two massive dogs. To connect with Beth, visit her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.