Hey, readers! I’m back again, and I hope you enjoy today’s author interview with Sarah Everest. Sarah writes Teen and Young Adult fantasy fiction, and I’m excited to talk to her.
LB: Imagination is an amazing gift. Tell me your why for writing fantasy.
SE: I’ve always had a very active imagination and have been swept up in the fantasy realms since my earliest memories. My dad read to us every night, and I couldn’t even tell you how old I was when I first heard the Chronicles of Narnia, not to mention the Oz books and the Tower of Geburah. Fantasy is just in my blood.
LB: I love that your dad read to you every night! Teenagers go through some of life’s biggest changes in a few short years. Why is it important to you to write for this age group?
SE: When I first started writing full length novels in high school I was really frustrated with the options that were out there for my age group. Basically, there weren’t any. There were kids books, now considered middle grade, and then adult books. I loved the classics and read plenty of adult fiction, but I felt like there was this big section missing, so I wrote books that I wanted to read with characters my age at the time. When I got back into writing, the YA market had become a pretty big deal, and as I started reading the current books marketed for that group I quickly grew dissatisfied with a lot of the content. The writing was sometimes good, and a lot of the stories are really incredible, but I also found a lot of really negative lifestyle choices being glorified, and I wanted to keep creating great stories for teen readers without those aspects being involved.
LB: Yes, there is such a need for clean fiction! Your book covers are eye-catching! Tell us about the design process.
SE: I can’t take much credit for my book covers 🙂 When I re-released The Darkening Dragons through a small publisher, after first releasing it through Smashwords and having like five downloads at most, Candice Pedraza Yamnitz designed the covers for me. I do love how they turned out though! Candice designed the cover for the prequel, as well as the covers for One Must Die and my upcoming novella since she was the one directing that collaboration. For Dawn of the Darkening, I showed her my previous covers and said I wanted something similar. She read the story and added the silhouettes, which I love. Then I just tweaked a bit here and there on details to get them as close to my imagining as possible.
LB: What is a main takeaway that you hope readers glean from your writing?
SE: Hmm, that’s an interesting question. When I write, my goal is always to create stories that resonate with people. I want my characters to feel as real to my readers as they feel to me, and for them to be relatable.
In that way, my hope is that readers will be encouraged to step out and be the heroes in their own stories. We all have strengths and weaknesses, that’s part of what makes us human after all, but if we learn to face the challenges in life together, finding our strength not in ourselves but in the God who created us, we can overcome the darkness of this world, or in the case of my stories, that darkness might come in the form of dragons.
LB: That’s quotable! Who are some of your favorite authors, and how have they shaped your writing?
SE: As I mentioned before, I’m a big fan of CS Lewis and love classic literature. I’ve definitely been inspired by the Lewis style of fantasy and wonder, as well as his ability to speak truth in the guise of fiction. That’s one of the things I’m really passionate about, actually. I want to be able to tell stories that will reach a wide audience of readers, both those who share my faith, as well as those who don’t know what to believe. Jesus also taught people using stories, and I find that to be one of the most valuable ways to reveal truth to those who are open to seeing it.
I also just really love beautiful language, so I have a lot of fun with words and descriptions in my stories. I have a fairly distinctive style that sits on the edges of expectations, and that is largely due to my background in literature. I like to stretch people a bit and make them see life and stories differently. In an era where many readers have become trope addicts, I’m here to set those preconceived notions on their heads.
LB: Words can be so fun and powerful! What are you working on right now?
SE: Several things 🙂 Last year I was part of a co-authored Steampunk/Fantasy Murder Mystery book called One Must Die. I’m currently editing a spinoff novella, Of Clockworks and Daggers, that I plan to release in May, and our group is also working on the beginnings of a sequel.
Besides that, I’m just about to wrap up the first draft of a time travel serial. It’s rooted in URBEX (urban exploring) and the bombing of Rotterdam in WWII. I’m super excited about it, but have yet to work out all the logistics of how and when it will be ready to release. Ultimately, it should come out in novella length installments, with a compilation released at some point in the future. As you can see, lots of figuring to do on all of that.
LB: Sounds like you’ve got some fun irons in the fire! Where can readers find you?
SE: I’m most active on Instagram. You can find me there:
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LB: Thank you for joining us today!
SE: Thanks again for featuring me.
M Liz Boyle 