The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Sarah Prineas

The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Sarah Prineas

Summary: Bookbag loved Sarah Prineas' The Magic Thief and The Magic Thief: Lost. We were thrilled with the opportunity to ask her some questions about it, and get to know her a bit better.

Date: 2 May 2009

Interviewer: Stefan Bachmann

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Bookbag loved Sarah Prineas' The Magic Thief and The Magic Thief: Lost. We were thrilled with the opportunity to ask her some questions about it, and get to know her a bit better.

• When you close your eyes, who do you imagine reading The Magic Thief: Lost?

Sarah Prineas: Hm! I imagine two different things. One is a kid reader with a flashlight under the blankets trying to read just one more page before the parents catch him or her and turn out the light. The other is parents or grandparents reading the book aloud to their kids or grandkids.

• BB: What spurred you to write The Magic Thief trilogy?

SP: I wanted to write a book with all of my favorite fantasy things in it: magic, wizards, adventure, peril, dragons, biscuits and bacon...

Oh, I should add that the biscuits in the book are not what you in the UK think of as biscuits. For you, biscuits are cookies, right? Here in the U.S., biscuits are kind of like fluffy round scones, but not sweet, and very good hot out of the oven with butter and jam.

• BB: Bookbag also loved the first Magic Thief, awarding it a perfect five stars, and yet the second book still manages to improve upon its predecessor in every way. How do think your own writing has developed between the two books?

SP: I'm so glad you think the second book is better! I totally agree that it is. The Magic Thief was my first kids book, and when I wrote it I was still learning how novels work, what shape they are. When writing the second book I was much more confident that I would end up with a novel-shaped thing. I had a better sense of how plot works, how the book's story needs to have tension and a good, fast pace. I also knew my characters better by then, and knew what they'd be likely to do or say in any situation.

• BB: Even though he's only a supporting player, my favourite character in the series is Benet, Nevery's taciturn bodyguard. Who is your own favourite?

SP: Oh, I am very fond of Benet! He really grew on me, too. He was originally just supposed to be a tough guy, but then I started thinking of what bodyguards do. They take care of people. So I decided that Benet would take care of people by protecting them from bad guys, but also by knitting sweaters and baking biscuits.

But I have to say that my favorite character is Conn. He's smart and stupid, he's good and bad, he's truthful and secretive, and he does what has to be done -- even though sometimes it's the wrong thing. Of all the characters, he has the most to learn, about himself and the people who love him, and about the world.

• BB: Which part of writing a book do like the best? What part would you rather not do at all?

SP: I LOVE writing. I never plan my books out ahead of time, so I have to write them to find out what happens, which is very exciting. The part I don't like is after they are published, worrying about how they are going to do, whether readers are going to like them or not. I have to try not to think of that and focus on writing the next book.

• BB: I saw on your blog that you regularly read the obituary section of newspapers! What else do you enjoy reading?

SP: Funny, that you've read my blog! Readers are welcome to check it out if they want to. I enjoy reading others' blogs -- for the same reason I read the obituaries, which is because I'm interested in people. Everybody has a story! I also read a lot of fantasy, and I'm trying to read more children's and young adult literature so I know what other writers are up to.

• BB: At what age did you begin to write stories and what inspired you to start?

SP: I didn't start writing until the year 2000, when I was 33 years old. I told that to a classroom full of kids in London, and they all went ooh, OLD!!, which made me laugh. The thing that inspired me to start writing was this. I had a tiny baby, my son Theo. You might not know this, but babies are really boring. We were living in Germany at the time, and I didn't have many friends. I was going on long walks in the forest with my baby in a backpack, and I started thinking of stories, instead of being bored. And then I started writing them down. That was the start of my own story, my writer story. It was a good beginning...

• BB: Here's a tough one: If you had to trade in your considerable skills as a writer for a different talent of equal proportions, what would it be?

SP: Actually, this is easy. A musician. I take piano lessons, which I enjoy, but I know that I don't have the talent to make truly beautiful music. Musicians experience and understand music differently, on another level than I do, and I truly envy that.

• BB: We now have two superbly entertaining books in The Magic Thief trilogy, the second even better than the first. Expectations will definitely be high for the concluding one! Can you give us any hints on what's to happen in the final instalment?

SP: I definitely can! The third book is called The Magic Thief: Found, so you can expect that something that was lost will be found. I promise you, though, that the way the thing is found will be completely unexpected. Also, the dread magic, Arhionvar, is coming to Wellmet, and Conn and his friends are going to have to figure out a way to deal with it. Oh, and a new Underlord of the Twilight appears. Finally, I've been hinting at dragons in the first two books. I love dragons and saved them as a treat for the third book. The dragons are coming!!

• BB: What's next for you after you've completed The Magic Thief trilogy?

SP: Well, I have written a fourth Magic Thief book, mainly because I wasn't ready to stop writing about these characters. We'll have to wait and see whether the fourth book will be published or not. My U.S. publisher has taken three new books from me. The next one is about a wild, fierce girl who goes into a fairy realm (they're sort of like animal fairies) to deal with the king of that world, the Crow King. She makes friends with a tricksy boy who is really a pooka -- a shapeshifter who can turn into a horse or a goat or a big black dog. I've only just started writing this one and am having an enormous amount of fun with it.

Thanks to the Bookbag for your wonderful reviews and support of The Magic Thief books!! If your readers want to learn more about me and the Magic Thief books, they're welcome to visit my website, and the book website with games and maps and extra Nevery journal entries. Cheers!

• BB: Thanks a lot, Sarah and we hope that fourth book in the series gets published.

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