Hi hi! I'm back after a short break with another indie author interview, this time with the one and only Brittany M. Willows! Brittany's latest book, BLOODY SPADE, just released on September 15th, so this is perfect timing for a chat with her! Read on for our conversation from last week.
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Talli: First, how about an intro - introduce yourself, your books, and maybe a fun fact about your writing process?
Brittany: Sure! My name is Brittany ("Bri" for short), and I'm a self-published author from rural Ontario, Canada who loves to mix genres. My debut series, The Calyspis Project, was predominantly science fiction (space opera, to be precise) with fantasy and post-apocalyptic elements; and my newest book, Bloody Spade, is a young adult urban fantasy with a post-apocalyptic backstory. One fun fact about my writing process is that I tend to draft out of order, jumping to whichever scenes I feel like working on most and going back to fill in the blanks later. It can be a bit messy, but it works for me!
Talli: Okaayyy why didn't I know you had a scifi series??!! That sounds awesome!!
Brittany: Haha, I honestly
don't talk about it often because, while it was a lot of fun to write
and I'm still proud that I wrote and published it, it could definitely
do with a new coat of paint. I published the first book in that duology
when I was nineteen, drafted it when I was sixteen. I'm actually
planning on rewriting it once I'm done with the sequel to Bloody Spade. That's when it'll get to be in the lime light again!
Talli: Totally understandable about the sci-fi series! I don't wish anything I wrote when I was 16 to see the light of day, so I absolutely get it lol
And of course I am SO excited about Bloody Spade. Congrats on the recent book release!! What was the original inspiration for Bloody Spade? How far has the book come since that first idea? Also, omg. You're too powerful. Writing out of order totally stresses me out, idk how you do it!! Major props tho haha
Brittany: The original inspiration for Bloody Spade can basically be summed up as, well, anime. However, there were a few in particular I drew a lot of inspiration from! D.Gray-Man was super influential in the worldbuilding department, Pandora Hearts in the aesthetics, and Shugo Chara in the melding of magic and an urban setting (both Shugo Chara and Pandora also feature catboys and card suit symbolism, so I think that's where my interest in both of those began).
The story has come very far in some ways since the initial spark, and in other ways...actually not so much! It went from a real-world setting to a fictional Earth, the magic system became much more complex, and ALL of the lore is brand new (in the original version of the story, I never went into the history of magic, so I had a blank slate to work with there). But a lot of the core ideas and pivotal scenes actually survived from the 2009 manga script I wrote! And so did most of the characters too, even though some of them may look quite different than their original iterations.
And honestly, I think if I forced myself to write in order, I'd just get stuck. My thought processes are very chaotic though, so I guess that matches my writing style
Talli: Wow! It sounds like you've done a ton of work on Bloody Spade! I love that you still have pieces that remained from the original version; it's cool to see what stays consistent throughout every revision. How long has the story been with you? And you said manga script - did you originally intend to write it as a manga or graphic novel?
Brittany: Yeah, I'm really happy I got to hold on to some things! Makes it feel kind of special, knowing some of its old bones are still in there.
The book's release date was actually the story's twelfth birthday! It's been with me since I was fifteen years old. And yes, it was supposed to be a manga originally, but I quickly discovered that was way too ambitious of a project for me. I never even finished drawing the first page, haha (but I'm very happy I was still able to tell the story in novel form).
Talli: Twelve years!!! Omg, that is awesome. Did you choose the release date on purpose? And yeah omg I had the idea a few months ago that I wanted to try illustrating a graphic novel, but then I actually considered the amount of work and I was like haha...no. I'm so sure Bloody Spade would be AMAZING as a manga, but I def understand turning to novel format instead lol
Brittany:
I did! It also coincides with Iori's birthday (he and the story were
created on the same day. I actually went as far as to change the year
the story is set in from 2029 to 2027 so that his birthday in canon
could be his actual creation date of September 15th, 2009. It's VERY
extra but it makes me happy, haha)
Talli: Did you ever consider traditional publishing for Bloody Spade? Or was it always going to be indie?
Brittany: It was always going to be indie. I've actually never put a whole lot of consideration into traditional publishing. I did very briefly when I first decided to pursue a career in writing (back in 2011), but the instant I learned about self-publishing I was like "That!! That's what I want to do!" because I love the amount of control it gives me over my stories. I think I'd find traditional publishing to be a bit suffocating, personally (totally get why some people prefer that route, though. It has its pros and cons, same as indie publishing. It's just not for me).
Talli: Yeah I definitely understand that. It's so freeing to make all my own choices, but it's also like .... oh my god I have to do Everything mySELF??!! So there's pros and cons hahah
Brittany: Haha, there is
definitely that, yeah. There's A LOT to be done in self-publishing a
novel! And it's even harder if you're juggling all of that with a
full-time job (or kids, or whatever else might eat up an author's time.
Including, y'know, the actual writing itself).
Talli: For SURE. So lastly, what can we expect next from you?? I know you literally just released a book, but what else is on the horizon? Bloody Spade has a sequel coming, right?
Brittany: Bloody Spade does have a sequel in the works, yes! I'm in the midst of revising BLEEDING HEART, and it's currently a 135k word chonker. If all goes to plan, it will be out on May 11th 2023 (May 11th is Ellen's birthday in canon <3 unfortunately not also her creation date, haha, but an important date to me nonetheless). When that's finished, I'm hoping to get back to the rewrite of The Calypsis Project I abandoned when Bloody Spade stole my attention away. After that? Well, I have a post-apocalyptic scifi about two werewolf brothers stewing away on the backburner that's shaping up to be fun.
And I'm not finished in the Bloody Spade universe either! I've got a short story threatening to become a novella that follows Iori in his younger years already in progress, a prequel I've been tinkering with here and there, and also another sequel idea set a few decades post-Cardplay duology that I'd like to get to at some point. In other words, I've got lots of fun stuff on the horizon!
Talli: aaaahh so many exciting things!!! 135k sequel let's GO! xD And that werewolf story sounds awesome as well. I'm hype for all of this!!!
Brittany: 135k and still growing during revisions!! IT'S GONNA BE A HECKIN' UNIT. I'm estimating 145-150k. Hoping I can keep it below the 150k mark, lmao
Glad you're hyped!! So am I! I wish I could write faster so I could get to all these stories sooner (gimme some of that SJ Whitby magic, like, damn).
Talli: RIGHT? I feel that so much. Well, that's all I got for ya, so thanks so much for taking the time to talk!
Brittany: Thank you for having me! This was fun!
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Not to be dramatic, but Bloody Spade has been one of my most anticipated indie reads since I first heard of it back in like March. My copy just came in the mail a few days ago, and I can't wait to dive in!! Just gotta... finish something else first to make room in my brain :'')
I'm thrilled that I had this opportunity to talk to Brittany about her books! You can follow her on Twitter for frequent glimpses into the world of Bloody Spade (as well as some lovely artwork!), and definitely check out her book!!
That's all for today! Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see y'all next week!
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