SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: THE EMPIRE OF DREAMS
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.raecarson.com/
CITY: Surprise
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 318
http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2012/07/rae-carson-amulet-of-power/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 17, 1973, in Oakland, CA; married Charles Coleman Finlay (a writer); children: two stepsons.
EDUCATION:Biola University, B.S. (social science), 1995.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist. Worked variously as a bank teller, secretary, salesperson, and substitute teacher, and in data entry and a machine shop. Freelance writer, beginning 2004.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
AWARDS:William C. Morris Award finalist, YALSA/American Library Association, 2012, for The Girl of Fire and Thorns; Spur Award for Juvenile Nonfiction, Western Writers of America, 2016, for Walk on Earth a Stranger.
WRITINGS
Author’s work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
The “Girl of Fire and Thorns” novels were adapted for audiobook, read by Jennifer Ikeda, HarperAudio, beginning 2012.
SIDELIGHTS
SUBMIT IN SGML FORMAT.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson’s debut fantasy novel for young-adult readers, won multiple accolades for its believably flawed heroine and the challenges she rises to meet. Interviewed by Elizabeth Lear in Publishers Weekly, Carson explained that in writing her novel she “wanted an epic quest like Lord of the Rings, but less Aragorn and more Ugly Betty.”
Princess Elisa is slightly overweight and has some food issues when readers meet her in The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Anticipating her arranged marriage to another royal, Elisa hopes that her future husband is neither young nor handsome, so appalled is she by her own appearance. Her wedding to King Alejandro de Vega takes place in his homeland, Joya d’Arena, amidst looming clouds of war, political upheaval, and a hostile force with occult powers in their arsenal. When the situation explodes, the young woman is gravely imperiled but she possesses a certain advantage: she is one of the world’s chosen people, so marked by the jewel called the Godstone which is embedded in her navel.
“Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect,” noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, the critic recommending The Girl of Fire and Thorns for featuring “compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel.” Writing in Booklist, Francisca Goldsmith judged Carson’s protagonist “a fascinating and credible heroine” and called the author’s fiction debut “romantic, lush, and thought provoking.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer also gave high marks to The Girl of Fire and Thorns, deeming Elisa a young woman “striving to fulfill her potential under perilous circumstances, while realistically growing in resourcefulness, inner strength, and intelligence.”
Although the former princess is queen of Joya d’Arena when readers rejoin her in The Crown of Embers, she still faces threats from several sides. Her family considers her to be too incompetent to lead and demands that Elisa either remarry or install a regent. Her arduous journey to safety gives her newfound personal confidence, as does a romance with Hector, her loyal protection officer. Elisa’s story plays out in The Bitter Kingdom, as Hector is captured and she must travel to the cold and snowy Bitter Kingdom in order to find him. With the story’s lovers separated, Carson shifts the point of view in the final “Girl of Fire and Thorns” story, capturing both Elisa and Hector’s experiences in detail.
A critic for Publishers Weekly called The Crown of Embers “a dramatic and gratifyingly romantic novel that smoothly follows its predecessor” in chronicling the adventures of its “exceptional heroine.” In Booklist, Goldsmith wrote that Elisa “tracks her own growing awareness with a self-consciousness [that is] credible for her age,” and a Kirkus Reviews writer concluded that “the lush details of this magical world are thoroughly intertwined with the profound religious faith of both heroes and villains.” “Readers will no longer recognize the chubby, self-loathing princess” they met in the first series installment, asserted Susan Allen in discussing The Bitter Kingdom for Voice of Youth Advocates, while another Kirkus Reviews critic wrote that the “foretold destiny” of the young royal “is resolved with a marvelous and refreshing twist.” As Elisa’s adventures wind to their end, Carson “tackles classic fantasy tropes, springing off into unusual and refreshing directions,” wrote a Publishers Weekly critic, and upon encountering the series’ “thrilling climax, readers will hope more adventures lie ahead.”
In Walk on Earth a Stranger, Carson begins her “Gold Seer” series for teens. Fifteen-year-old Leah Westfall lives in rural Georgia with her disabled parents, and her ability to locate gold ore has helped her support the family. When a greedy uncle takes the gold ore she has found and also kills her parents, the teen teams up with half-Cherokee friend Jefferson and heads to California, where the Gold Rush is currently ongoing. With Leah disguised as a boy, the friends join a wagon train west, where more adventures and challenges await.
Citing the historical aspects of Walk on Earth a Stranger, Madeline J. Bryant wrote in School Library Journal that “the [early nineteenth-century] time period rings true through Carson’s skillful use of language and attention to detail.” In Voice of Youth Advocates, Liz Sunderman was impressed by the author’s “world-building skills,” adding that “Leah is a strong and winsome heroine, and the confidential tone of the book will have readers feeling like she is a close personal friend.” “Thought-provoking themes of secrecy and trust are woven through the narrative,” observed Claire Gross in Horn Book, and Booklist critic Frances Bradburn noted that Walk on Earth a Stranger “illuminates an important segment of American history as effectively as some textbooks, sustaining YA interest through adventure, fantasy, and romance.”
When Leah and Jefferson return in Like a River Glorious, they are a year older and working their claim in the gold fields of California. The threat posed by Leah’s Uncle Hiram returns, and this time the greedy murderer has several henchmen to help him. Although she falls into the man’s clutches, Leah is able to turn the tables against him, exposing some of her family’s unusual history in the process. Set against a complex socio-political backdrop, Like a River Glorious features an “alternate Gold Rush-era setting [that] is fierce and brutal,” noted Elissa Gershowitz in Horn Book, because “the uprising is very bloody, and many of the good guys perish.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 2011, Francisca Goldsmith, review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, p. 86; September 1, 2012, Francisca Goldsmith, review of The Crown of Embers, p. 114; August 1, 2015, Frances Bradburn, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 67.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, December, 2015, April Spisak, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 187.
Horn Book, September-October, 2015, Claire E. Gross, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 96; January-February, 2017, Elissa Gershowitz, review of Like a River Glorious, p. 90.
Horn Book Guide, spring, 2014, Claire E. Gross, review of The Bitter Kingdom, p. 102.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2011, review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns; July 1, 2012, review of The Crown of Embers; July 1, 2013, review of The Bitter Kingdom; June 15, 2015, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger.
Publishers Weekly, August 1, 2011, review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, p. 49; December 19, 2011, Elizabeth Lear, “Flying Starts: Rae Carson,” p. 14; July 30, 2012, review of The Crown of Embers, p. 66; July 1, 2013, review of The Bitter Kingdom, p. 90; June 22, 2015, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 142.
School Library Journal, August, 2011, Sharon Rawlins, review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, p. 96; October, 2013, Mara Alpert, review of The Bitter Kingdom, p. 118; August, 2015, Madeline J. Bryant, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 96.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2011, Susan Allen, review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, p. 507; August, 2013, Susan Allen, review of Bitter Kingdom, p. 72; October, 2015, Liz Sundermann, review of Walk on Earth a Stranger, p. 67.
ONLINE
Rae Carson website, http://www.raecarson.com (August 1, 2017).*
About Rae
Rae Carson
Author portrait by Michelle Daniel Photography
Short version: I’m a nerd. I write young adult novels full-time. I live in Arizona with my writer husband and two naughty kitties.
Reeeally Long Version: When I was three I was moved to tears by the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I felt so bad for Rudolph that I went through the picture book and scratched out his bright red nose to make him like all the other reindeer. It would be years before I realized that physical conformity was not the answer to my social problems.
When I was eight I cut my first class. I pretended I needed to use the bathroom and snuck over to the library to check out another Nancy Drew book. I lost track of time, got back to class late, and made up a story about being constipated.
I’ve been making up stories ever since. And it was sometime during my third grade year that I first told my parents I wanted to be a writer. They told me it was wonderful idea, but I needed to have a Plan B.
We moved a lot; I have attended nine schools. Some kids who move a lot learn to make friends fast, to be adaptable and flexible and brave. I wasn’t one of those. I entered middle school a very frightened little girl. It didn’t help that I developed a raging case of acne for the other kids to mock, or that I thought the best way to defend myself from social attack was to perfect a scathing offense. I was just like Rudolph, except meaner.
When seventh grade rolled around, I decided I’d had enough. I would figure out how to be cool or die trying. So, I tried out for the cheerleading squad.
I was clumsy and awkward. I had to work harder than everyone else to master the most basic moves. At the tryout, though, we could get extra points for making up the words to our own cheer. I knew I had to take advantage of this, my only possible strength. So while the other girls were yelling, “Go, Dolphins!” I started off with “United we stand, divided we fall!” I squeaked onto the team. At the time, I was convinced it was my moving and poetical cheer that clinched it for me.
Cheerleading changed my life. Seriously.
I learned how to be unafraid in front of the entire school. I learned how thrilling it was to entertain others. And I learned—very gradually and with a lot of messing up—that a little kindness goes a long way when you’re trying to work as a team.
I started off the worst cheerleader who ever lived. Because in addition to being bossy and uncooperative, I was taller than everyone else on my squad. So I got stuck in the back and on the end for most of our formations. Turns out, this provides a wonderful vantage for watching your team lose. And it turns out that when you are wrapped up in team play, you tend to miss a lot of cheerleading cues. So I was out of step with everyone most of the time.
But to this day, I love watching sports, particularly college football and basketball. (Go Ohio State Buckeyes!)
College was a huge improvement. I loved being surrounded by peers who valued thinking and introspection. I learned that you can be a hardcore academic and still paint the town on weekends. I had my first real boyfriend, and I was able to accept the rather stunning fact that I had swanned into something kind of nice. I highly recommend college.
During this time I traded in my pom-pons for a football. I played in the women’s flag league for four years. The first year, I broke three bones and my team tied for last place. The third year, we won the championship.
I was amazed at how even clumsy, unathletic women like us could make such improvements with nothing but hard work and the carefree attitude that if we were going to fail, we were going to do it spectacularly. I overcame my depth perception issues and learned to catch a long-bomb pass in the end zone with seconds left to play, for instance. I blame football for the fact that I tend to write about young women who overcome physical inadequacies to find the hero within.
I graduated college with a degree in Social Science–which qualified me to flip burgers–and a mound of education debt. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Well, that’s not true. I did know. I wanted to be a novelist. But that just wasn’t practical, and I had to come up with something else. I had to have a Plan B. So I tried bank tellering, secretarial work, customer service, inside sales, substitute teaching, data entry, logistics, and even machine shop-ing. I didn’t enjoy any of it.
In 2004, after quitting a very high paying job in a very toxic atmosphere, I decided to get serious about writing. It was the only thing I kept coming back to, the one thing that had held my interest over time and distance and lots of life change. So I joined the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror where I met my future best friends, my future husband, and my calling.
I spent the next few years happily writing awful stuff. During this time, I got to know C.C. Finlay online, and after going on three real-life dates, I moved from California to Ohio to marry him. The writing became a lot less awful, and eventually I sold my first novel to Greenwillow/HarperCollins.
Hindsight is easy, I know, and writing about the awkwardness of adolescence is way easier than living it. But I can say unequivocally that although growing up is hard, it’s totally worth it. It’s possible to become your better self. And dreams, no matter how impractical, are made to be pursued.
Rae Carson is the author of two bestselling and award-winning trilogies. Her debut, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was named a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Andre Norton Award finalist. Walk on Earth a Stranger was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award and won the Western Writers of America Spur Award. Her books tend to contain adventure, magic, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. Originally from California, Rae Carson now lives in Arizona with her husband. www.raecarson.com
Rae Carson
USA flag (b.1973)
Wife of Charles Coleman Finlay
Rae Carson dabbled in many things, from teaching to corporate sales to customer service to architecture, before becoming a full-time writer. This is her first novel. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two stepson.
Genres: Young Adult Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fantasy
New Books
March 2020
(hardback)
Rise of Skywalker
(Star Wars)April 2020
(hardback)
The Empire of Dreams
Series
Fire and Thorns
0.1. The Shadow Cats (2012)
0.2. The Shattered Mountain (2013)
0.3. The King's Guard (2013)
1. The Girl of Fire and Thorns (2011)
2. Crown of Embers (2012)
3. The Bitter Kingdom (2013)
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories (2014)
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Gold Seer Trilogy
1. Walk on Earth a Stranger (2015)
2. Like a River Glorious (2016)
3. Into the Bright Unknown (2017)
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Novels
The Empire of Dreams (2020)
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Series contributed to
Oz Reimagined (with C C Finlay)
The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz (2013)
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Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi (with Saladin Ahmed, Mira Grant and John Jackson Miller)
Canto Bight (2017)
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Star Wars
Most Wanted (2018)
Rise of Skywalker (2020)
thumbthumb
Rae Carson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Rae Carson (born 1973) is an American fantasy writer.
Her debut novel, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was published in 2011. It was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Award and the Andre Norton Award,[1] and it was the winner of the Ohioana Book Award for Young Adult Literature.[2] It was also selected as 2012 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults by Young Adult Library Services Association.[3] The series was a New York Times bestseller.[4] Her books have also been translated into languages around the world.[5] Beginning in 2017, she has written several tie-in stories for the Star Wars universe.
She is married to science fiction writer Charles Coleman Finlay.[6]
Contents
1 Bibliography
1.1 Books
1.2 Short Fiction
1.3 Star Wars Universe
1.4 Critical studies, reviews and biography
2 References
3 External links
Bibliography
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Books
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy
The Girl of Fire and Thorns, 2011
Crown of Embers, 2012
The Bitter Kingdom, 2013
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories, 2014
The Gold Seer Trilogy
Walk on Earth a Stranger, 2015
Like a River Glorious, 2016
Into the Bright Unknown, 2017
Short Fiction
"Omega Ship", in Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles, ed. by Natalie C. Parker, 2017
Star Wars Universe
"The Red One"; Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (October_2017)
"Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing"; Star Wars: Canto Bight (December 2017)
Most Wanted (2018)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition (2020)
Critical studies, reviews and biography
Bond, Gwenda (Dec 2013). "Locus Looks at Books : Divers Hands". Locus (635): 22–23. Review of The bitter kingdom.
ENTERTAINMENT
'RISE OF SKYWALKER' NOVELIZATION WILL ANSWER MAJOR QUESTIONS, AUTHOR HINTS
Star Wars fans may learn more about moments left on the cutting room floor.
Lucasfilm
It’s been a rocky few weeks for Star Wars fans, with the conclusion of the stellar first season of The Mandalorian and the mixed reception for The Rise of Skywalker. Whether you enjoyed the (allegedly) final installment of the Skywalker Saga or not, most of us can agree the latest installment moved at a breakneck pace. If you’re looking for more answers about all that went down with Rey, Palpatine, and Kylo Ren, you might find them in the movie’s upcoming novelization, according to author Rae Carson.
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SUBMIT
Spoilers ahead for The Rise of Skywalker. Consider yourself warned.
On Twitter Thursday, Carson shared “if the #TheRiseOfSkywalker film included everything in the novelization, it would definitely be at least 3 hours long.” Carson’s The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition comes out on March 3. While that seems like a rather long gap, the Last Jedi novelization also came out in March after the December theatrical release, presumably to avoid spoilers making their way online. (So much for that!)
Carson’s comment could apply to most novelizations, but it comes at a time when fan speculation about an alleged “Abrams cut” of The Rise of Skywalker has sparked debate and outcry online.
According to an extensive Reddit thread posted on January 1, an unnamed source who claims to have worked on the production says Abrams was “devastated and blindsided” by extensive cuts to the film, which was allegedly more than three hours long in the director’s early November version of the movie. The redditor also claims onscreen cameos of beloved characters from earlier Star Wars movies were cut, and that the final scene with Kylo and Rey was “as at least 4 minutes longer with more dialogue.”
While it’s unlikely fans will ever get their hands on an “Abrams cut” — if such a thing even exists, which is pretty unlikely for reasons outlined here — it is clear that the process of making Rise of Skywalker was extremely rushed. In a recent episode of the Rough Cut podcast the movie’s editor, Maryann Brandon revealed she and Abrams were basically editing the movie as they shot it, owing to their drastically reduced production timeframe.
JJ Rise of Skywalker cast tokyo
Director J.J. Abrams, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac attend the special fan event for 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' at Roppongi Hills on December 11, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.Jun Sato/WireImage
“It’s a struggle. It affected everything,” Brandon explained. “So, I suggested I cut on the set…we had two tented rooms…so I just went wherever JJ was, usually 10 feet away from the camera, wherever the camera was. And I just mobile-y cut. And between takes, he could sit down with me and we could go over things.”
Screenwriter Chris Terrio expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Awards Daily, noting that he would have preferred to split the movie into two parts.
“If there were a way of doing it, splitting it would have been my dream. We could have written these characters forever. There was so much backstory that had to be left by the wayside,” he said. “I wish that we could have that, but George always said it was nine movies.”
Will the Rise of Skywalker novelization give fans all the answers they’re hoping for? Probably not. But it’s likely to take on a similar role to the Visual Dictionary, filling in smaller details that didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie for whatever reason.
rey rise of skywalker
rey rise of skywalkerLucasfilm
If there’s a whole lot of Force ghosts and more Reylo scenes in the Expanded Edition, then there might be something to that Reddit thread. But for now, don’t hold your breath.
Carson, Rae THE EMPIRE OF DREAMS Greenwillow (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 4, 7 ISBN: 978-0-06-269190-3
A foundling orphan girl sets out to prove her worth by joining an elite--and patriarchal--fighting force.
Seventeen-year-old Red Sparkle Stone is about to be adopted by Empress Elisa and Prince Consort Hector of the kingdom of Joya d'Arena and gain everything she always dreamed of: a family and a place in the world. When the adoption petition is denied, blocked by the empress's political rivals, Red asks to join the Royal Guard, traditionally a male-only institution. Her journey within the Guard is fraught, complicated even further by the news of a potential coup in the works. Carson (Most Wanted, 2018, etc.) returns to her Girl of Fire and Thorns world with a stand-alone novel featuring Red, the enslaved girl rescued by Elisa in TheBitter Kingdom (2013). This novel develops a taut, self-contained, political mystery within the confined quarters of the Guard and the palace, with a few chapters set in the past showing Red's harrowing, traumatic history. Red's PTSD is deftly and sympathetically handled and so is her coming-of-age as a capable, truth-speaking woman alongside her equally well-developed brothers in arms. The noticeable absence of other female characters for most of the book is a consequence of setting the story within the confines of a strictly gender binary, male-only Royal Guard. Most characters are brown-skinned.
A rewarding stand-alone novel with effortless plotting and deft characterizations. (Fantasy. 14-adult)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Carson, Rae: THE EMPIRE OF DREAMS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2020, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A612618966/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1237c07e. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.
Into the Bright Unknown
by Rae Carson
Middle School, High School Greenwillow 348 pp.
10/17 978-0-06-224297-6 $17.99
This engaging trilogy ender (Walk on Earth a Stranger, rev. 9/15; Like a River Glorious, rev. 1/17) finds Leah and friends happily prospecting their nearly incorporated gold-rush town of Glory, California. With wicked Uncle Hiram out of the picture, Leah can breathe easier, but her magical ability to sense gold continues to be both a blessing and curse. A stay in San Francisco (with now-fiance Jefferson; friend and tavern owner Becky Joyner; and the Illinois college men) brings unwanted attention from unscrupulous businessman James Hardwick and his "associate," Miss Helena Russell, who may have more in common with Leah than she realizes. Characters from previous books, both welcome (the formerly enslaved Jim Boisclair, who per the author's note was a real person) and decidedly not (the nasty Frank Dilley), also reappear. An Oceans II--esque climax that rids the city of Hardwick, cements Glory's incorporation, and sees romantic satisfaction for many of the trilogy's long-suffering characters (including two of the college men) leads to a well-earned, if rosy-hued, conclusion.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Gershowitz, Elissa. "Into the Bright Unknown." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 94, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2018, p. 80. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A530106801/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=27931116. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.
CARSON, Rae. The Empire of Dreams. 448p. HarperCollins /Greenwillow. Apr. 2020. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780062691903. POP
Gr 8 Up--Red Sparkle Stone, the strong-willed and courageous girl from the final book in Carson's "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" fantasy trilogy, stars in this rousing companion novel. The story moves between past and present as it recounts Red's horrific childhood and her life now as the 17-year-old ward to Empress Elisa. Denied the opportunity to become Elisa's imperial adopted daughter, Red becomes the first girl to train for the Royal Guard and endures harassment and worse by male recruits. The Guards training the recruits are men Red doesn't know from her time living in the palace, and she's immediately suspicious of them, especially after the captain of the Guard goes missing. Others loyal to the Crown Prince Rosario are being attacked or killed or have disappeared. Red instantly clashes with handsome recruit Ivan, the son of a traitor to the empire, even as they are forced to secretly work together to protect Rosario from being assassinated by his enemies. Familiar characters from "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" series appear but remain mostly on the sidelines. Red's a strong, forthright, and feisty young woman, and her struggle to prove herself among the men while living with posttraumatic stress disorder is sensitively and realistically handled. This fantasy adventure also touches on themes of friendship, forgiveness, fathers' sins, betrayal, revenge, and resilience. VERDICT An exciting, satisfying read that will appeal to lovers of "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" or fans of Tamora Pierce's "Protector of the Small" series.--Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Rawlins, Sharon. "CARSON, Rae. The Empire of Dreams." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 2, Feb. 2020, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613048816/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=dcdf6fc2. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.
Q & A with Rae Carson
By Sara Grochowski |
Apr 02, 2020
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Rae Carson’s debut novel, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was nominated for the Morris Award; her next series was longlisted for the National Book Award, and then she wrote for Star Wars, a property she’s loved since childhood. In her new book, The Empire of Dreams, Carson returns to the world of The Girl of Fire and Thorns to reacquaint readers with Red, a young orphan introduced in an earlier book who became an unexpected fan favorite. Carson spoke with PW about returning to an already familiar world, why writing for Star Wars is a dream come true, and how she found herself telling stories for teens.
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What appealed to you about revisiting your original trilogy, The Girl of Fire and Thorns?
It was kind of an amalgam of factors that came together at the right time. I had gone off and done some new stuff. I did a fantasy historical, which was fun, and some work for Star Wars, but I had this character who had first appeared in The Bitter Kingdom, the third book of the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy. Her name was Red. She was just this little orphan foundling girl and her story has been niggling at me for years and years. In addition to that, I got fan mail about her all the time. For some reason, she really resonated with people, even though she had only had a cameo appearance. It was the perfect storm of [writing her story] making business sense and it being the story of my heart that I really wanted to write. When those two factors come together, you go for it. I pitched it my publisher; they were on board right away.
I think [Red] appealed to me so much because she was a little girl who had clearly had some trauma in her life, and I’ve had some trauma in my life. I won’t go into the details, but I did relate to her on that level. I felt that there was a story there that could be told uniquely from my perspective or someone like me, so, I dove in.
When did you begin to consider telling another story set in this world?
As soon as I finished The Bitter Kingdom, I had an idea for how to continue Red’s story. The world [of The Girl of Fire and Thorns] is so big in my head—even bigger than on the page—so there are all sorts of things that I could explore given the opportunity. I’m one of those authors who needs crockpot time for an idea. So, even though I had all these ideas, I really appreciated being able to do some other things [to let them simmer].
Red’s story, though filled with action, intrigue, and mystery, is very much about trauma, trust, and belonging. What inspired your interest in these themes?
I’ll only speak in general terms. I’ve had some serious conversations with some family members and my agent and my editor. There’s a big push right now for authenticity in literature, especially children’s literature and, with the advent of social media, some readers feel that when an author hints about their own experience, that readers are then owed a window into that experience. I decided that I’m willing to disappoint people if it means I don’t have to relive my trauma.
So, with that caveat, I will just say that while I come from a generally privileged background, there are some things in my past that were frightening and formative, having to do with poverty and some abusive people in my family.
One of my struggles now is that, when the traumatic events in my life happened, I was a kid with a child’s perspective, so my memories of those times are a bit iffy. I’m not sure exactly what the truth is in every situation. I wanted to portray Red as having memories that feel really vivid but come from a different perspective. When you read the “now” portions of the book versus the “then,” her voice is a little bit different. The “then” voice is almost fairy tale-like. She had a different way of seeing the world. It was important for me to portray that experience. A couple of strange things happen to me because of trauma, like I have this socially embarrassing startle reflex. I wanted Red to have PTSD, like I do, but I didn’t want that to be the complete sum of her story and herself. It’s part of her life but isn’t her life.
Romance takes a back seat in Red’s story, whereas it was centerstage in the original trilogy. Was this intentional?
In the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, there are hints of romance in the first book, but it goes nowhere, but the second book gets pretty hot and heavy. So, I do love romance, but I also love friendship stories. I’ve been noticing the shipping tendency on social media; no matter what you put out there, someone gets shipped, which is fine. I think that’s a healthy fan interaction to have. But I also think it’s healthy to understand that relationships can be platonic.
I love falling into friendship stories, so in The Empire of Dreams, Red and Ivan have a somewhat contentious alliance at the beginning of the book but in time they grow in trust and affection. Also, I’m sensitive to the fact that a girl going into a man’s world and trying to make it as a woman in that world is a pretty common trope in fiction, particularly young adult fiction. I was able to subvert and comment on that with a little more strength and power by taking out the expected romance.
Now, if I have an opportunity to write a sequel to [The Empire of Dreams], then all bets are off. Just like with the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy; I wrote the first book and had my female protagonist stand strong and alone at the end. That was my hope for Red, too, but romance is a part of life, so if I continue her story, I might have to go there. That sounds super fun to me.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy wasn’t planned as a multi-book story?
When I create a world, the world building is always so much bigger in my head than on the page. I wrote The Girl of Fire and Thorns knowing there was more to explore and hoping that I could write more books in that world, but I was so new to publishing that I didn’t know how any of that worked. My agent and I submitted the book and my editor responded to my agent: “Is this a trilogy?” To which I responded, “Why yes, it is.” That’s how it became a trilogy. I knew it could be, and, once they expressed interest, I did a happy dance and got to work figuring out how to write two more books.
When I was a kid in the bookstore, all my favorite authors were series authors. The dream for me, being a science fiction and fantasy fan, was to write the trilogy. You know, like Lord of the Rings and the series written by David Eddings or Terry Brooks.
Does your writing process differ depending on whether you’re writing a series or standalone?
I’m always expanding the world in my head, so I don’t have to go back and retcon very much to continue a series; the material is already there. I wrote Red’s story as a standalone because I wanted people to be able to read it without reading the first three books [set in the same world]. At the same time, the world is so huge that, in my head, I could spin off four stories right now, on the spot, about where I could go next.
I speak to other authors all the time and apparently this is pretty common. We often get asked where we get our ideas, but that is just not an issue. It’s like asking, “Where do you get your oxygen?” The ideas come so fast and furious that the question is actually, “Which idea is worth spending a year of your life on?”
To write The Empire of Dreams, did you take extra steps to ensure continuity in world building and detail?
I did because it had been so many years. I did go back and reread the trilogy. My publisher, Greenwillow, keeps a series bible for each of their authors, too. Our copyediting team puts together a document, which is really helpful, especially if you change copyeditors. You can easily go back and say, “This person has green eyes and is from this city and is described as such and such.” I used that and added to it as I went; I had a team and system in place to help with continuity.
In addition to your fantasy trilogies, you’ve written stories in the Star Wars universe. How did this come about? Are you a big Star Wars enthusiast?
Oh my gosh, yes. I’m a huge Star Wars fan. Star Wars was really formative for me. I saw the first movie in its original theatrical run when I was three years old; I have vivid memories of that day and that experience.
Somewhat adjacent to the trauma that I alluded to, which happened when I was 10, was the Return of the Jedi release. I didn’t have a lot of resources, so I didn’t think I was going to be able to go see the movie, but I was obsessed. I would beg my mom to take me with her to the grocery store so I could hang out in the magazine aisle and read about the movie and read the first pages of books. I was Princess Leia for many years running because, as it turns out, when you’re poor, you can still cobble together a Princess Leia costume. My mom eventually took pity on me and purchased the Return of the Jedi novelization, just to shut me up. I read it cover to cover and cried through the whole thing, wanting to know how the story ended because we thought, at that time, that it was ending. It was the first novelization I ever read. If you had told that little girl that she would write the novelization of The Rise of Skywalker 30-some years later, she would not believe you. It’s been an amazing journey.
I did go to my agent a few years back and said, “Talk to everyone you know at Star Wars and beg them to let me write for them.” She did and we heard crickets for a long time, then I got asked to write a free short story for a charity anthology. I have a firm rule about not writing for free, but I said yes so fast. I did that and they were pleased. I wrote from the point of view of R5-D4, the little red droid that was almost purchased by Luke’s uncle, but he blew his motivator and instead R2-D2 was purchased and the galaxy was eventually saved. That led to some more work; I received another anthology offer and then a wrote a prequel to the Han Solo movie called Most Wanted. Then they offered me this Rise of Skywalker novelization.
I love Star Wars with all my heart, and it’s been fun to go back and forth between this and my own property because they’re very different. Playing in someone else’s world instead of mine has made is possible to rest certain muscles while I flex others; I found it really refreshing and motivating. I learned some good skills writing for Star Wars, like how to write fast and to an outline. It’s been fun to put those tools in my toolbox.
What draws you to writing for teens?
When I was in my early 30s, I started having a shift in world view from finally being able to shake off some things that had happened to me. I realized that I’d been raised with a harmful perspective about some things. I changed political parties; I changed religions; it was a complete 180. It felt like going through a second adolescence and rediscovering all my beliefs and who I was all over again. I didn’t set out to write young adult novels, but, when I wrote, the stories that came out were coming of age stories about discovering self and identity.
Are you interested in writing for other audiences?
I’m working on some other things right now, that I probably can’t talk about. The Rise of Skywalker is for all ages; I had to voice it appropriately, so that it would appeal to both kids and adults.
I definitely want to write for more audiences than just young adults, but this is how my career has worked out. The Girl of Fire and Thorns was shopped to a bunch of adult editors who all turned it down. My agent at the time felt strongly that it was an adult book and, before Graceling came out, there weren’t a lot of big crossover hits. So, thank you, Kristen Cashore, for paving the way, because once her book came out the young adult audience for fantasy exploded. I got a new agent and we decided my book had been mis-marketed. We sent it out again as YA, and had multiple offers within 24 hours. I wrote The Girl of Fire and Thorns in 2005 and it wasn’t published until 2010. My path to publication took half a decade or 24 hours, depending on your perspective.
What’s next for you?
I have a book coming out sometime next year with Greenwillow that I also started writing five years ago. Remember: I need a lot of crockpot time, so it’s been in my head a long time. The funny thing is, it’s about what happens after a huge pandemic. People will never believe I started writing this book five years ago. The title and publication date are still up in the air.
And I’m cowriting a book for adults with my husband, C.C. Finlay, who is an author and editor of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. We work together on everything; everything he writes, I have my hand deep in that cookie jar and vice versa. We decided we were going to formalize it and do a project together. We’re about 50,000 words in. I love it, but I can make no promises to readers.