Hello, folks! Are you ready to meet two amazing authors? Say hello to Laine and Aria Nichols (avadel)! They are the authors of the YA sci-fi fantasy novel, Of Caverns and Casters, shortlisted for the Wattys 2022!
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ONE RUN-AWAY PRINCE Prince Aster Jacques will one day rule the Queen's Wizard Corps. By blood and every expectation, he should be a master spellcaster. Instead, he has all the skill of some second-rate, street-corner trickster. Desperate to be the wizard his beloved country needs, he'll do whatever it takes to learn the trade--even if that means abandoning his family to chase a mysterious academy invitation.
TWO DIE-HARD SCIENTISTS Half a continent away, Leavi Riveirre and Sean Rahkifellar are researchers in the underground city of Karsix. For them, spells, princes, and kingdoms are nothing but children's stories. Reality is the relentless plague unleashing death and darkness in the city. Determined to survive what they can't cure, they flee--but reaching safety will require more than braving the harsh topside winter.
A LAND THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO EXIST When brutal weather and betrayal force these three together, they'll find themselves questioning everything--and each other--to survive. WELCOME TO AVADEL.
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AUTHOR BIO: We are Laine and Aria Nichols, science nerds with a taste for the fantastical. Composing stories since before we could write, we've always had new worlds we wanted to share with each other and, eventually, the world. We write primarily fantasy with a focus on different people's and cultures' perspectives, but we also like to incorporate our love for poetry and sci-fi. Most importantly, we hope that each of our works reflects the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus in us.
1. Hi Laine and Aria, we're delighted to have you with us today! Let's start. Tell us something surprising about yourself.
Despite our love for writing fantasy and creating art, both of us are actually STEM majors! Laine is working on a graduate degree in computer science, and I (Aria) am pursuing my bachelor's in mathematics.
2. When did you start writing? How has your writing journey been so far?
Laine has always loved to write, even before she could; one of her earliest memories is pecking at a keyboard, composing a story in her head, nonsense filling the screen with each keystroke. She grew up handwriting drafts of short stories and novelettes, and eventually she dragged me into the game with her. Now our writing is nearly inseparable—even when one of us has our own project, we're constantly getting advice and ideas from the other. It's so exciting to work every project with the power of two minds.
3. How did you come up with the idea for your story? And what are your inspirations for the world you have created?
Of Caverns and Casters is our first joint project, so, incidentally, also the project where Laine finally managed to convince me to put pen to paper—or more accurately as it often was, fingers to keyboard. We had been telling each other stories for years and had created something akin to our own mythology. We had characters that would jump in and out of the spotlight, plot lines that we'd back up and change or even erase completely, and magic that obeyed no particular rules but its own. It was messy and seemed like it would be impossible to pen down. But one spring break night, we were lying in a hammock, staring at the stars through the trees above, and talking about how much we loved the characters and world that we had built. We started discussing minor changes and little what ifs that turned into large changes and major what ifs that, about three years later, became the Of Caverns and Casters we have today.
Avadel (the world) is based extremely loosely off of Europe—assuming some borders changed drastically and a thousand years of magic post tribal-times had passed. For instance, Morineaux, the country Aster hails from, takes a lot of inspiration from France for the sound of its language. As far as political structures go, though, the inspiration is an non-detangle-able knot of reading too many fantasy books and watching too many world history videos.
4. Tell us about the main character and what is special about them.
Leavi Riveirre is a biologist from the glittering capital of the underground society both she and Sean live in. She's decisively strong willed and clever, but don't let that overshadow her instinctive empathy and protectiveness. She'll do whatever it takes to care for someone in need—no matter how much trouble it keeps getting her in.
5. If you could be a character in your story, who would it be and why?
I can't help it—I'd want to be Sean, what with his impossibly good memory and wealth of science knowledge. There's just something about a guy who both knows how and has the materials on him at any given moment to make a bomb—*swoon*.
Laine says, of course, that's Aster's magic is just too good a deal to pass up.
6. What challenges did you face while writing this story?
Well, for one, we had never written a full novel before, much less one that was supposed to be the groundwork for a whole series. We spent so much of the writing process just trying to learn a proper way to write a book. There were many drafts. So. Many. Drafts.
Second, it was a serious struggle figuring out how to tie what had been such a massive and amorphous world and story down into something manageable. It was like taking a half-played game of Jenga and trying to put it back in its original tower shape without knocking it down.
But we rediscovered our world and rewrote and rewrote, and the story we have now is one we are beyond excited to share with you!
7. What are your favorite books? Both on and outside Wattpad?
On Wattpad, we've loved Komoreby by SuVida777 and Morgan Le Fey Institute for Magic by NDeMeer, but there are so many more that we haven't finished yet!
Outside of Wattpad, we're big fans of Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card), The Diabolic (S. J. Kincaid), Unwind (Neal Schusterman), The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin), and An Enchantment of Ravens (Margaret Roberson), to name maybe too many.
8. If you could give any advice to your fellow writers, what would it be?
Draft! Done? Great! Now draft again.
Seriously, though, actually *re*writing and editing through your drafts is such an important step. The first draft has to be complete, yes, but if you're committed to getting the most out of your story, it doesn't have to be any good—because you're going to rewrite it. And then fix it some more.
Take the pressure off yourself to do everything right the first time because no matter what, once it's done, you can still make it better. The first draft is about finding your story. The later drafts are when it's about making your story find greatness.
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Thank you so much, Laine and Aria, for joining us today. And all of you reading, we hope you found that inspirational! Give their stories some love!
