I am someone who likes to keep everything simple.

Ironically, I am also very good at making things complicated.

In the worlds I write, characters are often known by their roles rather than their names: the Princess, the Assassin, the Hunter, the Knight... Partly because I love the feeling of old fairy tales, and partly because these worlds resemble a chessboard, where everyone has a role, a position, and a way to move.

Yet I have always believed that no two pieces are truly the same.

A pawn can be afraid. A knight can hesitate. And sometimes, even the most insignificant piece on the board carries a story that no one else knows.

Those are the things I enjoy writing about.

Until the realism in my fairy tales begins to collide with the limits of the fairy-tale world itself-and sends the story straight into territory where things are no longer safe.

Perhaps that is where the story becomes most interesting.