Two weeks ago, Teenreads intern Brianna Robinson attended a talk by Leigh Bardugo, the author of The Grisha Trilogy at Books of Wonder in New York City. Read her blog entry below to learn a bit more about Leigh’s thoughts on love triangles, beauty and pleasing her readers.
I confess that I haven’t read the entirety of The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.
I also confess that this almost kept me from attending her Books Of Wonder signing.
Thank Goodness I went! Her humor, writing advice and tidbits made it one of the best events I’ve been too.
Jen Doll, a contributing editor for Mental Floss, moderated the question and answer portion of the event. Her questions were really great. Not only did they make Leigh Bardugo laugh out loud but they made the audience cackle too. My favorite was a question about what the main character in the series, Alina, would do on a job interview. This was particularly hilarious because the series, for those who don’t know, is set in a high fantasy world. Envisioning any of the characters at a job interview like the ones we have in our sadly magic-less world was the cause of a lot of laughter from Leigh and the audience.
I’m often impressed by the eloquence that writers have when talking about their work. Maybe it’s something that comes with practice and after having a hugely successful release, but I always imagined that I would fumble and be unable to condense all of my thoughts into a succinct answer for an audience. Leigh Bardugo was the total opposite. Her answers ranged from witty banter at times and remarkably insightful throughout. “I’m very wise.” She said when Jen Doll commented on the quality of her responses.
One of the really great things about the series is that no character is “cookie cutter.” Alina, our heroine so to speak, is not perfect. She’s extremely flawed and often makes choices that have us readers huffing and muttering in annoyance. When asked about this, Leigh said that the choice to make her this way was inherent. She doesn’t create archetypal characters, just ones that have “an agenda and a history.” She also went on to say that heroes don’t necessarily need to make good choices and even with her antagonists, she created the Darkling, a charming yet evil character, because she “want[ed] an antagonist who is not able to be written off.”
One of the audience members praised Leigh for her fantastic characters and asked how she created such distinctive voices, a point of envy for any aspiring writer. She told us that some characters “leapt off the page while others took a couple of drafts.” In the beginning, Alinda was apparently too nice but researched changed that into “sourness and snark” which was a more realistic way of dealing with Ravka and the world she created. And even though she plots and researches, she is still surprised and awed when “characters stop being what you’ve planned and become living things.”
Similarly, a lot of discussion of these books has to do with the romantic triangles that spring up. Most bloggers I know hate such things because they often feel like cop outs to the story as a whole. But Leigh Bardugo, from what I’ve read, has done it right, enough to inspire tumblr shipping wars (people who want Alina to end up with one guy over the other) and fan art of all kinds. One woman even had a tattoo of Alina and the Darkling. When asked how she wrote knowing that 2/3rds of her fans would be upset with the outcome, Leigh laughed. “That’s what fanfiction is for.” She also said that for the people who could never chose which guy character they liked themselves, “It’s fiction! You don’t have to chose.”
And even though she plots and researches, she is still surprised and awed when “characters stop being what you’ve planned and become living things.
Jen also asked how Leigh navigated writing a very intense set of relationships into the books rather than just a simple romance. “Power is a big element of romance,” she said. She then elaborated how people are often so harsh on female characters and it goes back to what she said about Alina not being perfect and genuine all of the time. “All morality doesn’t need to rest on a female character.” She told the audience. According to her, not every female character has to “bear the burden of being the only lady” of a certain group and that’s why diverse characters are so important.
”For me, one of the things I loved about Alina was that she wasn’t a character who always thought she wasn’t attractive only to be fawned over by guys, later. Alina knows she is average. The men in her life don’t find her attractive because of this. Leigh knows about appearance and beauty from working as a makeup artist in Hollywood. She told the audience that she’s “keenly aware of what beauty can and can’t do for you,” which is why she’s so critical of beauty treatments in YA. She did share, though, that Rainbow Rowell had one of the most realistic discussions of appearance and beauty in ELEANOR AND PARK; she called it a “Jedi mind trick.”
When Jen invited the audience to ask Leigh questions, most people wanted to know about Leigh’s writing process. Leigh said that books get finished by repetition and that writing is a “question of persevering,” especially when revising. She used to think, “if something is your calling it would come easy.” She said that this is definitely not true and that the days of hard word are the sign post that you’re doing the right thing and should just continue.
When asked about the pressure to end the series as the fans would want it to end, she said she never was tempted. It “would have been like changing history” she said. Leigh extensively plots and knows how things are going down from the very beginning. She told us she knew how the series would end in the middle of SHADOW AND BONE. She was never frightened by the prospect of fans’ reactions because “scared artists make bad art.”
Leigh also read an excerpt from her much-anticipated SIX OF CROWS to a raptly attentive audience. It was a very intriguing start and I cannot wait for that release next year.
We wrapped up with a signing before Leigh took off to YALLfest, a two-day event in Charleston, South Carolina. I got the last two books in the series and was able to chat briefly about NaNoWriMo with Leigh. Nothing feels better than being told “good luck” by one of your favorite authors.
If you live in the New York area at all, keep an eye on the events at this magical bookshop; you won’t regret it.
Brianna Robinson is an intern at Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com.
