1.  What drew you to writing fantasy?

I grew up believing in faeries, ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters . . . and despite my career (teaching lit), that was what appeared on the page when I started trying to write. I started & rejected a few books, but they were all the result of that lifelong love of the “what if.”  In 2005 when I started writing WL as a novel (it was a short story first in 2004), it wasn’t something I could set aside. The short story-that was rejected as “great but too adult” by children’s publishers and “great but too juvenile” by adult pubs-stuck with me, so in 2005, it became a novel.

2.  Are any of the worlds you created places you’d actually like to live?

No.  I’m perfectly happy in the real world, in my real life, with my loved ones.

3.  We heard a rumor that your latest in the Wicked Lovely series is your last.  Is that true?  If not, how many books do you see in the series?

That’s true: the 5 th book, Darkest Mercy is the final book in this series.

4.  Do you have a favorite character that you enjoy bringing to life?

It all depends on which one I am writing that day. I am a little in love with all of them.  My regular favourite from book one through the whole series has been Donia. Ani (in RADIANT SHADOWS) was great fun to write, and of course, Irial is fun to write too . . . and Niall . . . and . . . *grins* actually, I think I love them all.

5.  If you could co-write a book with any author (living or not) who would it be and what would the book be about?

Oh, there are a few people with whom I think I’d enjoy co-writing a project. The topic would determine the writer. One of my personal goals is to try a two-person alternating pov (as David Levithan has done so beautifully in his co-authored books with Rachel Cohn & with John Green).  Unfortunately, I’m not yet at a place where I’ve found the right topic and co-author to do a novel with someone else.  I am currently working on a comic with someone, but I’m not ready to say anything else about it until we’re ready to decide if we want to shop it.  For now, it’s a purely self-indulgent project-no deadline, no editor, just me & my partner writing.

6.  Do you have any book tours/appearances coming up?

I keep my touring schedule updated here: http://www.melissa-marr.com/_author/schedule.html

7.  Many of our readers are aspiring writers as well as fantasy fans.  Do you have any advise for writing fantasy? 

Research.  Go to the source texts, the lore, the myth, and the critical studies.  Know your material; build a world from it; and don’t break your world rules. If you tell me most faeries are vulnerable to steel/iron, werewolves to silver, and vampires to sunlight, I’ll be okay.  If you are not using the lore-supported, show me the world you ARE building. Either way, explain it in non-data-dump ways.

Remember that some of your readers  won’t know the source texts, so you need to let them know that steel is as bad as iron bc steel is a product of iron.  Remember that some of them will know the lore, so if you’re doing it differently, you need to tell them why.  In either case, remember to leave loopholes for future texts OR be prepared to throw out story ideas. NEVER break your world rules without showing how/why.  Think of it like math: show your work.

Oh, and don’t read faery books if you are writing one. (Yes, I’m saying not to read my books if you are writing faery.) Don’t read vamp if you’re writing it. Etc.  Be new.

And perhaps most importantly, write what you know . . . or go and learn it. There are always trends. You don’t want to chase them. It can make you a few bucks in the short run (maybe), but it’s not what you do when you want the long career.  When I started WL, there was no real paranormal market.  TWILIGHT wasn’t even out when I started writing, and aside from the amazing Holly Black and Charles de Lint, there weren’t any recent faery books.  What I knew best was faeries, though. The characters whose stories haunted me were faeries. Trust your passions: you’ll write better texts AND have far more fun.

8.  How did you land your literary agent?  Did you know someone is the business or attend writers conferences?  Or, did you take your chances in the famous slush pile?

My original agent and my current agent were both contracted via straight-up business letters inquiring if they wanted to read my text.  I sent query letters in January 2006, signed with an agent in February, and sold WL in March. It was unusually quick, BUT I have many friends who did the exact same thing-some with instant responses and some slower-and signed with an agent.  Research. You can check out the agents via Publisher’s Marketplace, Publisher’s weekly, Agent Query, Absolute Write Water Cooler, and Verla Kay’s Message Board (and other places I’m sure!).  See who reps what you write; query; and repeat as needed.  Agents are your advocates, and they get a percentage of your sales (NO pre-paying! They get paid ONLY when you do!).  Look for ones who have a proven track record.

Here’s the thing: it’s tempting to believe that nonsense about a “in,” but that’s not what you need to do .  It’s a business. Treat it like one. That means you do the research, send a professional letter, and continue to be pro through the process.  You don’t need to know anyone, and most of us (myself included) didn’t.  In fact, even after I was a NYT bestseller, the query I sent to my second agent was a lot like the one I sent when I was unpubbed.  I didn’t mention the bestseller thing or any of that. I wrote a business letter that referenced the fact that I had a book out. I gave my book titles, and I kept it formal.   By then, I was friends with authors repped by my new agent-so I didn’t tell them I was querying OR tell the agent I knew any of her clients.   It’s about the text not about “networking.”

9.  Can you give us a sneak peek at some projects you are working on?

I just finished GRAVEMINDER (my debut adult novel). It releases July 2011.  It’s about a girl with commitment issues, a mortician, a dead teen, and a town where the dead don’t always stay dead.  That’s done. Currently, I’m co-writing  a comic (unsold), co-editing an anthology of YA paranormal fiction with Kelley Armstrong (out in 2011), finishing up a few short stories for a short story collection of just my stuff (out in 2012), and I’ve begun writing a new series (sold to Harper) about a girl assassin and a demon with a soul (releasing in 2013).

10. Because you are the author of Wicked Lovely we had to ask, do you have any tattoos?  

Of course! I’m a big believer in “write what you know.” I got my first piece in my mid-20s (6 lilies & an ivy vine that starts over my heart, crawls down my sternum, along my left ribs, across my back, and around my left hip). I had a new branch of the vine added 2 yrs ago (14 yrs after the first flower went on).  Between the two I had a religious piece on the back of my neck and a back piece (my muse dancing on a faery mound with lilies and sun-bleached bones under her feet). Aside from those, my only other body art is a lip ring I got on release of WL & an industrial in my left ear. Once upon a time, there was a nose ring, but that is long gone.

Melissa Marr grew up believing in faeries, ghosts, and various other creatures. After teaching college literature for a decade, she applied her fascination with folklore to writing. Wicked Lovely was her first novel. Currently, Marr lives in the Washington, D.C., area, writes full-time, and still believes in faeries and ghosts.