Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm by Samantha-Ellen Bound
Affirm Press
Samantha-Ellen Bound writes about Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm, the fourth and final book in her middle-fiction series.
Thank you for speaking to Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog about Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm , Samantha-Ellen.
Tell us about writing Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm.How was it different from the others in the series?
Still as exciting and fulfilling and rewarding as day one. I’ve spent five intense years with these characters and this world now, but I never get tired of pulling on all the folklore threads and weaving them into my own story. Which is fabulous, because four books in four years also comes with tight deadlines – but even with all the pressure, stepping into the Realms always feels like an escape, never an effort!
Into the Faerie Realm is the last book in the series, so I was very conscious about wrapping the story up in an engaging and satisfying way – bringing full circle the various sub-plots, themes, large-scale world-building, and of course the individual journeys of not only main characters but also secondary characters.
We’ve spent four books with Ferd, Celeste, Esme and Logan, but also the larger Wherewithal family, and I was very adamant about giving them all a final moment. Of course, the last book is building on everything that has come before, so we see some old (friendly or otherwise) faces return, and it was important to me to add something new to their stories – even the villains deserve a satisfying conclusion!
We have also spent four books building up the threat of Red Cap, so I was very conscious of introducing him in a way that pays tribute to that.
I also at this point have to remember a lot of what I’ve already written. Admittedly I’m not always the best at that, but I have a couple of fabulous editors that pull me up on all my errors real quick!
I also had a feeling of pride writing this last book. Writing an epic multi-book fantasy book has by far been my biggest challenge as a writer, in multiple ways. I have grown as a writer and I have discovered more about what I like to write, and how, and why. I look at this epic world that I’ve created and I think ‘wow that’s actually pretty cool’.
Was it harder or easier than you expected?
I knew it would be difficult, and that there was a lot to do and a lot to wrap up. But luckily I’ve always known how the series would finish and what I wanted to say and where I wanted to take my characters. I also make very detailed chapter plans that keep me on track of the who what where when why how. I go into a chapter knowing what it needs to do to be enjoyable in its own right but also further the story.
Will you miss writing any of the characters? And if so who and why?
I will miss all of them. Writing such a huge array of characters has been enormous fun. All of the characters (except the mains – Celeste, Esme, Ferd and Logan) are based on creatures and characters from traditional world folklore, and giving life and personalities to creatures I’ve geeked out about for years has meant all of them feel a little special and personal. I will especially miss Pan. And more than characters, what I will miss most is writing and developing the relationships between them – all the nuances and banter and references and connections that form a dynamic between two characters. There’s something about that I just adore.
From the beginning of the series, did you know where the series would end? Or did it, or anything along the way, surprise you?
I knew how it would end, and specifically that it would end in a battle. Action scenes are my favourite to write (and to watch) so that was always a given. But where I imagined the story going and the journey that I imagined the main characters going on – that has pretty much stayed the same from start to finish. There have been changes to some of the world-building and plotting (haha when I think of that first draft my editors saw!) to make the story and world more coherent. And of course, sometimes the story just goes off on its own and delights you in brilliant and ‘oooh clever’ ways, but I always gather it in eventually so it does what it needs to do to lead to that final point.
I think that’s the thing about writing a series – you have to know where it’s going so you can plant seeds all along the way, and have everything feeding into how it will eventually end. I quickly realised in the first book that I would need to shift from ‘pantser’ mode to ‘planner’ mode. So I was pretty strict with sticking to the plan, but am always happily surprised when my brain throws up fabulous flights of fancy and creative solutions!
How does it feel to know readers will get to the end of the series?
Ultimately I just want them to feel how I feel when I finish a fantasy series I love, which is like the books have become a little part of you. It can be bittersweet – you spend many years with a series, you can even grow up with it, and it can feel a little like home, like a little slice of your identity. But you’re happy to have spent time there, and to have gone on that journey. So if readers have followed the series all the way to the end and it has given them comfort, or escapism, or identification, or just good old-fashioned thrills, then I feel incredibly blessed and gratified. I think all the characters we’ve come to love finish the book in the perfect place and I hope that readers feel the same.
Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm is inspired by folklore from the British Isles, what is your connection to them? Have you been there? Which folklore inspired you?
My family heritage is largely from the British Isles – Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. British folklore is what led me to become folklore obsessed as a child (hello Brian Froud and Katherine Briggs). The Realm of Fae is inspired by the many creatures and tales that make up Scottish, Irish, Welsh and British folklore. I saved this folklore inspiration for the last book because I had the most to say and I knew it would be an epic send-off.
I have visited many of the places the characters go to in the final book. Once you’ve seen ancient megalithic memorials and burial sites in Ireland and the West of England, and travelled through the misty Lake District, and been on ghost tours in Welsh castles, and stood on a cliff on the Scottish coast, it’s not that hard to believe that all the magical stories in your head are real.
Seven Wherewithal Way: Into the Faerie Realm at Affirm Press
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