Interview With Leah Cypess, Author Of Mistwood

Hi and welcome to bookablog! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thanks for having me! I'm someone who has wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, and even though I took a lot of detours along the way - like going to law school, which was a pretty big one! - it has always been my dream to be a published author. And now I am one! I grew up in Brooklyn, NY and now live in Boston with my family.






Where did you come up with the idea of the shifter?


I honestly don't know. The idea for MISTWOOD started with that first scene – a supernatural creature in a misty woods, being hunted by men on horseback. But I didn't know what type of creature she was until I actually wrote it out.






What influenced you to write this book?


I don't think there was any one influence. I'm a fantasy lover, so a lot of elements of fantasy were major contributors to the book - including the tropes of royalty and bodyguards and supernatural creatures, and of course the question of destiny and free choice.






If you could choose any character that you would could be in your book, who would it be?


Good question! I put them all in pretty tough situations, so to be honest, I don't know that I would really want to be any of them.






Did you feel any connections with any of your own characters?

I feel a connection with every single one of them.






Do you have any advice for young writers today?


My main piece of advice, based on my own experience, would be to never pin all your hopes on a single manuscript. MISTWOOD was the fifth book I wrote and submitted for publication, and I was always writing the next book while going through the submissions process with the one before. If I hadn't done it that way, I never would have been published.






Did you just write off the top of your head, or did you formulate everything in your mind, write it down, then decide what to actually write?


I write off the top of my head; when I start a book, I have literally no idea how it's going to end (or, at times, what's going to happen next). This isn't a particularly efficient way to write - it requires a lot of editing afterward! - but it's the way that works for me.






Thank you for joining us at bookablog!


Thanks for having me!


Best,


Leah