FGN: Your new book, Our Crooked Hearts, crosses between two generations of women. What made you decide to have both Dana and Ivy’s stories told simultaneously, though decades apart?
Melissa Albert:
One thing I absolutely love in speculative fiction is magic with consequences. In the case of Our Crooked Hearts, the consequences of teenaged Dana’s deep dive into dangerous magic reverberate throughout her life and come back to haunt her and her daughter in very literal ways. I wanted to twine their stories together so the two narratives would be in conversation with each other, showing the readers what exactly Dana did as her daughter, Ivy, is attempting to uncover that herself in the present day. I especially loved the idea of juxtaposing the teen years of an emotionally estranged mother and daughter, to invite readers to think about the ways adult Dana’s actions are or aren’t justified.
FGN: Do you have any particular rituals that you follow while you’re writing? (ie, wearing one lucky sweater, always have tea, etc)
Melissa Albert: I used to light a candle, choosing the same scent for each project in an attempt to help my brain hold onto the vibe of what I was working on. But anything approaching ritual fell away during the pandemic, when I was writing Our Crooked Hearts while parenting my sweet kid fulltime. Now I just make sure I’ve got a big glass of water somewhere nearby. This does not make my writing life sound terribly thrilling, but it works.
FGN: Many of the magical traditions included in this book seem extremely realistic. What was your research process like for this book?
Melissa Albert: I decided it would be best if I relied on a mix of memory and invention to create the magic in this book. I wanted it to be touched by true practices, but I didn’t want to re-create or hew too closely to any of them. For many people magic and spirituality are side by side, and it was important to me that I was writing fictional enchantments, not stepping, perhaps clumsily, on existing practices.
FGN: As one former bookseller to another, do you feel like your time selling books helped you with your writing career? Do you love seeing your own books in print?
Melissa Albert:
I do love seeing them in print, yes!! When I was a bookseller, I was, alas, a bit of a literary fiction snob—if it was obscure and fifty years old and translated from German it was the book for me. Then I rediscovered the glories of genre fiction and young adult and remembered what I was missing. So, I find that my time, later, as a YA blogger for Barnes & Noble was even more helpful to me because of where my head was at: I’d fully embraced my love of spec fic, and my job was to help every kind of reader find books they’d love. (That was my job as a bookseller, too, but I think I was too busy telling everyone they should read Lanark or whatever.) The job inspired me to read broadly and read a LOT, and that was massively inspiring to me as a writer.
FGN: What has been your favorite feedback form readers so far or Our Crooked Hearts or your other books?
Melissa Albert:
I got a letter once from a mother whose daughter didn’t like to read. Then she picked up The Hazel Wood (my debut novel) and loved it so much it led her to other books, and she found that she loved reading. She’d become a reader!! I cried when I read the letter. I can’t think of a higher goal for me as a writer than to bring reluctant readers into the glorious fold.
FGN: Where can our readers continue to follow your work?
Melissa Albert: I try to keep readers updated on Instagram, @melissaalbertauthor.
Our Crooked Hearts is available now wherever books are sold.
