Allison Saft is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic and A Fragile Enchantment. After receiving her MA in English Literature from Tulane University, she moved from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast, where she spent her time rolling on eight wheels and practicing aerial silks. She lives with her partner and an Italian greyhound named Marzipan.

I had the opportunity to interview Allison, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you for having me! I’m Allison. I write books about magic and weird people falling in love. Otherwise, I spend my free time in the studio. I train and perform on aerial silks and hammock. Recently, I’ve started taking ballet classes for the first time in my life. It’s been incredibly humbling.

What can you tell us about your latest book, A Dark and Drowning Tide? What was the inspiration for this story?

A Dark and Drowning Tide is about a deeply unpleasant young woman who is serving as the folklorist on a natural history expedition searching for the fabled source of all magic. But when her mentor is murdered on board, the only person she can rely on is her insufferably gallant and maddening beautiful academic rival. Together, they must figure out whodunnit. It’s one part locked-room murder mystery, one part fantasy adventure, one part romance.

It was inspired by a hodgepodge of things over the years: The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, which I read and loved in grad school; an abandoned idea about rival lawyers that emerged from a period of playing too much Ace Attorney; and a love of water.

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially speculative fiction?

I was a pretty lonely, shy kid who spent a lot of time on Neopets. I stumbled on the role-play forums one day and never looked back! People often say that writing is solitary, but for me, it was very social and collaborative. It was how I connected with people and expressed myself when that felt impossible in my “real” life. I’ve never written anything but speculative fiction, honestly, probably because those were the books that captured my imagination the most. I was obsessed with the Warrior Cats and Redwall series.

How would you describe your writing process?

I’d say it’s pretty systematic! My ideas usually come to me in the form of a central romance dynamic: who the romantic leads are, how they meet, and what forces them together. I like to give my characters interesting jobs and ground my fantasy worlds in real-world history, so I’ll usually spend some time researching. Once I have a solid idea of the characters and world, I’ll dive into a scene-by-scene outline. This outline is rarely correct (I tend to rewrite a lot), but I need some structure to keep me from getting totally lost.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or difficult?

I love characters!! Nineteenth-century novels have been a huge inspiration to me. What delights me about authors like Jane Austen and George Eliot is how beautifully they capture how ridiculous people are. I really enjoy exploring the ways in which people are un-self-aware and small and ugly; to me, that’s what makes them real.

I find every single part of the process is fun and frustrating by turns; I always long to be revising when I’m drafting and drafting when I’m revising. But I’d say first drafts are the most difficult for me. I try to get through them as quickly as possible so I can see how the external plot hangs together before I get bogged down in atmosphere and whatnot. The unfortunate consequence of this method is that you wind up something that resembles a screenplay. It’s only action and dialogue, with occasional inspired bursts of good prose and emotion. My second drafts are when a book actually starts to take shape.

Many authors would say one of the most challenging parts of writing a book is finishing one. What strategies would you say helped you accomplish this?

A combination of leaning into what amuses me and deadlines, honestly. I use a website called Pacemaker, which tells me exactly how much work I need to get done each day to meet my deadline. Besides that, it helps to have writer friends to encourage and/or bully you, depending on what you need.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

I love animals! I have an Italian greyhound named Marzipan, and she is everything to me. One of the greatest sources of wonder and inspiration to me is the friendships we can form with the creatures around us.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Because A Dark and Drowning Tide is about a group of academics, maybe what my focus was in grad school? If I’d gone on to get a PhD, I think I would’ve been an Early Modernist. I was really into Early Modern medicine, particularly Galen’s four humors and how they thought pregnancy worked back then. I had too much fun reading the Faerie Queene through that lens.

What advice might you have to give for aspiring writers?

The road to publication can be long, and the process tends to fill people with a lot of anxiety, bitterness, jealousy, and despair. I’ve very much been there. But at a certain point, if pursuing publication is making you miserable, you have to take a step back. While writing is an art, publishing is a job. No job is worth your sanity and wellbeing. My advice is to set boundaries with yourself. Remember what brings you joy outside of writing. Find friends who have no idea what a literary agent is. Having a full existence outside your writing makes it easier to bounce back when setbacks arise. And if you need to take a break, please do it. The work will always be there when you’re ready for it.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

My next YA, Wings of Starlight, comes out in February! It’s the prequel novel to the 2012 Tinker Bell movie, Secret of the Wings, about Queen Clarion and Lord Milori’s star-crossed love story. Otherwise, I’m working on a new YA novel about chess.

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I’d recommend The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez, Black Water Sister by Zen Cho, and Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust. Each of them has very different vibes, but these are some of my all-time favorites.