Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Brianna Sugalski author of Disenchanted.

Hi Brianna, thank you for agreeing to this interview.

For those readers not familiar with you, would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Sure, I’m a romantic fantasy author, student and aspiring historian (16th century France/ Bretagne/ Brythonic Celts), and mom. I’m from Hawaii and live in California with my partner and three children.

How do you relax?

When I am actively writing a draft, much of my relaxation time is reading. With my ADHD I’m so easily distracted and things are “out of sight, out of mind,” that I need to continue to spend time in-story—in someone else’s story—in order to continue feeling motivated and inspired. Audiobooks help a lot. Tea is also an afternoon ritual I have that keeps me focused and reminds me to take a break.

What’s your favorite season and why?

Autumn, specifically the turn of season at the end of summer. All the things I love are associated with it: soups and stews; squashes and apples; cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg flavored anything.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

The Three Musketeers made me fall in love with adventure fiction, as well as A Quest for Camelot, the book version of the cartoon film. I was also obsessed with Kate DiCamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux, and still think there are remnants of the way I emulated her narrative voice style writing as a kid in my writing style today; it’s sometimes silly and doesn’t fit, but it is something I can’t help.

How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the A Lay of Ruinous Reign series?

After experiencing a stillbirth in 2017, I took to writing. My therapist told me to free-write my feelings or whatever came to mind. I wrote a few poems in alternating POVs of two characters—a princess and a monster. I am a horrible poet, so I set those pieces aside, but they became two characters I could not stop thinking about. I needed names, a context, a setting, which quickly became a forest. Brocéliande came to mind. I knew a little about the mythical forest in the backdrop of Merlin and other Arthurian stories that inspired the fairy tales my mom read to me as a kid, and was shocked to find there was a real-life Brocéliande. The residents surrounding it still believe in and operate around faeries and other mythical creatures specific to the region. I spent the latter half of the year reading some of Le Morte d’Arthur and books on the romances of Brittany, and drafted in 2018. These characters, who became Princess Lilac (inspired by some of the women of Arthuriana but mostly Eleanor the Fair Maiden of Brittany, Constance of Brittany, and Anne of Brittany) and Garin (inspired by the themes in Gawain and the Green Knight, a little Klaus Mikaelson from TVD, and Spike from BTVS), basically told me their story from there.

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Laurent Beaulieu took solace in the ancient giants of Brocéliande. There were centuries of secrets hidden within its thick greenery, and what he was about to do—with whom he was about to meet—would become one more.

Were another human or creature to see him, they would find themselves turning away, forgetful. If they were difficult, he would finish them off. Though uncharacteristic for him these days, he’d do anything necessary to keep his coven from learning he had agreed to a conference on mortal terms.

At least for the time being.

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

She can communicate with the Daemons of Brocéliande; they are varying species of magical creatures who can speak the tongue of the Old Faith. It is a language that can’t be learned, yet she discovered, five years before the events of Disenchanted and to the king and queen’s horror, that she can speak to them.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

The scene where Lilac thinks jumping into the Argent River is a better option than letting Garin kidnap her, and she’s running wildly from him and comes to a dead end at the riverbank. She’s extra mad because he’s walking slowly, pleasantly, and she thinks he’s doing that to be cruel and torment her. Later in the book when they’re better acquainted, we learn he never chases her for a reason.

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview.

Thank you for having me!

 

Disenchanted

 

by Brianna Sugalski
(A Lay of Ruinous Reign, #1)
Publication date: December 27th 2022
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

 

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