Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.
Recently, we interviewed Karen McLain about her writing and her recently released novel, Initium, a timely fantasy that explores multiple complex themes with coming-of-age elements. It’s the first book in The Mayari Chronicles (Read the review here.)
Karen McLain was born in the Chicagoland area in the early eighties. As the youngest child of the three children to a single mother, life could be rough at times. The family moved to western Pennsylvania in the mid-nineties and things got a bit easier for them. After a tragic loss, Karen shut herself off to the world for many years in order to figure things out and deal with illnesses. Searching for ways to vent a creative passion, Karen was inspired by internet content to create The Mayari Chronicles.
How did you create the world that The Mayari Chronicles: Initium is set in? What were your worldbuilding inspirations and your process?
I have a fascination with the architecture of medieval times, so I tend to see Mayari that way. I believed it would better fit the story if certain parts of their ways were different than Earth. I imagined a world where firearms were never invented as well as a world that hadn’t developed most of the various forms of entertainment that we have.
I took these certain things out and began to imagine how differently the civilization would develop. I imagined that their medical field would be far more advanced than ours is on Earth, this happening simply because my characters believed that was most important.
How did you create the characters that populate The Mayari Chronicles: Initium? Did they all start as separate ideas, or did different character ideas come up one after the other to complement or foil one another?
I honestly started by picking names from Wikipedia and picking characteristics for each person. I used the anime series RWBY to inspire the story line. I have found the characters have changed far more than I expected them to through my writing process.
Several characters have been created to compliment others as well as foil some. There are plenty of characters that were “reinvented” during my process.
Have your characters ever “come to life” or “surprised” you by doing something you didn’t originally expect them to?
Definitely. Many of the characters have done things and become different people than I had thought they would be. Most of this happens after Initium, but several characters started their changes in Initium.
What is the most fulfilling part of writing a novel? What about the most challenging?
I believe the most fulfilling part is that I have been able to amaze myself with the story as it unfolds. Although I know it isn’t true, it seems like someone else is writing the story. I often reread something I’ve written and say to myself, ‘There is no way I wrote that!’
If you had to start the journey of writing The Mayari Chronicles: Initium over, what’s one thing you would tell yourself knowing what you know now that the book has been published?
I can’t think of anything I would say to myself. I believe the story has progressed the best possible way it could.
What authors or books inspire you as a writer?
The only two authors that come to mind when I think of the Mayari Chronicles are Tolkien and Lloyd Alexander.
Initium is the first installment in the Mayari Chronicles series. Can you give us a sneak peek of what to expect in the series going forward?
So far there will be at least ten more books in the series, but it might be even more than that. I’ve found there’s a lot of story to tell.
Sneak peek wise, I’d say the Mayari Chronicles will most likely go in a direction that is unexpected.
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