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Hyatt's Victoria, how are you doing
today, Victoria. I'm doing very well.

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I am. I'm really excited for
all of this today. I'm so

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excited to talk with you because the
reason why is I'm somebody who uses those

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VR goggles. And the thing is
is that the way you use your words,

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I don't need those goggles. You
put me inside a story where I

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get consumed by everything that you were
painting. Well, that's a very high

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compliment that that's exactly what I'm aiming
for in all of my books. I

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like to say that I'm an entertainer. I haven't immersed you and buckled you

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into a roller coaster. I haven't
done my job. So then you totally

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believe in theater the mind. I
do absolutely. I'm one of those people

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who when I read a book,
I see it like a movie in my

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head. Okay, since you set
me up on that one, I've got

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to come this way. I was
going to say, don't don't go the

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route of Netflix and stuff like that. But since you've played it out in

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your head first, you've got to
be dreaming about making this go to Hulu

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or even into a movie form.
Oh always, I'm you know, every

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writer dreams about that. They dream
about the biggest audience possible experiencing their work.

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But for me, it's just I'm
trying to see it the way an

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audience would so I can communicate it
as best on the page, so I

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can do that level of immersion.
But of course I'm always dreaming about that.

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Where did you learn that art of
It's not about me, it's about

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those who receive. I went to
film school, I studied screenwriting in college,

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and you're always in service of the
audience, because if you can't make

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the audience believe in your unbelievable things, then you're not telling them a story.

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They're not going to receive it.
The final clash between kingdoms and gods,

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I mean, all must rise to
fight. I love to hear those

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words because that tells me that it's
not just one person going into battle.

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We have to create a community first, and that community must move forward.

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And I like that kind of basically
sublime writing. Yes, absolutely, And

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when I set out to write this
story, I wasn't really thinking about sort

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of a theme or a motif or
any kind of message I wanted to convey.

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It was more the story itself that
enamored me. But as I was

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writing it, I realized the thing
that I was communicating with in myself was

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the sort of frustration I have with
our world and our communities that can see

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all of these issues that affect all
of us, but can't put aside our

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differences to sort of address them.
And as I was writing these books,

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I realized, that's what I'm trying
to do. I'm trying to get that

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frustration out and sort of write what
I want to see in our world when

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these battles are witnessed by your imagination. First, does it come out chronologically

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or do you sit there and you
have to keep coming back to it to

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build up the scene a little bit
of both. I have to write my

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books chronologically because I have to really
be able to trace that sort of character

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journey. But with the battles themselves, I go from sort of a bird's

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eye view, where I literally look
at it from a top down angle and

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I kind of draw out what it's
going to look like from sort of a

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schematic standpoint, and then when I'm
in it, you're trying to be as

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visceral and immediate as possible and really
ground the audience in something that could otherwise

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be very confusing. Well, you
know what's really interesting. I wish they

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made movies like that, but they
don't. They go beginning middle d Okay,

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let's go over here, let's tweak
this, let's do that. But

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I mean, I'm totally with you
when it comes, you know, let

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me lay it out first and then
we'll let the editors take it from there.

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A little bit, a little bit, How do you envision the choice

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of preparing for a larger than life
finale? Because I've always wanted I'm a

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book writer, but I don't write
like you do. I'm one of those

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self help kind of writers. And
the thing is, though, is that

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you're coming up, You're building up
the scene, building up, building up,

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and all of a sudden, boom, How does it move through you?

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I mean I would be up walking
around as much as possible to kind

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of shake it off. Yeah,
a little bit. And my husband knows

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which days I'm writing in a way
that he can't interact with me for a

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little bit afterwards. I have to
sort of It takes a lot to get

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into it, and then it takes
a lot to come out of it too.

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It's almost like diving or something like
that. You know, you've got

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to swim down and then come back
up slowly. Writing is such a muscle,

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and at first it can be really
weak and a little bit rusty,

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and then as I carry on in
the books, I get better and better

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and faster and faster. I'm a
little more unhinged. Probably do you believe

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that books are not written but words
are? In other words, one word

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has to lead to the next one. Absolutely absolutely. I mean we can

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write beautiful sentences and lovely turns of
phrase, but it needs to amount to

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something, and I think books are
definitely more than some other parts. One

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of the things you talked about was
your husband, And that's one thing that

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listeners don't understand is that relationship with
those that are in our house with us.

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When we go into that room or
into that zone, it's not that

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we're disconnecting from our love for them. It's like, go let them be

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them. Just do you have that
kind of a relationship, Just let me

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create yeez. Yes. And I'm
a little lucky in that the structure of

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our lives really is conducive to my
work and his work. He works out

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of the house. I work from
home for the most part, the person

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I interact with the most isn't a
person. It's my dog. But it's

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lovely because then I get to work
all day, be by myself, be

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in my own little world, and
when he comes home, I'm sort of

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ready to interact with other people.
Well, no, I totally get having

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the dog in there, because Jasse
is with me at all times. The

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problem is when I go out there
in the real world, I want my

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dog to be with me. But
it's like, ah, I got to

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have my little buddy with me.
I know. I mean, I'm on

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a book tour right now, and
all I can think is I wish my

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dog was right here. Yeah.
Yeah. So when you have a this,

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first of all, this is not
a shallow battle. Listeners need to

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understand that that this is a real, honest to god, ruthless enemy that's

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in here, you know, a
demon God. How do you envision that?

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Because as a writer, my first
wife would sit there and get pictures

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of who she thought was playing that
role this one. Where did the image

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come from? I think it's a
little bit internal, and we all have

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sort of that amorphous shape in our
heads of something that's almost too terrifying to

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really perceive fully. So in the
story, I tried to hold on to

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that idea of that thing you glimpse
out of the corner of your eye,

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and if you look at it fully, you'll never you'll never be able to

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look away again. So I wanted
to give those flashes and sort of let

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the audience fill in the blanks themselves, because that makes it all the more

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terrifying and personal. Writers are always
working on the next project. Can you

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talk about that next one? Hah. I'm in the middle of working on

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a book proposal for what will hopefully
be my adult debut. Up until now,

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I've written strictly young adult and maybe
a little bit of crossover with realm

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breaker, but this is going to
be firmly in the adult space and in

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our real world. It's going to
ideally be a historical fiction. But I'm

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figuring that out because in the past
I've only ever written a whole book and

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then turned around and tried to figure
out what to do with it. Or

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I've just said, hey, here's
what I want to write, and now

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I'm sort of in uncharted territory.
Wow, I'm just glad you gave yourself

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permission to actually write because so many
people aren't writing these days, and you

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know, we need your seeds to
you know, to give us some fruit,

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and you're definitely doing that. Well. Thank you so much. I

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mean, so many people say,
oh, I would just write if I

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had the time, or if I
had this or that, And I know

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so many authors who work against so
many more restrictions than I have and still

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make it happen. So I feel
like, if you've got a story to

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tell, you have to do it. I love it. Please come back

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to this show anytime in the future. The door is always going to be

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open for you. Thank you so
much. Thanks for having me. You

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bet you'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you