#AusYABloggers Laini Taylor Interview

The always brilliant Laini Taylor was visiting Australia in September, and when Hachette Australia were allowing one of the group to interview our international guest, there was no one more qualified for the role than Kristy from Book Nerd Reviews. She lives and breathes Laini and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. So she went along to chat about books, fangirl and ask the questions that Aussie readers and bloggers submitted.

What is the most elaborate thing a fan has done, and do you have a favourite?
There’s just been such an awesome response, and there have been a lot of tattoos lately just in the last couple of weeks. There was a young lady who came to an event in Houston dressed fully as Madrigal, well a sort of mash up of Karou and Madrigal, because she did have “true story” tattooed on her wrists, and they were real tattoos, but she had the horns and the wings and everything, so that was neat. One of my first things that happened that was really amazing was somebody who maybe knew me through my blog but was a fan of Blackbringer made a doll of me. That kind of stuff blows me away, people are so creative, and there has been so much fun stuff, people make really cool music mixes and do really amazing art work and it’s just so cool to see people inspired by the book to do these things. I am sure I am forgetting some amazing things. I want to put a gallery up of all the tattoos because I am blow away that people are doing that.
There are some really nice tattoos out there. I am often tempted to get one...
Yeah me too. I haven’t gotten a Daughter of Smoke and Bone tattoo yet. Hmmmm. I know some people get little commemorative tattoos, just small ones, but I don’t have any.
Do you do any study or research trips? Which also leads on to another question of why Prague?
Jim and I had gone to Prague in 2005 to research a vampire graphic novel that we wanted to do, that we didn’t end up doing. We spent about 9 days in Prague, walking around, photographing it, and thinking of using it as a setting, and then we didn’t. But it was still waiting in my mind to be used, so it was perfect. It didn’t occur to me right away. At first I thought New York would be where Karou lived, but Prague was way better. And then Morocco I was sort of obsessed with at the time, I hadn’t been but I really wanted to go and so I thought I’m going to work this in, and I just did from looking at YouTube videos and maps and guide books and things like that. Then we did go, and on that trip we went to southern Morocco and the kazbahs, and that’s absolutely where the setting for Daughter of Smoke and Bone came about, without which having gone I don’t think that would have happened. I don’t know what that book would have been, I mean it would have been completely different. 

There really should be a grant for novelists to go travel to research settings for the books. And also a time machine, because I would really like to be able to go back to historical eras I would like to write about. Somebody make that happen.
You mentioned that you were writing another book when Karou and Brimstone came to you, did you put that book aside before starting with Daughter of Smoke and Bone?
I didn’t. I went back and finished it.
You did? Where is it?
It will never see the light of day. I didn’t write it the way I usually write. I wrote it for NaNoWriMo that year, which I had never done before. Part of the reason I did it was because I do have a commitment to finishing things, but I don’t think even still that I would have soldiered on because I had already given up hope of it, but I was doing a talk in December on finishing novels, and I thought ‘this would be a good thing to talk about’. And it’s amazing if you just set out to write a certain number of words every day, and you don’t care if they’re good, you can write a lot of words. So I never read it. I never read what I wrote at the end of each day. I have no idea really what happened but I am sure it’s really terrible. And that’s not the way I work, writing a fast first draft, and it killed any interest I had in that book. So then I was free to get back to these characters.
You have mentioned scenes that have been cut from your books, is there any possibility releasing those deleted scenes?
There is nothing that would really stand on its own as interesting.
How do you feel about killing off some of the characters in the Daughter series?
I haven’t really killed that many beloved characters. And I think in Dreams of Gods and Monsters I went pretty easy. Overall I knew that I wasn’t just setting out to kill people for the sake of killing people.

About The Author


Laini Taylor is the New York Times bestselling author of Days of Blood and Starlight, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the Dreamdark books Blackbringer and Silksinger, and the National Book Award finalist Lips Touch: Three Times. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their daughter, Clementine.

Read the rest of Kristy's interview with Laini at Book Nerd Reviews.
Find Laini via her Blog  Twitter and Goodreads

Thank you to both Laini Taylor and Ashleigh at Hachette Australia.

24 comments

  1. I love Laini Taylor and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy!!! Huhuhu. Thanks for this brilliant interview! It's amazing that Laini has fans everywhere who even dress up as Karou/Madrigal. I just love Laini! :D And Karou too. Amazing post!!

    Jillian @ Jillian's Books

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    1. I love seeing her Tweets with fan costumes and tattoos, some of them are incredible! I'm planning on finishing the Trilogy soon, or Kristy will probably chase me with a pitchfork. Although she could probably recite it to me, without the book.

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  2. Awesome interview! She sounds so great! As of now, I've only read the first book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bones series, but absolutely loved it. I would love to go to Prague one day...

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    1. Me too Kara, but have bought books two and three now and hopefully can get to them soon. Kristy has actually been, here's the link to her Prague post where she visited so many of the locations in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It's brilliant.

      Kristy's Prague Tour

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  3. Fab interview! Laini Taylor is the devil, in that she is far too careless with my feels and just throws them all around :P

    Cannot WAIT to read whatever she writes next

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    1. Me neither Allie. I think Kristy would agree with you there too, she lives and breathes Laini. Just between us, I think she may even be changing her name to Laini soon too. But you didn't hear it from me.

      I know, I know, before Kristy storms in here. She isn't changing her name. Unless I'm actually right. Then I stand by my earlier statement.

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  4. Lovely interview! I love how passionate readers can be. And bookish tattoos are the best kind, of course :) I love the sound of her research process - when I go to England in December/January I'm going to take SO many photos it won't be funny :)

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    1. Will you still be on Twitter while you're over there? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you get up to. But no tattoos... Or visiting seedy bars young lady.

      Kristy did an awesome job didn't she. We'll have to nag her to release the audio version of the interview.

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  5. Yay, wonderful interview Kristy! And I totally agree, when I was reading the book I could definitely imagine myself getting a small tattoo just to be as kickass as Karou. Dang, I would read Laini's shopping list, I hope she indulges us with her secret NaNo book

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    1. Kristy did an incredible job didn't she. I honestly thought it would be mostly squealing and incoherent sentences in the presence of Laini.

      Don't tell her that though, she'll deny it of course.

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    2. Thanks Joy :)

      And Kelly, I would never deny that. I was just fortunate enough to cut it out of the transcript... the audio has all the embarrassing stuff :D

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  6. Fantastic interview! Laini is probably one of my favourite YA writers. It's her prose, I tell you! I'm with her on the time machine thing. Someone needs to make one and asap, please. I can't wait for what she brings out next. The whole premise for it sounds amazing!

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    1. She's just an incredible storyteller isn't she! Just amazing how she can create a world like Karou's and lure the reader in. Her talent knows no bounds and I'm looking forward to seeing what she brings out next too!

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  7. I've only read her short stories and daaamn this woman can write! Great interview. I love an author who actually researches their settings beyond an internet search [which okay, not everyone can do], and especially one who's not afraid to kill off some characters.

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    1. She's one of the authors of the young adult generation and really bought pure fantasy back into the spotlight. She's ingenious. I didn't actually like fantasy novels until I read The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Karou is incredibly kick ass and I can't wait to continue the series on.

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  8. I love Laini and this trilogy--it's so amazing. I was lucky enough to meet her when Dreams of Gods and Monsters came out, and she was absolutely delightful. I love her answer about doing studying and research trips. It would be so amazing for writers to receive traveling grants (I would apply for as many as possible!) and for time machines to exist so we can really research the historical periods we want to write about.

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    1. She entertained audiences when she visited here too and so many Aussie bloggers echo your words as well, that she was incredibly delightful and also inspirational. I had no idea about traveling grants, wonder how big a name you would have to be to be approved for something like that. No doubt Laini wouldn't have any issues, she must have them throwing money at her, excited to see what she comes up with next. I can't wait to see either.

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  9. OH THIS WAS FANTASTIC. Although, heh, now I'm not worried about Dreams of Gods and Monsters (which I haven't read yet) at all. YAY NOBODY DIES!!! DoSaB was mean enough about that. *growls softly in the darkness*

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    1. I haven't read book two or three yet, so I'm even further behind. No doubt Kristy will pop up when we least expect her and crack the whip until we've caught up on the series.

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  10. Ahhhhhhh I LOVE LAINI TAYLOR. That's really awesome that she actually went to Prague and Morocco, there really needs to be a grant for authors to use for traveling. I don't even write, but this motivates me to go out and take photos and use that as a setting!

    Thanks for the interview Kelly!!! Were you physically there when she was interviewed, or did you get this straight from Kristy?

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  11. A great interview with an awesome lady who writes such beautiful books and is so friendly and nice in person. Daughter was my inspiration for going to Prague earlier this year and I really want to go back again soon. I would love to listen to the audio of this interview.

    Can't wait to read her future works

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    1. Me too Carolyn! I think we might need to don our glasses and trench coats and come up with a plan for you to sneak a copy of it over Christmas. She did a fabulous job didn't she. I would have been a bumbling mess.

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  12. Oh fantastic interview Kristy, I loved hearing about the book that we'll never see (Now I'll always wonder) and how she visited Prague and thought it was perfect for Karou. Definitely some interesting insight into the lovely Laini! Thanks for featuring too, Kelly.

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    1. She's such a tease isn't she. Dangling the elusive book in front of us, but won't share. I say we arm ourselves with wafflebats and make her see sense.

      I suspect Kristy will be leading that charge.

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