Interview: Carrie Vaughn - Voices of Dragons

The YA bug is spreading (much to my delight) to some of urban fantasy’s best authors.  The latest one to succumb?  Carrie Vaughn, best known for her hugely successful Kitty Norville series.  Carrie was kind enough to answer a few questions about her fist paranormal YA novel, Voices of Dragons, available on March 16 from HarperTeen.

Carrie Vaughn survived her air force brat childhood and managed to put down roots in Colorado. Her first book, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, launched a popular series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk-radio advice show. Ms. Vaughn has also written many short stories. This is her first work for young readers. Ms. Vaughn lives in Colorado.

 

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Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
Available on March 16, 2010 from HarperTeen

Book Description:
On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity's deepest fears: dragons.

Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she's breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she'd rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, the rules are abruptly shattered, and a secret friendship grows between them.

But suspicion and terror are the legacy of human and dragon inter­actions, and the fragile truce that has maintained peace between the species is unraveling. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

In her young-adult debut, New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn presents a distinctly twenty-first-century tale of myths and machines, and an alliance that crosses a seemingly unbridgeable divide.

Click HERE to Browse Inside Voices of Dragons

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Interview

ATUF: Can you tell us a little about the plot of Voices of Dragons?

CV: It's a girl-meets-dragon story, with jet fighters, rock climbing, and a homecoming dance. The more detailed answer: this takes place in an alternate reality where dragons emerged from hiding at the end of World War II, and the Cold War is between humanity and dragonkind. Most dragons live in their own, restricted territory in the Rockies and have no contact with people -- that is until Kay accidentally crosses the border and meets a young dragon, Artegal. They become friends, and then they have to try to stop a war between their peoples.

ATUF: What made you decide to take the plunge into YA?

CV: This story needed to be YA. I tried to write it as a regular fantasy novel, which is what I normally write. But for various reasons (some of which are spoilers so I'm going to keep quiet on them for now) the story needed a younger protagonist, with a younger protagonist's outlook. The story didn't come together at all until I thought of it as YA.

ATUF: Are you a fan of paranormal YA in general?  Are there any titles/authors that you love? Any for adult urban fantasy?

CV: Not really paranormal YA specifically. I love fantasy, though, all kinds. Many of my favorite authors are "crossover" authors with books classified both as YA and adult. The Newbery Award winning The Hero and The Crown, by Robin McKinley for example. Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books are another example. YA author Cynthia Voigt has an amazing fantasy series (Jackaroo, On Fortune's Wheel, The Wings of a Falcon). Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is a favorite.

ATUF: What sort of challenges did you encounter writing YA as opposed to Adult fiction?

CV: I tried to write it just the same, to be honest. I tried to think of it as I would writing any book -- make it true and believable. The thing I had to keep in mind is what it's like to be 17, and the problems and outlook I had at that age, and focus on that.

ATUF: I’m a huge fan of Craig White’s cover art for all the Kitty books (including the recently revealed cover for Kitty Goes to War).  Can you tell us about the cover art for Voices of Dragons?

CV: Having grown up with McCaffery's Pern books everywhere, I assumed I'd get a picture of a big dragon on my cover. But the art department chose to focus on Kay instead, which is just fine. Unfortunately, I don't know who the artist is.

ATUF: Did you struggle with writing two series at once? Did you find the tone of one ever bleeding into the other?

CV: Well, I don't really see Voices of Dragons as a series. I wrote this book on its own, and while I'm planning a sequel, I still see it as being limited rather than an open-ended series like Kitty is. So I didn't really have a problem with tone or with mixing them up. Also, I wrote Voices of Dragons in a third person point of view, which really separates it from the Kitty books, which are in first person. They're very different worlds and characters, so it's not difficult to separate them.

ATUF: In your FAQ you mention several other non-Kitty books that you’ve started: “These are a superhero novel and a near-future end of the world with Greek mythology chucked in novel…the second YA novel, which has time travel and pirates…[and] a fantasy novel.”  Any updates on any of those?

CV: Lots of updates! Discord's Apple is the end of the world with Greek mythology novel, and it's due out in July 2010, I think. It's a stand-alone, one-off, and it has a lot to do with family, history, and storytelling.

Steel is my second YA novel, and it's my take on pirates. The main character, Jill, is a young competitive fencer who finds herself yanked back in time to a pirate ship in the 18th century Caribbean. It should be out in 2011.

After the Golden Age is the superhero novel, and it should also be out in 2011. Celia West is the daughter of Commerce City's two greatest superheroes, and at the age of 24 she's still trying to live down her most serious act of teenage rebellion -- when she became a henchman of their archnemesis. And that's just the back story.

ATUF: What made you decide to focus on dragons for this book?  Are there other paranormal creatures in Voices of Dragons?

CV: Nope, just dragons. Because dragons are awesome! I loved the image of having dragons in the modern world, so I just went with that and tried to build up how that world would look.

ATUF: Can we expect any type of romantic subplot in Voices of Dragons?

CV: Yup. Kay has a lot of confusion about her best friend, Jon, and what the difference is between being best friends v. being boyfriend/girlfriend, and if there really is any difference.

ATUF: My readers would kill me if I didn’t at least try to get a little Kitty info.  Can you tell us anything about the next book?

CV: It's Kitty Goes to War, due out in July 2010. Kitty is called on to help a group of werewolf soldiers who've returned from Afghanistan. I've also started work on the ninth Kitty book.

aTUF: Oh, and congratulations on having your short story,“A Hunter’s Ode to His Bait,” named the unofficial title of Realms of Fantasy’s Most Controversial Story.  Of course I had to read such an infamous story and, while I love unicorns as much as the next girl, I loved it!  I actually found it to be a very touching—if twisted--love story. 

CV:Thanks! 

Thanks so much Carrie!  Come back anytime.

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Want to read more by Carrie Vaughn?

Series

Kitty Norville
1. Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005)
2. Kitty Goes to Washington (2006)
3. Kitty Takes a Holiday (2007)
     aka Kitty Goes on Holiday
4. Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2008)
5. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (2009)
6. Kitty Raises Hell (2009)
7. Kitty's House of Horrors (2010)
8. Kitty Goes to War (2010)
Long Time Listener, First-time Werewolf (omnibus) (2007)

Novels

Voices of Dragons (2010)
Discord's Apple (2010)

Anthologies

Sword and Sorceress XVII (2000)
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (2008)
Better Off Undead (2008)
Hotter Than Hell (2008)
The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (2009)
Running With the Pack (2010)
Warriors (2010)