Strung follows a woman in a forced engagement as she discovers the world of the Faye, and becomes enraptured with the world she finds. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

The world and story of Strung began as a childhood paracosm and continued to evolve over the following decades. After so long, it’s difficult for me to pinpoint each original source of inspiration, but I do specifically recall an early fascination with the romantic power imbalance in Disney’s Aladdin. These days, Jasmine’s trope might be classified as a very light “Alpha Female”, but it was a totally new concept for me at the time. I believe that idea seeded the initial daydream, but many, many other influences found their way into the narrative over time, too.

Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing or did the characters personalities grow organically as you were writing?

In a sense, yes to both. The characters grew as I did, so there was indeed an outline before I sat down to write—just not a typical one! I ended up cutting several plot points and character interactions in order to keep the book below 140k words, but the ultimate path of each character’s development remained the same.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

The story’s themes include each definition and colloquial use of the word “strung”. For instance: interpersonal tethering, adherence to tradition, tightly wound anxiety, emotional resonance, threads of fate, and for better or worse, how each of these forms has the power to control our actions by stringing us as puppets or instruments.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

To be honest, Strung is the only story I absolutely needed to tell. If there was demand for a sequel, I’d consider one. Otherwise, who knows? Maybe I’ll have a new world to jot down in another 25 years.

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