Author Interview: Isabel Ibañez

Get the inside scoop on ‘Graceless Heart’!

Isabel Ibañez is the author of our January Adult ‘Divine Rebellion’ featured book: Graceless Heart. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

What first sparked the idea for Graceless Heart?

I first got the idea back in 2021. But for context, back in college I studied creative writing and history. I love history so much, I love to know where people have been and I love studying different cultures. The renaissance, in particular, has always been a source of fascination for me because we were coming out of the dark ages, people were waking up and they were questioning the status quo. They were curious and started experimenting and learning. And there was this renaissance of art and beauty, with paint being made in different colours that never existed before! And in this time, there were so many innovators and artists that came about, but typically, the stories written are all about men. And so I knew I wanted to write a book set in the renaissance, but I wanted it to centre a woman who was part of this great movement. Originally, Ravenna was going to be a painter, but when I started to outline the story it felt so off, like she was telling me she wasn’t a painter. That was so uncomfortable for me, but she made it known that she’s a sculptress, so that’s what she became; this sculptress with a secret, living in a pretty but ruthless world in Florence, and the story sparked from there.

What themes were most important to you while writing this story?

I think if I was carrying drafting the story and keeping track of the characters, the world building, and the magic system, if I was conscious of not straying too far from a theme, I would feel too much pressure. And I think the story would suffer from it, because it could become preachy and stuck in a box, and you may rob yourself of an opportunity to hear what the story is telling you. But this was the hardest book I’ve ever written; it’s the first book I wrote after having twins, and I live in North Carolina which got struck by this horrible hurricane, and so I lost power and water for almost a month. We didn’t have childcare, the city was completely flooded, all meanwhile the book was due. And so as I was writing this story, I think a lot of the grief and heartache went into it. But also, in real time, I was seeing how a community could gather together and how people were supporting each other. I’m usually a recluse, but I got to know my neighbours! And whilst I was drafting the book, I just kept thinking about how Ravenna has also been so isolated, cut off from the world and hiding of her secret, and when she gets to Florence she doesn’t know who she can trust. But little by little, she starts letting down her guard, and I think a lot of those themes emerged from my writing process. I think it has so much to do with religion, faith, power, isolation, grief, and accepting yourself for who you are.

Which character surprised you the most while writing them?

The character that surprised me the most was probably Imelda. She is a maid, living in the palazzo, and I realised that her and Ravenna’s stories are very parallel to each other. In a lot of ways, I feel a lot of compassion for her character because I think she was backed into a corner and felt like she didn’t have a lot of choice. And then when Ravenna is backed into the same corner, when she sees her choices getting taken from her one by one, she has to think about how she will gain back that power. So I think Imelda gives into it but Ravenna does not. But they befriend each other, and she really surprised me.

If your main characters had Instagram accounts, what would their bio’s say?

Oh my gosh! I think Ravenna’s would just say ‘Sculptress’ and then have a link to her Etsy profile. And I think Saturnino’s would say something like ‘Not on Instagram’ and there would be no photos.

How did you approach building the world and its rules, as the world is very much our real world but with magic? 

So obviously, I really love history, but I also really love fantasy. And I don’t think I’ll ever write anything other than historical fantasy! There’s something so cool about looking at the past and infusing it with the heightened sense of possibility and magic. This one, though, was super hard because I had what happened historically, and I had the magic system and the political system, and then I had Ravenna who is not a historical character, but someone who could plausibly exist. And so my job was to make sure that I made her so she could have existed in this time period. I found the gemstone magic really fit in with Ravenna as a sculptress, and from there it was about assigning each gemstone with a type of property. And writing knowing that there is going to be other standalone’s in this world, I knew that each book could explore a different facet of this magic.

What kind of research did you do for Graceless Heart?

I love research, it’s my favourite part of the whole writing process! I actually got to go to Florence, to walk the same path that Ravenna would have done. I found a sculptor, who was kind enough to invite me into his studio, and he had a commission he was working on and he showed me the tools that Ravenna would have used in the time period. And he was like, I want you to hack at this marble, and I was like, I do not want to break it! But he said do your worst, and so I went at it! I was sweating, trying to hack at this marble bust, and I worked so hard but I was only able to get the smallest little chip from my efforts. But I learned something about Ravenna, because in order to be a sculptress you have got to be so determined, have vision, and be true to the artistic inspiration. And you’re doing the same motion over and over again, your capacity for boredom is so high because you know the payoff is going to be great. Just from doing that little bit of research, that informed me so much of her character. Here’s someone who could literally do whatever it takes to carve a path for herself from one end to the other end of this story. I also ate the same food she would have eaten, went to the gardens and museums, and it was so much fun!

How would you describe the emotional journey readers can expect?

It’s my debut adult, so I would say the emotional arc of this story is very much a slow burn. I really took my time with the story, I wanted people to feel like they were going on that journey with Ravenna, and so it builds and it layers. And I think it was Victoria Schwab that said this and I never forgot it, but especially with a book that has a slower start, you’re learning the chess board. You’re learning all of the different pieces and as you progress in the story, you see the game being played out. But in order to play the game, you’ve got to really understand what everything is for. So I would say, because Graceless Heart has eleven points of view, you have a political background that is rooted with as much historical accuracy as possible, and then you have Ravenna herself who is going through this whole emotional arc, readers can expect to go on that journey, to ride the emotional wave up and down that snippet of her life.

Is there a relationship dynamic in the book that you particularly loved developing?

Yes! It was one that was really hard. Not because it was hard to write, but hard because it made me really sad; the relationship between Ravenna and Antonio, her brother. I have certainly met a lot of men, or boys growing up to be men, who are angry, lost, and who have never learned how to take responsibility or ownership. And because of that, let their anger rule their decision making, which has led them down different paths of pain or heartache for them and their families. I was deeply inspired by that kind of anger, how that might feel and how easily that can be led. And I think that’s what happened to Antonio. You can still love someone ever so much, but they may still be walking down a path that you won’t follow, however you still so badly want them to turn back. So their relationship was hard to explore, and it was definitely the one that gave me the most grief, for sure.

How did you balance the romance and plot in your storytelling?

I wrote a historical fantasy, with a romantic subplot. It’s really tricky, I think, being a woman writing fantasy because right off the bat, I think there’s a tendency to label it as a romantasy. And I love romantasy, I’m an avid reader of romantasy, but that is not what Graceless Heart is. It’s a romantic historical fantasy, so there is going to be a strong plot outside of, and irrespective to, the romance subplot. Making sure that neither of them get lost was such a tricky balance, but it always comes down to characters. It comes down to Ravenna and Saturnino, their wounds, and how they’re handling it. Because we all have something that we’re running from, we all have something we believe is a lie about ourselves. So I was thinking about what is this lie, how does it make them act, what kind of decisions do they make; and that creates a plot. But it also creates a romantic arc, and so the two are running parallel from the beginning of the book to the end.

If you had to describe the book in three words, what would they be?

Cutthroat, magical, and romantic!

What do you hope readers feel when they turn the final page?

I hope that they were taken on an adventure. I hope that they learned something about themselves. I hope that it taught them about a time period that they maybe didn’t know too much about. And I hope that they felt swept off their feet! For any story that I write, I’m very much inspired by the movies I grew up watching, like Braveheart and Gladiator, all of these romantic epics. I love them, and they’re all rooted in some kind of historical time period. I remember watching those movies and feeling completely drawn in, so I just want them to be swept off their feet like that.

Can you tell us anything about your future projects?

Yes! The next is called Witch Dance, and I’m so excited about it! It’s a standalone, with all different characters, however it does have the same magic system. It’s set in a different country, so we’re going someplace new, but again, its set in the renaissance. The main character, her name is Evelina, and she is a doctor but she’s also a witch. There’s actually going to be four books set in the renaissance time period, it’s called The Spellbound Histories Quartet, and each one is going to be about a woman who’s doing a predominantly male profession, and they’re also all witches. So in the first one, Graceless Heart, Ravenna is a sculptress. And in this second one, Evelina is a doctor, a med student at the university, and she gets called away to study a mysterious plague that has broken out it Strasbourg. When she arrives, it’s in quarantine, and she has to figure out why everyone is dancing themselves to death.

What is your favourite thing about the FairyLoot Edition of Graceless Heart?

Oh my gosh, the end pages! The end pages are so beautiful.