Author Interview: Jordan Stephanie Gray

Get the inside scoop on ‘The Wicked Sea’!

Jordan Stephanie Gray is the author of our March Romantasy ‘Part of Your World’ featured book: The Wicked Sea. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

What was the initial spark or idea that led to The Wicked Sea?

I’ve just been obsessed with mermaids forever! After I had finished writing the first draft of Bitten, I was like oh wait, I can write other books about other things! Immediately, I knew I had to write about mermaids, there was no question. And then that weekend, I happened to go see The Mummy in theatres with my son and one of his friends, and that made me want to write an adventure! So that’s how that came to be.

What makes the world of The Wicked Sea unique compared to other fantasy settings?

Not to put myself down too much, but I think that The Wicked Sea’s strength is also maybe its weakness, in that I think other fantasy worlds are so epic and so built out with so much intention behind them. I tried to do that with Bitten, but with The Wicked Sea, I decided I was just going to write the world as I write the characters and the story, and let it fill itself out. So I think there got to be a lot of whimsy that came into the world through that, because if I want to write an island with trees that can kill you, then I’m going to write an island with trees that can kill you! It unravelled in a really light fantasy sense; it’s not hard magic, it’s more of a loose magic system. And I really loved that and I had the best time writing it!

The sea plays such a central role in the book. What drew you to writing a story set around it?

First of all, I live in Florida, and I’ve always lived on the coast. Not right on the beach, but always only 15-20 minutes away from it. I just think when you live near the ocean, you think about what’s in there and it’s so magical. And I have always daydreamed about mermaids, to the point where it’s a running joke in my family! My son is like an eighty-year-old man inside, and when he was about 5 I would tell him there’s mermaids at the beach, and he would just be like mermaids aren’t real, mother! Whereas I’ve always liked the ‘what if’ of the ocean, as it’s very beautiful and it’s very deadly, and we don’t know what’s inside it!

Which character challenged you the most during the writing process?

I wrote the first draft, finished it, sent it in, and then went that book sucked! So I had to completely re-write it from scratch, and I believe the FairyLoot edition has a little hint about what the first chapter used to be in the back of it! But one of the things I really had to work on in that re-write was Arion, and figuring out the balance of his character, because one of his plot lines originally was that during the warlock trials, he set his mother and sister on fire! I got rid of that because it didn’t feel like we could still be sympathetic of a man who did that, and I feel like I found the heart of him actually in between my first draft and my re-write. I went on a huge binge as it’s a heist book and an adventure book, so I went and watched every adventure movie, every James Gunn superhero movie, and all of the Christian Bale Batman’s, and I was like oh, Arion is Batman and Mortia is Gotham, why didn’t I piece it together?!

Can you tell us a bit about what kind of journey, emotionally or physically, the main characters go on?

I think the heart of The Wicked Sea, even though it’s a whacky adventure to me, is that it’s about two survivors. Regardless of if they consider themselves survivors at the beginning of the book, they’re both trying to find their way to individual freedoms, and I think that’s actually true for all the characters. I wanted to make sure everybody had a reason for the things they were doing, and I think it always comes back to trauma, and how we grow from it or escape it. For me, Zephyra and Arion try to climb their way out of that hole, and they do not think that they need each other to do that, but I think being together has forced them to confront their pasts.

What role does trust, or lack of it, play in the book?

The Wicked Sea starts off on the first page with somebody saying that the story has been written on purpose, and that the names have not been changed and to not trust anyone. And I wanted to start it that way because I wanted readers to know from the start that these are maybe not characters that you should like. They are not good people at the start, and maybe not even at the end, depending on your perspective. For me, a quintessential element, the best part of any heist or adventure, is when the allegiances shift, but you don’t know that they’ve shifted or that they have been the whole time. I think it’s in Pirates of the Caribbean constantly, but definitely in the second or third one, that they’re just constantly switching and betraying each other, and that’s so much fun. And in Ocean’s 11 and Six of Crows, so I just knew I wanted that in the story. And it’s important because we’re already dealing with anti-heroes, or villains, if we want to call them that, so why would they want to trust each other? We start with Zephyra betraying her closest friends; don’t trust anybody!

How did writing The Wicked Sea differ from your previous book?

Bitten was written so quickly! As soon as I knew the story, had the first flash on an idea, I was like I have to write this right now! I think it took me thee weeks for the first draft, obviously before revisions. And then with The Wicked Sea, it was a little bit harder to process, and I think that was because I was going from paranormal, contemporary fantasy, to epic fantasy. That is also probably why I decided to let the world building happen as I was writing. So it was a different experience, and I think the stories themselves are mirrors of each other; The Wicked Sea’s ending is the exact opposite of Bitten. Bitten is like my hopeless story, full of hopeful characters. It’s a really grim story but they’re YA characters and still filled with go-get-them attitudes. Whereas The Wicked Sea is a hopeful story full of whacky shenanigans, but with hopeless characters! They are ingrained in their villainy and have not changed for a while.

Even though this is a book with high stakes and lots of tension, there’s so much hilarious banter! Was that a decision you consciously made from the beginning, or did it naturally evolve as you got to know Zephyra and Arion more?

I am somebody who naturally writes banter in everything. I think because when I talk to my friends we’re always joking around; there’s not really any serious moments, as those are reserved for special times. But with Zephyra and Arion especially, the second they were on the page together I was like oh my gosh, they’re two complete opposites! They hate each other so much, they’ve tried to kill each other, they have no reservations about morals or ethics, and so naturally their banter just flowed. And it flowed so much that one of my editors said there was a lot of banter and to consider toning it down. And I was like, I can’t!

If The Wicked Sea had a vibe or aesthetic, how would you describe it?

Wait a minute, I need to grab the book…This is the aesthetic! FairyLoot did the best job in the world! When I saw the cover for this book, I went holy cr*p, that’s her, how did they do that?! It glimmers and shines, and the artwork inside! And the colours, they’re like pastel but they’re still bright. It’s just everything I imagined when I was writing the book. I wanted to write a feminine-centric mermaid fantasy story, I didn’t want to do dark sirens. I know that the tones are dark, but I didn’t want we-eat-people’s-hearts-in-the-sea vibes or for it to be dark and stormy. For Florida, that’s not what you get at the beach, so I wanted to write the Barbie experience of it all. Like she’s got pink hair and a turquoise tail, so the FairyLoot aesthetic is perfect! And I love the sword on the edge; there’s a feeling of danger but it’s still so beautiful.

How would you describe the balance between hope and darkness in the story?

It was a really fine line to walk. Because as a survivor of abuse, though not as much as what Zephyra goes through, there are a lot of times where you’re hopeless. And there are a lot of times when you don’t see a light. I think Zephyra, when we find her, is kind of in a place where she sees no good in the world and can’t trust anyone. I think her and Arion’s motto is not for anyone and not for anything, and you can see that change as we go through the story, how that becomes a different saying all together. But, it was hard to balance the hope with that, and so I think the banter really helped anchor the story and give it levity in that way. We start the book in such a dark, internal place for both Arion and Zephyra, and then of course because they meet each other they start to feel like maybe there is hope that there is more than just survival.

Is there anything you can tell us about the sequel?

Oh my gosh! So I’ve started to write it, and I’m having so much fun! There is so much banter, and I will say, that the final word of The Wicked Sea is very important for what’s coming in book two. We are on a crazy adventure, much more crazy than book one!

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Have you ever wondered which books your favourite author thinks are an absolute must read? Well, wonder no more! Here are four books Jordan Stephanie Gray thinks everyone needs on their TBR: