Author Interview: Lindsey Olsson

Get the inside scoop on ‘To Drown a Witch’!

Lindsey Olsson is the author of our August Young Adult ‘The Hunter’s Kiss’ featured book: To Drown a Witch. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

What sparked the idea of one true witch who is hunted, only to be reborn every time they’re killed?

It was kind of random for me to want to write a story about a witch hunt and witches. But when I was doing so, I was thinking about how when you usually think about witches, you think about them as a collective, as a group. There’s never just one, it’s always a coven of witches or a family of them. So I thought, what would a world look like if there was just one? What if only one person had that magic, how would people view them? Naturally, I thought they would probably be persecuted!

Which key themes can readers expect, and which was your favourite to write?

I think the biggest theme in the book is trust. Nes and Toran aren’t really allies at first, he kind of forces her to work with him, so they have to build a trust with each other. And then also, you don’t know who the witch is which makes you question who to trust. That was kind of hard to write at times, but another theme that I think is probably my favourite is grief… I don’t know what that says about me! Grief is pretty strong in To Drown a Witch, especially in Toran’s point of view. Before writing this, I was writing a contemporary YA novel that got scrapped, but that had a lot to do with grief so I wanted to pull some of that into this. I wanted to look at what do you do when people put limits on your own grief — like you’re not ready to move on, but other people are telling you that you need to. That’s part of how Toran’s story evolves.

What was your process when creating Gadore? Did the city come first, or the magic system?

I would say it was the magic system that came first. The concept of To Drown a Witch really started with the idea of magic being in the trees. I was really intrigued by that and wanted to figure out how it would work — what would people do with that? If they didn’t have it, then they would probably harvest it. From there, the rest of the world became a thing! I personally love maps, so I made my own map and have all sorts of things for Gadore and the world surrounding it. It was a lot of fun coming up with names of places and trying to figure out little things, like what way the river would flow and stuff like that.

Magic is forbidden and volatile, yet people dilute it with seawater for a taste of power. What drew you to this and did it change from your initial idea?

I don’t think it changed much from my original idea. I always wanted people to have to gather it to use it themselves, and kind of like a drug, that they would sometimes abuse it as well. And with it being forbidden, it was quite natural for me to think the people who are down on their luck will be likely to use it to get higher up and to make their lives better. You always think, if only I could do this, or, if only I could use that. So that’s how I went about writing about the people of Gadore and how they see magic. Like yes, it’s illegal and it’s dangerous, but a lot of times people are willing to take that risk.

If you ingested magic, what power would you like to manifest?

I would love to manifest to ability to shape-shift in some way! I think that is just the coolest idea, and if I could, every fantasy novel I ever write would have shape-shifters in it. There’s just so many possibilities when you have someone who can change their face or their full form entirely — it can just lead to so many different stories!

Nes is a thief, but her main motivation is rescuing her dad. What does this tell us about who she is deep down?

Kind of similar to what I said about the people of Gadore, they’ll do what they have to in order to survive. And Nes is very much like that, but it’s really only what she has to do. She doesn’t want to be doing this or living this life in Gadore. She grew up just travelling the continent alongside her father, and what she wants most in life is to return to that. She has the happiest memories from those times and her father took care of her, so she wants to break him out of prison as she’s loyal to him.

If Nes had a motto, what do you think it would be?

“Don’t cross me!”

The banter between Nes and Toran kept us giggling throughout! What is the key ingredient to humour that feels natural yet exciting?

I think you really have to stay true to the character of whoever’s point of view you’re in. I’m thinking of a certain chapter in particular that I actually annotated for the FairyLoot edition. You get each of their points of view, and for that I was really caught up in what is it that each of these characters would notice about the other person when they’re stuck in a room with them. Thinking about what Nes would think about Toran’s posture or what he is saying really helped me make what she says back to him really authentic, and in some cases, also humorous. In this specific chapter, they are kind of pitted against each other and each trying to one-up the other person. I think that was what made it a lot of fun to write, and I hope a lot of fun to read!

The witch hunt is wrapped in mystery. How did you know when to reveal secrets and when to leave clues for the reader?

Honestly, at first I didn’t! To Drown a Witch went through many, many drafts. In one instance, moving from one draft to another was me trying to figure out where each of the plot points needs to fall to make the most sense logically for the mystery. I hadn’t written much mystery before this, it was always just contemporary or adventure fantasy really, so I was a little out of my element. I needed help with that for sure, I had some great beta readers who really helped me and my editor was fantastic when she got her hands on it. We made sure all the plot points lined up, and from there it worked out much better!

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

I think my biggest advice would be to just keep at it. For me, it was a really long journey, like, really long! There’s going to be people that tell you to do something else, or leave it as a hobby as it’s so hard to break into the publishing world. But, if it’s really what you love to do, don’t listen to them! Keep at it, keep writing, and if you want to find an agent, keep querying. There’s tonnes of people out there, it’s just a matter of finding the right person who is going to support you.

What is your favourite thing about the FairyLoot Exclusive Edition of To Drown a Witch?

Oh, that is a really tough question! It’s so gorgeous and I love how it’s been put together so beautifully. I would say, I think the naked cover is probably my favourite. I just love the gold foil and it feels a little ethereal to me!

Author Recommends

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