Author Interview: Nisha J. Tuli

Get the inside scoop on ‘Storm Breaker’!

Nisha J. Tuli is the author of our May Young Adult ‘Electric Touch’ featured book: Storm Breaker. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

What was the inspiration behind the novel?

I really wanted to write a dystopian! I was a huge fan of the dystopians of the 2010s, you know, The Hunger Games and Divergent era. I gobbled so many of those up in those days! And then, like a year and a half ago, I thought that dystopian might start to have a moment again. My agent told me that Entangled were starting this YA imprint, and I was like yes, I would love to work with them! So I pitched a YA dystopian and they agreed it was about to have its moment again. So it wasn’t anything much deeper than that!

One of the most distinctive elements of Storm Breaker is the storm-based magic system. What drew you to build a magic system around storms?

We wanted to make the world feel dangerous somehow, so we thought about what might be the outcome of mass climate change and a hundred years of war. I thought storm clouds could choke the sky, and the idea was that I didn’t want the magic to be magic in the traditional sense, I wanted it to be more evolutionary and science-based. It’s revealed in the first chapter that our heroine, Poet, is immune from the spark that hits the Earth and kills people. The world she lives in, they kill people like that because people who can commune with the storms eventually become violent and lose their minds. So she can’t let anyone know, and to me that creates the conflict. Yes, she’s privileged in this world, but she’s also not in that respect and has a lot to contend with.

For your many avid fans, how does Storm Breaker differ from your previous works?

In some ways I think it’s similar, in that it’s still very much my voice, and a lot of the elements are the same in how I write. But then, in terms of world building, I found that one of the hardest parts because in the past I have written traditional fantasy. If you’re writing western-based fantasy, a lot of assumptions can be made. Everyone knows what a castle is, you don’t have to explain those things. Whereas with this world, it was completely made up from the bottom up, so I had to establish all the new rules without putting too much of it on the page, because that gets boring to read. So in the end, I think the feeling is the same. I’ve even written contemporary books, too, but I think you can always tell you’re reading one of my books regardless of what the setting is.

Storm Breaker explores a range of themes, from hidden identity and political tensions to self-discovery and belonging. Which theme was your favourite to explore, and why?

I’ve always been a big fan of YA books, even though I am at my ripe age! I think for me, it’s always about the discovery of people growing into themselves. As the mum of a teenager, teenagers can be really selfish and self-absorbed! But one of the fun things about reading YA is that exploration of them realising that the world doesn’t revolve around them, and that there’s all these big things happening. Especially in an environment like this, that’s so dangerous that you’re forced to acknowledge what is going on around you. Even if you’ve been sheltered from it, I think it’s fun when the character’s like hmmm, wait a minute. Things aren’t right here!

You have a knack for creating unforgettable characters! If you had to describe each of your main characters from Storm Breaker in just one word, which words would you choose?

For Poet, I would give her ‘strength’. I think she’s strong in a quiet way. A lot of my female main characters are strong in a louder way, so I really enjoyed writing Poet because it felt quite different. For Rook, I would say ‘noble’, because everyone doesn’t know his full story yet, but they will do very soon! For Domino, who is one of Poet’s friends, I would say ‘loyal’. Journey, I would say ‘brave’ as she’s someone who’s not afraid to speak her mind.

You’re something of an opening-line connoisseur! How do you go about crafting an opening line that immediately captivates readers and draws them into the story?

When I wrote “That b***h took my soap!” for Trial of the Sun Queen, I don’t even know where that came from! I wanted a really memorable opening line, and I was like they’re in prison, so what might p*** her off? Who stole something from her? What might they have? And then with Storm Breaker, I felt the pressure to compete with that! So we open with Knox, who is the fiancé that she doesn’t really like, so I thought something about him smelling like feet seemed like a good, nocuous kind of insult that embodies his character quite well in a single line.

What does your overall writing process look like, and does it differ between books?

I’d say it does a little bit! I’m a hardcore pantser, I cannot plot to save my life, which really sucks when you try to pitch books. When they ask what the plot is and I’m like, I don’t know what’s going to happen yet! I will go in with a high-level sense of the world, the story, who the main character is and who the love interest is, and then I just sit down and write. For me, I need to hear the characters speak, I need to see them interact with each other, all before I really know who they are. I’ll write about 50% of the book really fast, just vomit out a bunch of words, and by then I have a good idea about what the story is. That’s when I go back to the beginning and do it again, and fill in all the pieces that I missed the first time and adjust whatever I need to adjust. And then I just keep writing, until I get to about 80%, which is when I have a really clear idea and know the general ending, so I’ll then go through the whole process again until I get to 100%. That’s what I would call my working draft at that point, and usually the book remains a similar length after that point. I generally work linearly, but I’m actually working on one right now that I’m not writing as linearly as it has got two timelines, so that has really thrown a wrench into how I do things. And there was one book that I did have to stop and sit down and plot, because there was all these story threads from three books so there were all these things that I had to resolve. So, every book is a little different depending on different factors, especially if it’s a first book or a last book!

Given the choice, which would you rather: society or solitude?

I would probably pick solitude!

Is there anything you can tease about the sequel that readers can look forward to?

You will learn more about how the whole world is set up and why it is the way that it is, you’ll learn more about Rook and where he came from, and there will be some reckonings with Poet and her family!

What is your favourite thing about the FairyLoot Exclusive Edition of Storm Breaker?

I love the under jacket. I absolutely love that art of Poet and Rook! The endpapers are gorgeous too, it all is! But I love that art.

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 Nisha J. Tuli thinks everyone needs on their TBR: