Author Interview: Stacia Stark

Get the inside scoop on ‘We Who Will Die’!

Stacia Stark is the author of our December Romantasy ‘Betray Me Again’ featured book: We Who Will Die. Read on to get the inside scoop from inspiration to favourite scenes and more!

Can you give us three words to describe We Who Will Die?

Brutal, tension-filled, and survival!

We Who Will Die blends a ruthless Roman-inspired world with bloodthirsty vampires! What was the inspiration for this unique setting?

I studied classics in high school and I was really interested in ancient Rome. The brutality of the world and the fact that there were gladiators at all was just mind-boggling to me! And then in my mid 20s I was in Rome, stood in the Colosseum, and that was really one of those pinch me moments! I remember thinking wow, what was it like to walk in here? I think I just tucked all of that away, let it simmer, and didn’t know whether it would ever become anything until I was finishing up my Kingdom of Lies series. Then, I could dedicate the time to start writing it.

Did creating a world inspired by Romans and gladiators require any further research?

Yes! So I actually went old school and bought a lot of books about ancient Rome and the gladiators — I’ve got a good couple of bookshelves in my office devoted to it! I was by no means reading them cover to cover, but I was flicking through and finding stories and anecdotes and parts of history that I wanted to include. I always say that We Who Will Die is not a historical fantasy, but there were a few things that I wanted to touch on and a few things that I wanted to put my own twist on.

We loved your magic system! How did you come up with the idea for tiered sigilmarked individuals and voidborns living amongst vampires?

I think most of my world-building tends to come to me from a question. So I was wondering what would happen if we could see how powerful someone was, and how that would that shape society. And I thought, what better way than to have it literally stamped on your forehead so there’s no escaping it?! And so that’s where the idea came from.

The Sundering is an arena where the fastest, strongest, and deadliest compete for the emperors elite guard. Do you think you’d survive, and why? 

No! I’m pretty sneaky, I can be ruthless, and if it was more like teams where I could try and manipulate people and even make some friends, then maybe! But with the one-on-one, I’d be useless!

We Who Will Die includes a variety of fantasy creatures known as the Maginari. Did you always know you wanted to write about magical creatures and did you have to do any research to include them?

I’ve included magical creatures before in some of my other works and I do really love it. And similar to how I went about the Roman-inspired world, I love to take parts of mythology or lore and twist it in ways that are unique.

There are so many amazing characters in We Who Will Die! Who was your favourite to develop and write?

My favourite major character to write would be Arvelle, as I spent so much time with her and everything comes from her narration. But I did also really love writing Maeva as she is an interesting character when you compare her to Arvelle. She’s also had a tough life in different ways, but even though she’s the sunny, sunshine character, she’s open about the fact that she wants friendship and she’s got good boundaries. She’s not going to let characters treat her in ways she doesn’t accept. That’s one thing I really enjoy writing — a good female friendship. Women are complicated, friendship is complicated, and I like to play with that.

The story explores the theme of grief. What do you hope readers will take away from this?

I’m by no means an expert in grief and loss, but I tried to do my best in communicating that to the reader. It’s hard because no one’s grief journey is the same, but I think it’s good to see how different people handle it. And initially Arvelle handles it by locking herself away and closing herself off. And we see how that means she hasn’t been able to mourn because she has this guilt that goes hand-in-hand with it, too. It is easy to say, but I would hope that anyone going through any kind of grief will take from this that it’s okay to lean on those around them and to take a helping hand if it is offered out to them.

You have written a lot of series! How has your writing process evolved?

It’s funny because whilst I think some things have evolved, at the same time, every time I write a book it feels like I’ve never written a book before! A lot of my friends have said you think we would get better at this, and we probably are, but in the moment it really feels like it’s the first time, every time! Every single time, I will get to this point where I’m convinced it’s the worst thing I have ever written, and yet I’m still always surprised by it.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

There are a few things! I hear that it’s common for a lot of aspiring authors to write the same book over and over again. It’s usually what they would like the be their debut, and they rewrite and edit over and over, and some people will do it for years! And my biggest advice for those people is to put it aside and start something else. Quite often, it’s not your very first book to be the one published, but you can always go back to that once you have published! It may be a project that you pull out, and with fresh eyes, can see what’s not working. Another piece of advice I would give is to read widely, not only in the genre you want to write in but also outside of that. And, one of the reasons it took me so long to get started was that I was comparing my sh***y first drafts to polished, New York Times best-sellers and coming up very deficient and disheartened! So don’t compare your work to others, and don’t give up!

We are so excited for book two! Are you able to share anything about the second instalment?

So I’m currently doing developmental edits! I find the early developmental edits one of the tougher aspects because its like doing a puzzle where you’re changing things around to fit better and then everything changes off the back of that. So the story is pretty much there but some of the surrounding parts will change. But what I can say is things will get a little darker, but there’s also some lighter moments in there, too!

What is your favourite thing about the FairyLoot Edition of We Who Will Die?

It’s so pretty that it’s hard to pick one! But the character art is amazing, and I really like the hardcover underneath. She’s so pretty naked! It’s such a gorgeous edition, and everyone who has it is so chuffed with it!