J. Lynn Else
asked
Intisar Khanani:
What was your favorite book as a child? Has that book in any way influenced your writing today?
Intisar Khanani
As a child and young adult, I was an inveterate bookworm. It's hard to say what books I loved a kid--I'm pretty sure I read the first few Little House books repeatedly, as well as "Ralph S. Mouse" and "The Mouse and the Motorcycle," but those were very much in my elementary years and I suspect just fed my love of good stories.
In sixth grade I discovered Robin McKinley's "The Hero and The Crown" and "The Blue Sword" in my school's library (in Saudi Arabia, no less). This was definitely a pivotal time for me--awesome girls wielding swords and magic and saving the day? Sign me up! I quickly found the only other such books in our library--Tamora Pierce's Lioness Quartet and a smattering of works by Anne McCaffery. Between those three authors, my love of fantasy was born. While I read widely in our little library, I came back to McKinley many times. This timeframe also saw my first stories written as well--all, curiously enough, featuring strong girls, magic, and (ha!) dragons. I've gotten slightly less dragon-obsessed as I've aged, but the remaining two aspects of my writing have remained unchanged...
In sixth grade I discovered Robin McKinley's "The Hero and The Crown" and "The Blue Sword" in my school's library (in Saudi Arabia, no less). This was definitely a pivotal time for me--awesome girls wielding swords and magic and saving the day? Sign me up! I quickly found the only other such books in our library--Tamora Pierce's Lioness Quartet and a smattering of works by Anne McCaffery. Between those three authors, my love of fantasy was born. While I read widely in our little library, I came back to McKinley many times. This timeframe also saw my first stories written as well--all, curiously enough, featuring strong girls, magic, and (ha!) dragons. I've gotten slightly less dragon-obsessed as I've aged, but the remaining two aspects of my writing have remained unchanged...
More Answered Questions
Esther Jenny
asked
Intisar Khanani:
Hello! First, I just have to say that i found Thorn at the book store because it just SPOKE TO ME, like magic, i have no idea how i picked it from 100s of other books with no idea what it would be about and found out it was a retelling of one of my favourite tales, so obviously i had to read it. I wanted to know if the next book in the dauntless path also had some fairy tale inspirations in it?
Carla
asked
Intisar Khanani:
Dear Ms. Khanani, I know that in 2013 you were about halfway through a draft of Memories of Ash and were figuring on an early 2014 release, but now I see that it's been postponed to an indefinite 2015 and it's got me a little scared. You are still writing it, aren't you? Stories are my greatest love, and I would be so sad not to find out what happens to Hitomi and company. Thanks muchly. Please keep storytelling.
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