Today, Olivia is chatting with author Soman Chainani about A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES, the sequel to his critically-acclaimed “School for Good & Evil”. Check it out!
Sophie and Agatha are home, living out their Ever After. But life isn’t quite the fairy tale they expected.
When Agatha secretly wishes she’d chosen a different happy ending, she reopens the gates to the School for Good and Evil. But the world she and Sophie once knew has changed.
Witches and princesses, warlocks and princes are no longer enemies. New bonds are forming; old bonds are being shattered. But underneath this uneasy arrangement, a war is brewing and a dangerous enemy rises. As Agatha and Sophie battle to restore peace, an unexpected threat could destroy everything, and everyone, they love—and this time, it comes from within.
Olivia with YA-Mag: Soman, welcome to the Young Adult Magazine! Thank you for joining me today to talk about A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES!
Soman Chainani: My pleasure. I’m currently on this whirlwind tour around the world taking the book to kids and teens, so it’s perfect timing to talk about Book 2.
YA: Sound like it! Then let’s talk about Agatha and Sophie. How did you two first meet? What makes Agatha and Sophie the perfect characters to tell this story?
SC: I definitely heard Sophie’s voice first — that kind of breathy, bawdy intonation that lent itself to narcissistic arias and high comedy. Agatha’s came soon after as the perfect counterpart — throaty, sharp, and snorty. As time went on, Agatha’s voice became the one I heard more and more clearly, which is fortunate, since she’s the heart and soul of the story.
I think what’s resonated with readers is that Agatha isn’t flawless. She makes mistakes like all of us — at first she’s borderline antisocial, then discovers love, but ends up going too far and nearly loses her identity as a result. She’s just a funnier, sassier version of the girl we all know (and perhaps are) — the girl who loved her best friend growing up so much… until she found a boy. Then she gave too much of her heart to the boy… until she rediscovered her best friend. And on and on that cycle goes…
YA: What sets Agatha’s story apart from other YA fairytales, like THE LUNAR CHRONICLES by Marissa Meyer? What will readers find that isn’t anywhere else?
SC: Agatha isn’t a trustworthy hero — and that’s what makes her special. I grew increasingly bored of books where the hero always made the right decision or always seemed to do what was ‘right.’ In Agatha’s case, she’s caught between her best friend and a prince. There is no right answer, is there? She’s just going to muddle through and we’ll all learn from her flips and fumbles, rather than simply track an easy trajectory from unhappiness to happiness. Ultimately, then, what makes Agatha so different is that she fails at times in spectacular and dramatic ways. The question isn’t whether she succeeds in the end… but what does she learn?
YA: What non-book influences (films, television shows, music, plays, etc) helped spark this story or your writing career in general?
SC: Wow — my entire life comes into play when writing a novel. But I’d say the most important influences outside of books come from all the great new TV series that reveal just how much depth and complexity an audience demands from a long-form story these days. I love shows like The Killing, House of Cards, and Game of Thrones, etc. But the obvious influences are the Disney animated films that show up most in SGE. You can see the homages all over the place.
YA: When you were a teen, what was your favorite book (YA or otherwise)? Now that you’re an author for teens, what is your favorite contemporary YA?
SC: As a teenager, I was obsessed with Anne Rice — particularly Interview with a Vampire. Now that I write for teens, I think Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go and Andrew Smith’s Winger are two of my favorites.
YA: What is the story behind the title A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES?
SC: I had it at exactly the same time as I came up with THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL. I remember writing it down… “Book 2: A World Without Princes.” My brain clearly had the series worked out in my subconscious — because the title was waiting for me all along.
YA: This is the second book in the SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL series. In what way are the stakes raised in this installment? What new challenges await Agatha and Sophie after this?
SC: The world has changed now, moving from Good and Evil into Boys versus Girls. So it’s the ultimate battle of the sexes — only just like in Book 1, where you couldn’t trust what was Good or Evil, now you can’t trust what’s a Boy or Girl. And if you think that sounds like controversy and trouble, you’re probably right.
Agatha is getting closer to having to decide who she’s going to spend the rest of her life with — Sophie or Tedros. Only the choice isn’t as easy as she thinks, and the path to either is fraught with obstacles.
YA: The first novel was optioned for film by Universal. If YOU could cast the Dream Film of A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES, who would you cast?
SC: That’s always a tough one, because the moment I state an actor, if we don’t use that actor, it makes the one we use look like a disappointment. Let’s just say I’m confident Universal will get the perfect cast for the SGE films, and I’ll give them my best ideas along the way.
YA: What’s up next for you in YA land? Any pet projects you can tease us about?
SC: Book 3 of SGE, the final volume in the trilogy, comes out in October 2015. Then I’m going to write a small young adult novel, which I’ll direct the film adaptation of. Then I’ll likely do another big, high-concept book series after that. That’s the grand plan at the moment.
YA: All right, last one! If you could spend one day with Agatha and Sophie, what would you do together? What would advice would you give to each about her past or future?
SC: Such a great question. If I could have one day with Agatha and Sophie, I think we’d go to a water park. I think Sophie would be a gas, wearing some skimpy bikini flirting with anything that even looks like a boy. And Agatha would need a lesson in how to wear a swimsuit without hiding in bushes.
As for the future, I’d tell Sophie to try to stay in the present and feel her ‘true’ self. She’s often so busy living in the past or future that she can’t find herself in the ‘now.’
I’d tell Agatha to not be afraid to make mistakes — to love her mistakes, in fact. It’s the key to finding her Happily Ever After.
YA: Thank you very much, Soman! And again, from YA Mag, congratulations on A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES! I know we’re all eagerly awaiting Book 3 and the thrilling close to Agatha and Sophie’s storybook!
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Readers, be sure to check out Soman Chainani at www.SomanChainani.net. Or follow him on Twitter @SomanChainani.
A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES, published by HarperCollins, is now available at your favorite retailers and local independent bookstores!
Olivia Hennis is a transplanted New England girl dropped by a tornado into the magical Land of Jersey. For more info, follow her on Twitter @OliviaHennis.