Author Interview with To Be a Fae Legend Author – Tricia Copeland

Welcome to the author interview with Tricia Copeland as she shares with us about her book To Be a Fae Legend (The Realm Chronicles book 3)!

Blurb

Titania may be the only one capable of ending the evil stalking the fae, but staying alive long enough to do it may prove her biggest challenge yet.

Hidden deep in fae lore lies a legend. It holds that there will be One granted the power to end all evil. Titania has come to realize she may be the prophesied One.

An omen of three evils and being wooed by a pack of hungry suitors are only a few of Queen Titania’s stresses. Everything is piling up, and she’s determined to rise to each challenge.

She must harness the gifts bestowed upon her, but time is ticking away, and the best she can manage are a few sparks. Now, there’s a race against time as she’s tasked with choosing a husband while trying to save the world from certain doom.

To Be a Fae Legend, the third book of the Realm Chronicles series, is a treacherous journey into Lower Earth. Enter if you dare risk confrontation with nightmare-ish beasts and dark spirits of the deep.

If you like valiant heroines, you’ll love Tricia Copeland’s electrifying fantasy.

Download To Be a Fae Legend to spiral into a magical world today!

Ready to learn more about To Be a Fae Legend and the author behind it? Keep reading for our interview with author Tricia Copeland!

Greetings and hello author Tricia Copeland! We here at Scribbles are thrilled to be able to have a chat (so to speak) with you about your third installment to the Realm Chronicles series! We’re eager to pick your brain about your characters and how they came to be!

Q: To Be a Fae Legend picks up where To Be a Fae Guardian left off. You left Queen Titania quite heartbroken over losing Holden as he is called back to his kingdom by his king and brother. What was the thought process behind this twist in the storyline?

Author Copeland: It was heartbreaking for me to have Titania lose Holden. Holden’s betrayal, or seeming betrayal, came at a point in the storyline where I needed to highlight the undertones of other monarchs in the realm undermining Titania’s power, psyche, and stability.

That absolutely makes sense. It also drives Titania to really look at the other monarchs more intently. Definitely exposes some for their true colors.

Q: In the initial chapter of To Be a Fae Legend, Queen Titania must attend the wedding of Holden and his bride-to-be, Lily. We have to ask what we’re sure other readers are wondering at this point…what is the deal with Holden? Why won’t he even look at Titania?

Author Copeland: For me, Holden’s actions were very much about him feeling guilty for hurting Titania. He also doesn’t want to risk that people will see that he still has feelings for Titania. He’d pledged his love and life to her and he regretted breaking that promise, regretted hurting Titania.

Q: (a) He is written as being besotted with Lily, but is he really? Were his feelings toward Titania ever really true? Or was it all a ruse?

Author Copeland: Yes, in my mind, Holden’s feelings for Titania were true, but ultimately, he chose his family over her. Holden’s brother wanted an alliance with Lily’s father, King Grabiel of Lindleton, who has one of the largest armies in the realm, and who also holds disdain for Titania.

We have had these burning questions since To Be a Fae Guardian, but they of course, cross over into To Be a Fae Legend with his brief appearance that we’re sure is done to give him a “graceful” exit out of the story. LOL!

Q: Throughout the Realm Chronicles you blend this series with the Kingdom Journals series as well. How difficult was it for you to keep the two series separate while bringing them together in just the right places?

Author Copeland: Titania’s story began as I was writing the final book in the Kingdom Journals series, Kingdom of War. Having written a short story wherein Titania is victorious in her first battle, and needing an army to help the witches in Kingdom of War, it occurred to me that a faerie army would work. The faeries’ purpose is to protect the humans and this aligned with the witches’ goal of stopping Sonia from unleashing centuries old, bitter witch souls into the human realm.

As you know from the first books of the Realm Chronicles, Sonia still lurks about, and after a loss against the witches, has set her sights on Titania. I hated the idea of leaving my Kingdom Journals characters behind and this mutual goal offered me a way to keep developing those characters.

I love fantasies where the fantastical or supernatural beings are in our world but hidden and the interweaving of characters from both series and Titania’s visits to the human realm keeps this element alive in the Realm Chronicles. As Titania intertwined her storyline with the trinity of the witches in Kingdom of War, the idea formed that Titania’s overall story arch would be a quest to rid the realms of Sonia, their mutual target. As this was a pervasive storyline planned from the beginning of the Realm Chronicles, and Kingdom Journals was complete, it wasn’t hard to intertwine the characters and plot lines.

Q: In To Be a Fae Legend you have Queen Titania reluctantly embark on the quest to find a suitable future husband for herself. Why now?

Author Copeland: I knew at some point Titania must wed, and possibly her marriage would need to be one of strategic alliance rather than love. In To be a Fae Legend, they face a situation where it seems Sonia is on the brink of gaining the upper hand. Titania knows she must stop Sonia before that happens. But Titania’s army, although well trained, doesn’t have the numbers to battle what could be massive forces fueled by Sonia’s power. Titania sees the only way to get an army is to marry for one.

Q: (a) How did you decide which fae princes would be the ones to court Queen Titania?

Author Copeland: My decision as to which princes would court Titania were based on the kingdoms they represented, their families, and the drama factor. In courting princes from different kingdoms, we learned more about the fae realm and different practices throughout. Showing her court princes, whose families detested her and/or were rude and insulting, highlighted Titania’s dedication to her people, gave us some fun moments of ick factor, and a chance to see a bit of Titania’s defiant antics.

Q: Titania’s mother continues to be severely catatonic and unresponsive to the world around her. She only shows some reactions when there is a warning that is imperative to be imparted to Titania. Is this to be her fate forever? Or can readers hope for a recovery at some point in the series?

Author Copeland: Titania’s relationship with her mother is both sweet and saddening. I always wish for all the happily-ever-afters for my characters.

Q: Titania, like her three cousins, has magic, but unlike her cousins her magic is blocked. What is the source of Titania’s block? She struggles so much to unlock her magic that readers will begin to question whether she’ll ever be able to access it. Of course, you have a surprise in store so patience pays off.

Author Copeland: I definitely don’t want to give spoilers to any future storylines, but Titania’s inability to connect with her magic stems from several fears. First, her magic has erupted with deadly or near-deadly consequences before, and Titania fears her abilities as much as she craves to harness them. I believe Titania also fears being feared by her subjects and ostracized or shunned by other monarchs.

Q: Throughout To Be a Fae Legend Queen Titania’s usual fire and spunk is toned down. We leaned toward attributing this to her character development and growing maturity. But is this also due in part to her stretching herself so thin?

Author Copeland: That’s a great question. My intent was to show Titania’s maturity and growing awareness of the impact she has on her subjects, family, and goals. But definitely, Titania tended to stay exhausted for much of this book.

We’re definitely a sense of maturity at times from Titania. But for sure we know that readers will see that she is burning the candle from both ends.

Q: Curiosity prompts us to ask, but what exactly is King Luther’s issue with Queen Titania?

Author Copeland: I can’t completely answer what King Luther’s issue is with Titania as this becomes more evident in later books. I do believe he craves her popularity and hates that she is smart, capable, and garnishes admiration of her subjects, and others in the realm, at such a young age.

Okay. LOL! That absolutely makes a lot of sense. Don’t worry readers! It’s true! The darkness behind Luther will be revealed! So just hang in there! It’s worth the wait!

Q: In one particular scene in To Be a Fae Legend you have Titania experience a specific medical emergency that leads to an edge of your seat situation that follows. Our question is this – what triggered the anaphylactic shock? Titania frequently eats strawberries throughout the series, so we can’t see it being that.

Author Copeland: Oh, wow, thanks for asking that question. I thought it abundantly clear, but didn’t realize it wasn’t. The strawberry donut wasn’t made of real strawberry flavor. It was chemically manufactured fake strawberry flavor from the human realm that induced the anaphylactic shock.

Oh! Okay! Thank you for explaining that!

Q: Was there any particular scene or situation in To Be a Fae Legend that was truly challenging for you? Which scene if so, and why that particular one?

Author Copeland: My heart wrenches even thinking of this scene and having read the story, I can imagine you can guess which it is. I still cry when I read the scene near the end of the book. I can’t spoil the ending for any future readers, but oh, my goodness, I put off writing the scene until the very last.

Yes. To avoid any spoilers we won’t say specifically, but that scene…OMG! It definitely had our jaw on the floor and our heart in pieces for Titania.

Q: In the final chapters of To Be a Fae Legend you throw quite the curve ball at readers. You take a relatively docile story and ramp things up to where we’re literally pulled to the edge of our seats. Without dropping any spoilers can you explain your thought process behind these final chapters?

Author Copeland: Titania’s been stretched to her limits trying to work with the witches to limit Sonia’s power, hold her kingdom together, as well as find a husband. This dichotomy, and the fact that this storyline, in theory, protects Titania’s fae, led me to the decision of how to end this book.

Q: (a) Were the situations that play out ultimately essential to the witches goal of freeing Theron from Lower Earth?

Author Copeland: The decision as to how to end this book as eluded to in part one of this question, in part, helped move forward, I believe, the goal of freeing Theron from Lower Earth. It, in part, hoped to provide distraction at a critical time in that project.

Q: To Be a Fae Legend is the third book in the Realm Chronicles series, Titania’s life has been quite the rollercoaster since readers were introduced to her. With the pending release of book five, can readers hope for Titania to finally find happiness?

Author Copeland: Yes, yes, and yes! I love happily-ever-afters and am excited for everyone to experience where Titania’s story leads.

Q: Would you like to take a minute to let our readers know when book five will be released and give them a small exclusive teaser as to what they can expect?

Author Copeland: To be a Fae, the final book of the Realm Chronicles series, releases July 29. It’s a long book, my longest yet, and there’ll be lots of action, deceit, bargaining, and some fun new players in the game!

Author Tricia Copeland, we appreciate you taking the time to share with us here at Scribbles and our readers about your third installment in your Realm Chronicles series, To Be a Fae Legend. We look forward to reading the rest of this series and seeing what happens next for some of our favorite YA fantasy characters! Thank you so much for your time today!

Author Copeland: Thank you so much for having me, I can’t wait to hear what you think of the rest of the series.

We enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to read and review To Be a Fae Legend, and you can check out the review here.

About the Author:

Tricia Copeland is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of Kingdom of Embers, To be Fae Queen, Lovelock Ones, and Azreya, Aztec Priestess, and dozens of other titles. She is the host of the Finding the Magic Book Podcast who weaves magical stories about love, courage, and finding your passion.

Tricia Copeland believes in finding magic. She thinks magic infuses every aspect of our lives, whether it is the magic of falling in love, discovering a new passion, seeing a beautiful sunset, or reading a book that transports us to another world. An avid runner and Georgia native, Tricia now lives with her family and four-legged friends in Colorado. Find all her titles including contemporary romance, now penned under Maria Jane, young adult fantasy, and dystopian fiction at www.triciacopeland.com.