CHANTRESS FURY is the final novel in the Chantress trilogy by Amy Butler Greenfield, and we’re excited to have her stop by to chat about writing.

Amy, how long did you work on CHANTRESS FURY?

I had to write CHANTRESS FURY in less than a year – a real challenge for a slow writer like me! I’m a big believer in doing multiple drafts, so I gave myself three months to get a first draft down. It was a very stressful time, but I’m glad I did it that way. It gave me plenty of opportunity to revise, and that meant I wasn’t afraid of making big changes. With each draft the story got stronger.

What did this book teach you about writing or about yourself?

It taught me that I really can write fast! It helped that I first did an outline and scene notecards in Scrivener. Sometimes as I wrote I’d come up with a new plot twist, and I’d need to change my outline, but when I sat down every day I had a pretty good idea of where I was going. The outline also served as an early warning system: I could see pretty quickly whether new plot twists would work, or whether they were going to lead to a big mess later on. I kept track of my daily word count and set weekly word quotas, and I tried not to get bogged down in line-edits. “Write now. Fix it later” became my mantra.

What’s your writing ritual like? Do you listen to music? Work at home or at a coffee shop or the library, etc?

I usually start by writing in my logbook. It’s where I jot down ideas and worries about my WIP, where I let myself grumble or celebrate, and where I settle on that day’s writing goal: to flesh out a scene, sharpen a conflict, or fast-draft a chapter.  I make a new log for each book, and it’s probably the most indispensable part of my writer’s toolkit. A timer is another essential, and tea and chocolate make the process easier.

What advice would you most like to pass along to other writers?

Thanks to the internet, we’re awash in information about publishing trends – who’s buying, what’s hot, what’s not. That’s really useful when it comes to selling a book, but try not to pay too much attention to buzz when you’re writing! If your WIP is bang on trend, that’s great, but the best books often break the mold. Write what you love. Write the book that’s truly yours, the one no one else in the world could write. That’s the book we need most.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Chantress Fury
by Amy Butler Greenfield
Hardcover
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 5/19/2015

The sea is coming. We are coming. And we will drown you all.

With a song, Lucy can control the wind and the water; she can bring castles and kingdoms to their feet. Since Lucy mastered her powers, King Henry has kept her close as he’s rebuilt England. She’s his best ally—and his workhorse. And now he’s called her to investigate attempted murder: His men claim they were almost killed on the Thames…by a mermaid. All Lucy can glean from the creature they’ve captured is a warning: The sea is coming. We are coming. And we will drown you all.

And then the floods begin. Swaths of London are submerged as the people scramble to defend themselves against the water—and the monsters—that are flooding their streets. As mistrust of Lucy’s magic grows, the king relies on Nat, Lucy’s great love, to guide them through the storm. But Nat is cold and distant to Lucy. He swore his love only a year before, and now he calls her “stranger.”

Lucy is determined to defeat this powerful new magic alone if she must. But then she hears an eerie song within the water…can it mean that she’s not the last Chantress after all?

Sweepingly romantic and crackling with magic, Chantress Fury triumphantly concludes the powerful Chantress trilogy.

Purchase Chantress Fury at Amazon
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Butler Greenfield was a grad student in history when she gave into temptation and became a writer. Since then, she has become an award-winning author.

Amy grew up in the Adirondack Mountains and later studied history at Williams College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Oxford. She now lives with her family in England, where she writes, bakes double-dark-chocolate cake, and plots mischief.