After making a name for herself with the fantasy Graceling series, Kristin Cashore has returned to the publishing world five years later with Jane, Unlimited. Cashore published her debut novel, Graceling, in 2007. Appearing on the New York Times Bestseller list, Graceling’s sequels Fire and Bitterblue were published in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
Cashore visited Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books in September and answered questions for the Proconian.
A lot has changed in the five years since you were last promoting the Bitterblue. What do you think has changed in the publishing and book community?
At least in the children’s community, there is just so much more consciousness about the importance of diversity, which is a nice to counterpoint to other changes that have happened in our country during that time. It makes me feel hopeful.
Social media has begun to blur the line between authors and readers. You don’t have social media. What influenced that decision?
I was the sort of person who, if someone wrote to me, I wanted to respond or at least read everything, and it was just taking up my writing time. I would say that the main thing is just the need to protect my time and also protect my brain space, because you can get caught up in what everyone is saying, and it’s not necessarily relevant to trying to write.
At first glance, Jane, Unlimited is very different from Graceling. How did you feel about the departure from the high fantasy genre?
I feel like this seems like much more of a departure to my readers than it does to me. The progression from Graceling to Fire to Bitterblue felt very natural to me. Each book sort of called to me to write the next book, and, once I had finished Bitterblue, I wanted a different sort of challenge. So it’s been really freeing to be able to work on everything else I’ve wanted to work on.
How did you plan Jane, Unlimited?
I sat down, and I plotted for a long time. Each story informs the others, and you can see the other stories happening in the background. I needed five stories that could all fit together but also have primacy. I go to the fabric store and I choose a piece of fabric that looks right for the book, and I put it up on the wall and then I pin index cards to it.
What are you currently reading?
I’m on tour so I have a bunch of audio books that I’ve been listening to, and I just finished Kirsten White’s Now I Rise. I also just finished The Upside of Unrequited, by Becky Albertalli.
