Fantasy Five Friday: Interview With Marissa Burt

I am very excited to have Marissa Burt with us here for another Fantasy Five Friday! Welcome Marissa.

Marissa is the author of Storybound. She now lives in the Seattle area. You can find her on the web at her website, Goodreads, and Twitter. And like Storybound on Facebook!

Could you give us the one sentence pitch of your book?

Sure! Shy, twelve-year-old Una Fairchild is suddenly transported by a mysterious book into the Land of Story, where characters from books train to be cast into a Tale of their own, and Una attends the Perrault Academy while trying to discover who has Written her In and why.

Since you have a fantasy novel coming out, the next question I obviously have to ask is: If you were a fantastical creature, which would you be?

Hmmm. The middle-grade me would say without hesitation...a talking cat. Nowadays, I think I would choose to be a human in a fantasy world, but I'd want to have some sort of magical powers. I'd love to be a sword master or a brave warrior - courageous characters are my favorite! And flying capacities that don't involve getting on an airplane wouldn't hurt either - haha! Fantasy me would definitely have a pet dragon.

Do you have a favorite fantasy read?

Lots of them! The first fantasy I read might have been TAILCHASER'S SONG, by: Tad Williams (hence, the aforementioned desire to be a cat). I still read THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy annually, so I should probably mention that, and I'm a sucker for George R. R. Martin and Robert Jordan's epic tales.

Generally speaking, which comes first: the world, the characters, or the plot?

For STORYBOUND, the world came first. Whenever I read a beloved book, I'm always so sad when the story ends, and I imagine the characters going on about their lives - without being spied on by nosy readers. So I wrote a story about a girl falling into that world. Plot follows hard on the heels of an interesting character being thrown into an enchanting world.

They are always coming out with new editions of board games. If your book could be a special edition of any board game, which would you choose?

What a question! If Alison Klapthor and Brandon Dorman (the two artists who worked on STORYBOUND'S cover) were involved, I'd love to see something graphically rich like a fabulous Monopoly edition (a game I despise) or an epic puzzle (I love puzzles!). But for a playable game, I'd want a special edition Settlers of Catan, and we could have fairy tale villains and heroes fighting over Story's resources. How fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by Marissa! Marissa's book Storybound came out April 3. Here's a bit about the book:

In the land of Story, children go to school to learn to be characters: a perfect Hero, a trusty Sidekick, even the most dastardly Villain. They take classes on Outdoor Experiential Questing and Backstory, while adults search for full-time character work in stories written just for them.

In our world, twelve-year-old Una Fairchild has always felt invisible. But all that changes when she stumbles upon a mysterious book buried deep in the basement of her school library, opens the cover, and suddenly finds herself transported to the magical land of Story.

But Story is not a perfect fairy tale. Una’s new friend Peter warns her about the grave danger she could face if anyone discovers her true identity. The devious Tale Keeper watches her every move. And there are whispers of a deadly secret that seems to revolve around Una herself....

With the timeless appeal of books like A Wrinkle in Time and the breathtaking action of Inkheart, Storybound has all the makings of a new classic. Brimming with fantastical creatures, magical adventure, and heart-stopping twists, Storybound will leave readers wishing they too could jump through the pages into this enchanting fairy-tale world.

Buy Storybound: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository