Hypable speaks with debut Australian author Skye Melki-Wegner about her debut novel Chasing the Valley, which may well be the start of the next big dystopian sci-fi/fantasy series.

Exclusive interview: Skye Melki-Wegner

Tell us 5 interesting facts about yourself

1. I am 23 years old.

2. I have a dog called Oscar, and he is named after Oscar Wilde. I actually wanted to call him Bunbury from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, but I was outvoted.

3. My favourite food is raspberries, I am addicted to raspberries.

4. If I could choose any superpower, it would be flying.

5. When I was a kid, in the lead up to my 11th birthday, a small part of me secretly hoped I might get a Hogwarts letter.

Tell us about your journey to be a writer

It’s not the most original story. I am one of those kids who always wanted to be a writer, from when I was very young. My parents were both teachers so they fostered a love of literature in me from a very young age. I started writing really awful poems when I was about 4 or 5 about fairies and unicorns and the like – so that was my fantasy love coming up early.

By the time I hit high school, I was writing longer stories, and by the time I went to uni, I was writing two or three full length fantasy manuscripts a year. When I was about 20 or 21, one of the stories I wrote was Chasing the Valley, and my agent happily managed to sell it last year to Random House, and that is how this came about.

There is an abundance of dystopian YA novels at the moment – why were you drawn to writing this story?

When I wrote the story, it was a few years ago, and it was a tiny bit before the massive dystopian craze. I didn’t realise I would be jumping in headfirst with this amount of competition, it was unfortunate timing. I have always tended to write fantasy set in quasi-dystopian worlds. Maybe it’s my natural cynicism or something. I think also, it was what I was raised on – Terry Pratchett, and fantasy writers who looked at the world with a slightly cynical eye.

There’s a kind of satirical look at human society, so I think I just took that to the extreme, and designed, not the perfect Tolkien-esque Shire, I like to look at the darker, grittier side, plonk in some magic, and here we go.

You made magic almost a negative aspect in this story

Well one of the first things I always do when I am designing a magic system, before I start writing a story, is I like to look at its limitations and its potential ramifications, that aren’t all just positive sunshine and fairies. Because personally, I find it a little boring to write when you have all powerful characters who can do all this amazing magic, and there is never any real repercussions.

I prefer to put limitations on my characters, just so I can dump them into more dangerous situations, and ramp up the tension. I think it is partially a plotting device – I like to create really dangerous situations, so if magic is a dangerous element in a society then it can lead to more possibilities for interesting plot twists and the like.

When reading it, it felt like half-dystopian, and half-travelogue, or road trip. Did you approach the different sections in a different manner?

I do write a lot of journeys in my stories. I feel that it feels really naturally into the hero’s journey and the three act structure. I find it a natural form when I am writing a fantasy to have my characters going somewhere and trying to achieve something or reach a destination.

I know it’s a cliche of the fantasy quest, but I really enjoy it as a reader and as a writer. I get bored if my characters are sitting in one place for too long.

You like the physical journey to match the emotional one

Pretty much. And I like to throw them into completely new settings. By the time I hit book 3, I was having trouble dreaming up some new landscapes because I like to mix it up and change the physical dangers that they are facing, that echo of course their emotional journey.

So you have written all three books already?

Yes, I have.

Had you written them all before you sold the manuscript?

No, I sold book 1 in the middle of last year, and I was very fortunate that Random House wanted three. I then wrote the second two over the end of last year and earlier this year, and I am just about to receive the edits for book 2.

We are looking at a six monthly release schedule possibly. It will be tight, and it will be a crazy, crazy year. It was a bit of pressure, but I think I was fortunate in that I have practice churning out manuscripts quite quickly. I naturally impose deadlines on myself.

How would you respond to the statement that this may be the next big thing in dystopian YA fiction?

As amazing as that sounds, not even my wildest daydreams stretch that far. I’m just thrilled to know that the book is out there and people are enjoying it. Receiving feedback from readers is a huge shot of adrenaline!

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve viewed fantasy/dystopian books as a source of escape and adventure. If I can give a taste of that excitement to just a single reader, I’ll consider my job done and be a very happy author.

Tell us about your writing process

I generally just start, and I go, and it develops organically as I write. I have tried plotting things before hand, but I am generally a ‘by the seats of your pants’ kind of writer.

There’s that famous quote about writing a novel, that you don’t need to see all the way down the road when you’re driving a car at night, you just need to see as far as the headlights. I think that reflects how I write. I always have a vague idea of where I’m going, and I often have a vague idea of what the big climactic scene will be, but apart from that it’s just getting from A to B. Often I’m as surprised about where it goes as everyone else.

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
– E.L. Doctorow

What do you find easiest to write: the first or the last line?

I do prefer writing the first line, because you have all this untapped opportunity before you. You don’t know where you’re going to go, and you can really let your imagination run free. It’s that excitement at the beginning where you don’t know where you’re going to go, or if it’s going to work, but you just race ahead and see where it goes anyway. And sometimes you fail.

Do you have a recommendation of another YA book that you have read recently?

I recently read Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, and I enjoyed it because it had a really interesting take on dragons that I thought was really original.

More about ‘Chasing the Valley’:

Escape is impossible. Escape is their only hope.

Danika is used to struggling for survival. But when the tyrannous king launches an attack to punish her city – echoing the alchemy bombs that killed Danika’s family – she risks her life in a daring escape over the city’s walls.

Danika joins a crew of desperate refugees who seek Magnetic Valley, a legendary safe haven. But when she accidentally destroys a palace biplane, suddenly Danika Glynn becomes the most wanted fugitive in Taladia.

Pursued by the king’s vicious hunters and betrayed by false allies, Danika also grapples with her burgeoning magical abilities. And when she meets the mysterious Lukas, she must balance her feelings against her crew’s safety.

Chasing the Valley is the first book in an epic trilogy of magic, treachery and survival.

More about Skye Melki-Wegner:

You can find Skye on Facebook, Tumblr, and on Twitter at @SkyeOhWhy. For more information about Skye and her work, visit her website.

Chasing the Valley was published by Random House on 1 July 2013. You can purchase it through Random House, Amazon (Kindle version), and other assorted retailers.

Photo credit: Cassandra Styles