Claire Legrand has taken the winter classic The Nutcracker and re-imagined a world with faeries and clockwork to make for a new story with familiar faces.

Tell us five random facts about yourself.

I’ve completed a half marathon.

I’ve never seen The Princess Bride in its entirety. (I know — the shame!)

My favorite part of Pop-Tarts is not the “fruit” filling, not the icing, but the tasteless bread on the edges. No lie.

I actually have been in a production of The Nutcracker — once, as a parent in the first act’s party scene. I wore a very pink dress. I’m talking Pepto Bismol.

I used to be a professional trumpet player.

Describe your novel in five words.

Sensual. Dangerous. Twisted. Seductive. Unexpected.

How did you come up with the concept of retelling The Nutcracker? What are the challenges of retelling something so well known?

I’ve always loved The Nutcracker ballet, so the idea for a retelling was always there. I actually didn’t find the retelling element of writing this book particularly challenging, as the narrative of the ballet is told in such vague and broad terms: Girl gets nutcracker for Christmas. Nutcracker comes to life. Girl helps him fight rats. Nutcracker-turned-man brings girl to his kingdom. Girl wakes up, realizes everything was a dream . . . or was it? There was a lot of room for me to play around with the story, enrich the narrative, expand upon certain themes, and answer the questions that the ballet left unanswered.

When creating your version of Clara, were there characteristics you thought she had to have? Did she do anything that surprised you as you were writing?

I wanted this story to be an awakening for Clara. She begins as a frightened girl, who feels helpless and alone in a dangerous world. She wants to stand up for herself but hasn’t quite found the courage to do so. She’s also ashamed of her body, her desires, and her femininity. I knew that, over the course of the story, I wanted Clara to not only find the strength she always had within her, but also come to terms with her sexuality, her body, and her womanhood. As I wrote, Clara’s capacity for passion definitely took me by surprise. Here’s a girl who has been sexually threatened, told she should be ashamed of her body, told that she is to blame for the way men treat her. She manages to not only work through those demons but also embrace her desires and use them as powerful weapons to help herself and help others.

Godfather Drosselmeyer is very unique with his trinkets and the way he teaches Clara how to fight. Why did you choose to craft him this way?

The character of Godfather Drosselmeyer has always fascinated me. In the original fairy tale, he’s this eccentric toymaker and clockmaker. He’s childish, and even a bit frightening; his moods are unpredictable, and he’s more interested in Clara (Marie in the fairy tale) than he probably should be. This darkness doesn’t always translate to ballet productions, but in the production I watched as a child, Drosselmeyer was every bit as strange and unsettling as he was in the original fairy tale. That informed my interpretation of his character in general, and I knew I wanted to draw out that mysterious nature even more in Winterspell. I also knew I wanted to expand upon his protectiveness of (and, let’s be honest, obsession with) Clara, and make him her teacher and trainer. Of course, his motives aren’t entirely pure, as you’ll find out when you read, but nevertheless—above all else, he wants to protect her. Or, more accurately, he wants to teach her that she has the strength to protect herself.

The faery realm is very unique. Can you tell us a little about how you came up with the idea and how you crafted Anise?

There’s always been a bit of a steampunk element in The Nutcracker—Drosselmeyer the toymaker and clockmaker, toys coming to life. I wanted to keep that element intact for Winterspell, and also expand upon it. It made sense to me that if Nicholas — the nutcracker prince — was trapped via a curse that encased him in metal, then whoever cursed him must depend upon metal and mechanical components to conduct her magic. Also, the character of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker ballet never made a lot of sense to me; I wanted to give her purpose and back story in Winterspell. The combination of those elements led to the steampunk-esque faery world in Winterspell (I’ve seen some people call it “faerypunk”), and the primary antagonist, the faery queen Anise.

What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth and Ask the Passengers by A. S. King. I would have loaned my copies to everyone I knew and hopefully changed the perspectives of some people in my community.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on three middle grade projects — one of which I hope to announce soon! The other two are still in the early stages, so I can’t talk about them yet.

Fill in the blank

If I weren’t a writer I would be………… If we’re being realistic, I would be a librarian. (I studied library science in grad school.) But if I could be anything? I’d want to work in movies — as a set decorator, foley artist, music editor, or cinematographer.

If I could have one supernatural power it would be………………. Telekinesis. Because who hasn’t pointed at their remote control from across the room and wishfully said, “Accio remote!”?

My Hollywood crush is…………………………. Daniel Craig. I will be heartbroken when he is no longer James Bond. HEARTBROKEN.