I’m a huge sucker for anything having to do with magic and misdirection, so much so that I’ve taken a magic class at Hollywood’s Magic Castle and am currently writing a book with magicians and illusions. I was naturally delighted to discover Brielle Porter’s debut YA fantasy, Jester, just came out! I got to chat with Brielle about her book, her writing style, and even beekeeping.
Can you tell us what Jester is about? JESTER is my enemies-to-lovers take on THE PRESTIGE! Lisette will do anything to be chosen as Queen’s Jester. But her rival, the irritatingly handsome Luc, possesses the one thing Lisette does not—real magic.
What inspired you to write this story? I grew up reading the Chosen One trope, in everything from Harry Potter to Eragon. And it was always these extraordinary people that were chosen to have extraordinary adventures. That never sat well with me, as a very ordinary person. I wanted to write a story about someone a little more relatable, someone who is ordinary and still accomplishes extraordinary feats in spite of it.
What was your process for writing Jester? I write out of order, which is a HUGE headache when it comes to revisions. Basically, I wrote the scenes that I knew I needed, and then jigsawed everything into order and filled in the missing pieces during my many revisions.
Jester just came out on August 9th! What was your path to publishing? JESTER is the third book that I have written, but my first to be published. I think of those first two books as my practice books. Writing requires so many different skill sets—plotting! Character arcs! Story beats! Narrative style! So writing two books to completion helped me learn a lot of those skills, and how exactly a story is shaped.
I saw that you also enjoy beekeeping. How did you get into that? I’m a victim of marketing! Ha! Our local farm store had a pamphlet on beekeeping a few years ago, and I thought it sounded fascinating. I bought my first package of bees and was hooked. There’s lots of drama in beekeeping, from virgin queens battling to the death and worker bees ejecting males from the hive—I highly recommend it as a side hobby for fantasy writers.
Any advice for aspiring authors? Be patient with yourself. Writing is a skill that takes time to learn and perfect, just like any other. You wouldn’t expect someone who’s only been playing the piano for a year to be able to bang out a Liszt composition.
Where can folks get Jester? You can find JESTER at Camcatbooks.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and other online book retailers.
Where’s the best place to follow you? I’m not super active on social media, but Twitter and Instagram are the two places I sometimes hang out (@briellums).