Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I absolutely loved your book, and I can’t wait to review it.

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing Tonight, I Burn! I’m stoked you enjoyed it.

Witches are portrayed in many ways across fiction, but never quite in this way. You said in your acknowledgements that your idea started with the first three lines of the book, but how has that evolved since then? Has the idea changed much? And did those lines just come out of nowhere, or was there some specific spark (pun totally intended)?

I’d read an interview with Julie Kagawa about how she came up with the concept for her Iron Fey series. Her agent suggested taking a trope and twisting it on its head. About three hours later, the idea of witches burning themselves popped into my head. The three lines were actually cut from another project the day before but they’d burrowed into my brain and wouldn’t shut up. It all came together so beautifully, I couldn’t not write it, and the first draft of the story fell out really fast. It’s been through lots of revisions since then. The basic concept is the same, but the world building deepened and changed a lot. Originally, only the Thorn witches had survived the Warden’s massacre. Adding in the other covens and witches was fun.

Do you have a favorite scene in Tonight, I Burn? Also, which one was the hardest to write?

I love all the library scenes, but my favourite is when Penny meets Toby near the Ninth and she sees the book sprites in action for the first time. I adore the book sprites. The hardest to write was probably the first gilding scene where Penny helps her grandmother. There’s a lot of world building happening at the beginning of the book and keeping the action up at the same time is a tricky balance.

A major theme in the book is rising up against oppression. How do you think this relates to our own reality? What needs to change? What oppressions do we need to rise up against? 

I think we’re in danger of allowing the algorithms on social media to oppress us. Just like the Warden censors the library to create his own biased version of the truth, algorithms control what we see online. Some days it feels like we’re slowly being broken down into smaller and smaller groups turning against each other like the covens in Halstett. How can we make our own decisions if we don’t have access to all the information?

Which character do you think you are most similar to? Which one do you wish you could be more like?

I’m probably most like Ella, a little stubborn, a little over protective, and a little impulsive. I’m a bit of a rule-breaker if there’s a good reason for it, too. I’d like to be more like Toby, just because I adore him. He’s so calm and steady and strong.

A book’s core message can come across differently depending on a person’s background. What did you, as the author, hope we would take away from this book?

To be more open-minded, to look outside the box, and to work together. We don’t all have to be the same to work together for the greater good. One person can’t change the world, but enough of us working together can.

This is your debut novel, and it is a finalist at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Congratulations! It is well deserved. How does it feel to have your writing recognised in this way?

Thanks! I’m honestly still shocked! I never thought my bisexual, Death-walking witches would find an agent, let alone be a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults! I’m really grateful for all the support from my NZ publishers, Moa Press. They’ve been amazing.

Do you have any plans for future books outside of the trilogy?

Lots!! I’m working on Tonight, I Blaze at the moment, but I have a few other worlds up my sleeve too.

What do you wish you could tell yourself when you were younger (about writing, or whatever you like)?

That one day, I’d find my groove and things will all fall into place. High school was pretty confusing, but the world makes a lot more sense now.

What was your favorite book as a teenager? Anything I absolutely have to read?

I loved Garth Nix’s Sabriel! Gorgeous book, amazing magic system, and it’s still one of my favourites now. I’m also very fond of Little Women and read it all over again every couple of years—I’ve always loved the classics. If you haven’t read Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer, then you absolutely have to read that. It’s brilliant.

And finally, when can we expect the next book? Anything you can tell us about what happens? And, please, please, please don’t get rid of Malin…

Tonight, I Bleed will be coming in early 2025! It’s full of balls and battles and book sprites—and broken hearts! Penny, Alice, and Malin get a little battered, but they grow a lot. I love book two and can’t wait to share it.