Debut Author Interview: Lindsey Olsson and To Drown a Witch Giveaway and IWSG Post

 Happy Wednesday, Everyone! Today, I’m excited to have debut author Lindsey Olsson here to share about her YA fantasy To Drown a Witch. I enjoy stories about witches and murder mysteries, and am excited to read Lindsey’s book. 

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

 

A criminal and a royal guard are drawn into the hunt for a dangerous witch—and an unexpected romance—in this YA enemies-to-lovers romantasy, perfect for fans of Heartless Hunter.

In Gadore, the Witch is feared above all else. Reborn into each generation, she is the only person with magic running innately through her veins, able to wield magic with a single thought.

So when guards across the city begin to drop dead, gruesomely murdered by violent and vicious magic, everyone knows the Witch has returned—and no one will be safe until she’s killed.

Toran is the Prince’s Crown, the most highly skilled fighter in the King’s Guard. Tasked with the responsibility of leading the hunt for the Witch, Toran tries to focus on his assignment to forget the ghosts of his past. And after he learns of Nes, a thief with an uncanny ability to sniff out magic, he forcibly recruits her into joining his hunt.

As the two face deadly magic and otherworldly threats, their mutual dislike soon turns to something more electric, and they find themselves drawn to each other in ways they’d never imagined. But the Witch is always a step ahead of them, and with bodies piling up, secrets threaten to come to light—secrets that could destroy everything from the fragile trust between them to the very city of Gadore itself. 

Before I get to my interview with Dana, I have my post for the Insecure Writers Support Group. 

Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.  

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!  

The awesome co-hosts this month are:  Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia! 

Optional Question:  As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process? 

I don’t really have any regrets. I enjoyed the creative process of creating stories. In a time when I was crazy busy with my job as a lawyer, a parent, and caregiver to my late husband, I felt like it was something I did for me. And I would never have been the blog host of Literary Rambles if I hadn’t joined the writing community. So, I’m really grateful I took the plunge and started writing, even when I had no idea how to write a book. 

Interview With Lindsey Olsson

 
Hi Lindsey! Thanks so much for joining us.
 
1.  Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.
 
Growing up, I loved to read, especially stories with hidden magic. I loved the idea that there was more to the worlds in these novels than the mundane and sometimes exercised my imagination by imagining our world to be the same. I wanted to be a writer since I first learned to write way back in the first grade. Writing stories, specifically fiction, quickly became my favorite assignment in school. When given the freedom, I wrote as many stories as I could—stories about magic wands and visits with kings and mysteries only children could solve. Eventually, I realized I didn’t have to wait for a school assignment to write fiction and began writing on my own. I did a creative writing independent study while in high school and majored in creative writing in college. A few years after that, I went back to school to earn my MFA in creative writing for children and young adults. It took me years to truly understand what it takes to become a published author and to hone the discipline I needed to succeed as one.
 
2. Where did you get the idea for To Drown a Witch?
The idea for To Drown a Witch came to me during a writing prompt session in grad school. I was working on a different novel at the time and had planned to continue that YA contemporary story. However, during that prompt session, I wrote what later became the “Before” section of To Drown a Witch. I knew I was not going back to my YA contemporary novel the moment I wrote the last line of that “Before” section. I would have to say it was that last line that really spurred the rest of the story. From then on, the idea for To Drown a Witch consumed me and slowly Nes and Toran’s stories found their way onto the page.
 
3. That’s a cool way to come up with a story idea. Did you plot out this story, or were you a pantser? Did your process change at all as you wrote your story?

After I wrote the “Before” section, my inspiration and my desire to write this new story were incredibly high. Without any idea where the story was going, I very quickly wrote 40,000 words. But then, probably just as quickly, I stopped. Because those first 40k words were not the story I so desperately wanted to tell. Somewhere between my brain and the page there had been a miscommunication. At the time, my main character, Nes, was called Vanesla and she was nothing like the character in my head. Vanesla was annoying and whiny and, frankly, I hated her. On top of that her story felt far too simple compared to the layers of the “Before” section. So I scrapped those 40,000 words and started over. In the next draft, I gained a better idea of who Nes was as a character and I had a beginning and ending planned out. The middle I continued to pants. With each subsequent draft, I found myself plotting out the story more and more. Though it probably takes longer writing this way, I enjoy giving myself the freedom of pantsing in the early drafts of a novel then plotting it out the deeper into the story I get.
 
4. Share about your world-building process? Did you draw from any other cultures in creating your world?
 
The world-building for To Drown a Witch started with the magic hiding in the trees. From there it expanded to how would people feel about this magic, how would they access and use it, was there anything about the magic that stood out, and, probably most importantly, how people might combat this magic. Answering that last question was the only time in my world-building process that I drew from prior knowledge of history. I remembered how the suspected witches were most often burned during the Salem Witch Trials and knew I wanted something different for the suspected witches in my world. Through the answers to all those questions about magic I was able to build a world around the magic system. I actually created a world map pretty early on. I already had some vague ideas of the characters I wanted to appear in the story and being able to see the world they lived in really helped me to pinpoint not only where they came from but also what their backstories were. In one of the early versions of this story, Nes and Toran actually traveled the continent in search of the Witch. Ultimately that version didn’t work out because the setting was too large for the scope of the story and I scaled it back to just the city of Gadore.
 
5. Tell us about Nes and Toran, your two main characters. Was one of them easier to develop as a character? If so, why?
 
Toran was by far the easier character to write. I think this was because his story felt quieter to me. It also helped that I knew how his story would end and, from the start, I had a good sense of his backstory. I knew he had tried to hunt the Witch in the past (with that mission ending disastrously) and I knew he had a fiancée who had recently died, with both losses resulting in him hitting a low point. From there it was a matter of figuring out who or what might be able to help pick him back up. Nes, on the other hand, was much harder to write. I knew less about her backstory, only knowing she was closest to her father and that he had deserted Orlonea’s King’s Guard. However, her voice in my head was much more insistent than Toran’s. Nes demanded to be written and, as I previously mentioned, the first time I tried to write her, she came out a completely different character. She wasn’t the strong, sassy, independent person found in To Drown a Witch. In the very first draft, Nes was much more of a whiny, pining teenager. It took a few drafts for me to truly get the Nes in my head down on the page. I think this was because, while I gave Nes my love of doughnuts, Nes is a very different person from me. Though I can have my sassy moments.
 
6. Your agent is Danielle Burby. How did she become your agent, and what was your road to getting a publishing contract like?
 
I had queried several other agents (with either no response or flat-out rejections) before an advisor from my grad school suggested I query Danielle. I am so happy I did. Danielle took an immediate interest in To Drown a Witch (which, back then, was titled Welcome to the Witch Hunt) and I knew after one video call with her that she would be a perfect fit for me. Once I signed with her, we did a few rounds of revision on my draft and she even brought in beta readers to offer a new perspective. Then, about a year after we started working together, I went on sub. To those who don’t know, “going on sub” is when an agent sends a manuscript out to various editors in hopes of getting offers from the publishers. Over the course of several months we received many rejections from the editors Danielle had reached out to. As time went on, we also didn’t hear back from other editors, so Danielle sent out a new batch of submissions. From that second round, one editor showed interest and then, to our surprise one of the editors we hadn’t heard back from in the first round of submissions reached out. After a year of no interest, I suddenly had multiple editors interested in my novel. From there, Danielle worked hard to secure me the best deal. The rest is history!
 
7. That’s a great road to publication story. Was there anything that surprised you about working with your agent or publisher?
 
While working with my publisher, I was surprised to be included in the discussions surrounding the cover. As a debut author with absolutely no clout I expected to simply be given a cover and, if I was lucky, asked to approve it. But that wasn’t what happened. I was consulted on the cover from the very beginning: from the brainstorming phase all the way to final approval. It was a very pleasant (if a bit of a daunting) surprise. And while I most certainly will not take credit for the final cover, I do think our collaborative work turned out beautifully.
 
8. You’re right that not all authors get to have imput on their covers. How has it been navigating being a debut author? What tips do you have for other writers about being published for the first time?
 
Becoming a debut author has been such an incredible ride. Every step has been new and exciting and I’ve welcomed each one. Though I have to admit, the hardest part for me has been the social media outreach. I’m not big into social media so creating content isn’t easy for me. I often end up making super corny posts that thankfully my followers have yet to call me out on. To other writers who are also being published for the first time, I would advise them to ask questions. If there is ever anything you don’t understand, ask either your agent or editor or a publishing contact about it. Before becoming an author, I had previously worked in the publishing industry, but there were still so many aspects about publishing a book that I didn’t know. I’m grateful to have learned a lot over the course of my journey. And, of course, to all the new writers out there: enjoy it.
 
9. Your book was released on July 14th. How have you been celebrating your book’s release, and what are your marketing plans?
 
To kick off the celebrations, my husband, my friend, and I went out to brunch the morning of my release. Our waiter was very excited about my book and, with any luck, I managed to sell them a book. Later that night, I had a launch event at Main Point Books in Wayne, PA. I had the pleasure of discussing all things To Drown a Witch with the incredible Chelsea T. Reed and then I signed books for all those who came. It was such a lovely event, with a great turn out, and I am grateful to Main Point Books for hosting. Since then, I’ve participated in several podcast interviews—whose hosts have all been so kind and welcoming—and I will have another event celebrating To Drown a Witch on August 7th at 6:30pm at the Barnes & Noble in Princeton, NJ. To anyone in the area, I hope you stop by!
 
10. What are you working on now?
 
If all goes to plan, readers can expect To Drown a Witch’s sequel to be published July of 2027! Since the sequel is already written, I returned to a project I had been writing while To Drown a Witch was on sub. This is an entirely new story—that I also hope to make a duology—set in a fantasy world that looks a lot like our own world but back in 1908. This world also has an entirely new magic system that is more grounded than the magic found in To Drown a Witch. The story follows a newly appointed female detective who discovers a gruesome murder and, as a result, runs afoul with some dangerous criminals. I’m incredibly excited to be working on this story again and I hope readers have the chance to fall in love with it as I have.
 
Thanks for sharing all your advice, Lindsey. You can find Lindsey at
Website- lindseyolsson.com
IG- @lindseyolssonauthor (https://www.instagram.com/lindseyolssonauthor/)
FB- Lindsey Olsson (https://www.facebook.com/people/Lindsey-Olsson/61577942242386/#)
Goodreads- Lindsey Olsson (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/60645001.Lindsey_Olsson)

Giveaway Details

Lindsey’s publisher is generously offering a hardback of To Drown a Witch for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by August 15th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

 

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Lindsey on her social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is U.S.-only.

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Sunday, August 16th, I’m participating in the Old School Giveaway Hop

 

Monday, August 17th, I have an interview with Máire Roche and a giveaway of her MG Little Monsters

 

Wednesday, August 19th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Jackie Garcia-Morales and a query critique giveaway

 

Monday, August 25th, I have a guest post by Paige Classey and a giveaway of her MG Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer

 

I hope to see you on Sunday, August 16th!