Outer Alliance Spotlight #7: K L Richardsson October 30, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications , trackbackWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #7. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is YA author, K L Richardsson.
K L has been playing around with a fantasy world in her head ever since she was a child. As an adult, this has manifested itself in her Heart quartet, which features gay teens in an adventurous high fantasy setting. Heart Sense, Heart Song, and Heart’s Price are available now through Prizm Books, and she’s currently working on the fourth novel in the series, Heart’s Peace.
As a straight ally, K L makes a point of advocating for LGBTQI acceptance both in speculative fiction, and in real life. In addition to novel writing, K L is in the process of earning a PhD in Medieval Studies. She has a passion for hats, and all things Arthurian.
What drew you to write queer YA stories?
I’ve always wanted to write YA novels, because those are mostly the stories that I read. Queer or straight, my head has always been populated by a plethora of teenagers of all shapes and sizes. Katjin and Mikael’s story is part of a larger world I’d been building in my head since I was a kid, and when Torquere Press announced that they were introducing a new line of Young Adult-focused novels and asked if I was interested in writing for it, I thought this would be a great avenue to introduce Kat and Mik to the world. They had started out as a comic script that never went anywhere, but this seemed like a better home.
Why queer YA novels in particular? Because, while there were (at the time) several genre books and ‘coming out’ stories, there didn’t seem to be a lot of spec fic stories with queer teen characters. I tried not to write Kat and Mik as advocates for GLBT issues and rights, but just as kids who were caught up in a political battle bigger than they were, who just happened to ‘like-like’ each other. Well, and I complicated it with the whole blood bond thing, but that’s another story. Spec fic itself has always been a lot more lenient and accepting toward GLBT characters in books that I wanted to extend that a little bit into the YA fic realm. It may sound sappy, but I just wanted my characters to have a story worthy of them, and a home at a press that would treat them right.
The clans in the Heart books use songs to communicate. How did you come up with this idea, and do you imagine the songs sound like any music you’ve heard in this world?
I was actually inspired by the Hoist the Colors song from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The song in the film was the supernatural call for the Pirate Brethren, and I thought that was a great idea. The Clans, in my mind, had always been a culture of oral tradition — there is no written Clan language — so the idea of this aiding song really appealed to me. One by one, the other songs, including a song of the dead for Heart’s Price, came into existence. I like the idea of this song passed on from generation to generation, carrying with it the weight of tradition and of obligation. It also gave me a nice way to bring Katjin and Mikael together.
As for what it sounds like, for some reason “Thunder Down, Lowland Towns,” a song that occurs in both the Clan lands and the Lowlands, can be sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”. The other songs, though, don’t have a tune, per se. Clan culture is based off of a lot of Mongolian/nomadic culture, so I’d imagine some of the kind of tonal, complex vocal music that’s native to Mongolia, accompanied by fiddle and flute.
Katjin and Mikael have a blood bond that forces them to stay very close. How much does that bond influence their attraction to each other?
This is one of those places where I might’ve written myself into a corner. I’ve actually had the book criticized for the fact that it seems like the bond forces Mikael’s attraction to Katjin. I didn’t want it to seem that way, which is why Kat and Mik are so antagonistic to each other at first. They have to eventually come to agreement and admit to mutual admiration and friendship, which eventually deepens into something stronger. Kat likes Mikael from the first — at least, in the physical sense. Mikael sees Katjin as an odd sort of savior, and eventually falls for Katjin’s big heart and odd charm. It’s hard to portray that, though, since the first book is entirely Katjin’s POV, and we don’t see Mikael’s side til the second. The bond doesn’t force their choice of sex, or even their initial attraction. It just…complicates the matter, because I thought it would be fun to complicate their lives with this very physical bond/pain if they happened to separate. And to see what two people would do if they were tied that closely, mutual attraction or not.
What has the road to publication been like for you? Is there anything you’d do differently if you had to start over from scratch?
I’ve been writing and submitting stories since I was a teenager, but to little success. I took a long break from publication attempts for a while, and didn’t really get back into it until I thought about submitting Heart Sense. I take rejection hard, so those first few (many) rejections in my teens/early twenties hit me in a painful way, and I was scared to send things out. So I just wrote and wrote and rewrote until I found a market. I’m considering getting an agent, and I know I should branch out, but with school, my life is a little complicated right now, so I’m pretty happy with one project at a time, one small press at a time. The large publishing houses aren’t taking too many chances on new writers right now, so I’m content with where I’m at.
If I could start over from scratch, I might submit to more markets, maybe short stories to build a portfolio. I’d probably also do more concrete world-building/plotting out before I started writing, since I seem to discover new aspects of Clan culture with each book. Sometimes it’s nice to work out the bugs beforehand. 
I’m guessing you’re a Star Wars fan since your website claims that you are sailing the writing seas with your lightsaber. Have you ever thought about writing a space opera of your own?
I am a huge Star Wars fan, and I actually do have a space opera idea in the works. There’s also that Arthurian idea playing around in my head, and a play on the old summer camp stories. Once the Heart quartet is exorcised from my brain, I’ll probably tackle one of these projects.
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Thanks, K L! Join us next Friday for another Spotlight. In the meantime, check out Heart’s Price.
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