Author: Pandean

Interviewer: Laia233

Today, ladies and gentlemen we will be interviewing Watty award winning author, Wattpad Star, goat enthusiast and person (though her inhuman talent might suggest otherwise), Kara Barbieri! Don't forget to check out her amazing fantasy novel White Stag, and leave a review or/and rating on Goodreads if you haven't already! The sequels, Goblin King and Hunting Party, are also currently available to read on Wattpad and the covers are gorgeous!

[Links will be added in the inline comment section of this paragraph.]

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Hello, Pan! How are you? So glad to have you join us today! The Veiled Night would like to officially thank you. But before we begin, Happy belated Christmas! Hope you had lots of fun! *smiles and awkwardly tries to hug you*

I'm doing great. But gaah hugs. I'm not a very huggy person. Or well, I don't like random hugs. I get all rude and have to wipe them off. But I'll let you slide because you're cool. My holiday was good. I got more weapons (everyone gets me weapons) and we played Cards Against Humanity. My mother won. It was mortifying.

Let's start off with a serious question, shall we? *wicked grin* Have you been sorted into a Hogwarts House, and if yes, which House is it? Oh, oh! The same question about Ilvermony.

I have not been sorted into a Hogwarts or Ilvermony house. Have I broke some sort of sacred rule? Oh dear.

Earlier you mentioned that you train with weapons? What can you tell us about that?

Well, I own a lot of melee weapons. Swords, daggers. katanas, staves, spears, throwing knives, etc. So I like to train with them and use them. I also enjoy creating dance-like routines to music with them. I find it really fun and I also get to brag I know how to use the weapons my characters use. Except the bow. I have horrible aim. I'm definitely a staff/spear/sword type of girl. I find when you're learning how to do it, you just need to learn the momentum of the weapon and how it relates to your body as you swing it. After that, it's almost like dancing, except your partner is the spear.

So you recently announced that you have received a publishing deal! (Congratulations, again!) What can you tell us about that? Are there any juicy details you couldn't provide until now? *wiggles eyebrows*

Well, it's a three book deal with St. Martin's Press's imprint, Wednesday Books. The parent company is MacMillan. So it's a big publisher to say the least. I can say that the people I'm working with have proven to be wonderful so far and I can't wait to continue doing things with them! As for any hush-hush information, I am afraid that that is hush-hush. But there have been some really cool things developing lately that I can't wait to share when I'm allowed to! Damn those contract disclosure agreements!

How would you describe White Stag in three words? (e.g. {insert imaginary title here}: magion, death, corruption)

White Stag: The Dog Dies

Do you have any advice for new authors? Is there anything you would like to tell your younger writer-self?

I'd like to tell new writers and authors that you shouldn't worry about your book being sh*t. I believe strongly in the idea that everything we write is sh*t until we're able to move on from it or are skilled enough to polish it. Even White Stag was sh*t when I wrote the rough draft--my friend wrote me seven pages of edits for me to do for the rough draft. I think people sometimes obsess too much over the idea that it has to be perfect right away when nothing we do is ever perfect right away. So don't obsess over the story in the first go-around. The rough draft is for getting ideas onto paper. Once you start editing, then you get the big guns out.

I would tell me as a younger writer that I shouldn't worry about my age. Just fall into writing.

There's some pretty amazing world building going on in White Stag. Are there any particular cultures that have inspired you? What are some major influences? You had mentioned before that Germanic Mythology played a good role on helping you come up with the story.

I'm glad you think there's some really good worldbuilding! I got a one star review the other day that said I had no world building whatsoever so I was like "Oh yay someone thinks I do have good world building yaaay". To be honest, I didn't really base the culture--goblins or humans or otherwise--on anything specific. There is a viking/scandinavian influence in the books so I drew a lot from that; what they would wear, where they would sleep, etc. and you can see that in their beliefs and clothes, but otherwise I constructed a lot of the Permafrost based on myths. Goblins are similar to the fair folk in that they can't lie (or well they can but everyone else knows it), have very different ideas of morality than humans, etc. So the world is just drenched in a lot of mythology. I wouldn't point out a certain species and say they represent ______ culture.

Speaking of which, how did you first come up with White Stag? Were you brainstorming, trying to find a new story to write when the idea hit you or was it something spontaneous? Unfortunately, I usually find ideas nudging me when I'm about to fall asleep. XD

Oooh I am liking these questions. White Stag actually was a totally different idea at first--I saw a Lost Girl episode about a symbolic Stag hunt where the stag is a prisoner and if they manage to win without dying they become free. So that was the original inspiration, but then I delved into the myths of the Erlking and the like and the idea changed. Most of my ideas are kind of spontaneous but then they need to ferment a little while and evolve in my brain. Like cheese.

So it's no secret that most writers have pretty questionable browser histories (including myself, LOL). Good examples of this are ''how long does it take for someone to bleed out after being stabbed'' or torture techniques or ''how does it feel to be burned alive''.

(Readers out there don't be too judgmental, we swear we are not psychopaths! *nervous laugh*)

So could you give us some examples of your peculiar google searches?

Ohhh dear. I do have a good few ones. Not all of these were from writing White Stag, a good amount of these were from other books that will never see the light of day

"How long would it take arsenic to kill you"

"How do you create a source of nuclear energy/how do you create a heavy duty lithium battery" (Funny story I was doing this research while in my computer class and my teacher stopped behind me and was like "...Pan? What are you doing?" Hehehe that was fun to explain.)

"How to take a natural abortifacient/Does pennyroyal kill you/what is a pennyroyal overdose"

"How to gouge a person's eyes out"

Lovely little things like that, y'know?

White Stag won a Trailblazer Watty! We are so proud of you, and honestly I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier! (If it was entered, that is.) Your writing's amazing! What was your initial reaction to the news?

Well I joined Wattpad in October 2015 when the deadline to enter the Wattys had passed so I couldn't enter then. So the first Wattys were the one where I won the Trailblazer (2016). As for my reaction, I was currently on the bathroom floor of a Walgreens because I was really sick and my phone was buzzing from my friends and I went to check and a bunch of people were telling me I won a Watty and my mind was like "oh cool great can I just throw up now?" lol

If you could spend one hour with any character from your books, who would it be and why? Would you have to take security measures? LOL, I know I would have, you never know when it comes to fantasy novels, especially White Stag. XDD

I feel like spending time with any of them would be unpleasant. Janneke is so stoic, Seppo gets off on being annoying, Lydian is crazy, and Soren is a brat (though a lovable brat). It works for each other because they all are different degrees of unpleasant in ways that balance out each other and made them pleasant. But I don't think I'd have the patience.

I'd probably hang out with the wolves and Panic. Riding a wolf seems fun.

Which of your characters would cause the most havoc if they were put in a room together, and locked inside with nothing other than food and water to accompany them?

All of them. There is literally no way I can choose between them. All of them. They would all kill each other in the first hour. Unless you maybe put Janneke and Soren but then the room would probably be destroyed from the angry sex.

Lastly, the most important question of all: What's your favorite vegetable?

 I like green onions. I'm one of those freaks who will literally just take the onion and eat it raw like an apple or something.

Oh, and before we split ways for the night... This isn't a question, but a Christmas gift from me to you and all other writers. Sometimes we all need a kick to the... bottom? Am I allowed to curse here? Should I? Does this even count as a curse? XD #ignoremeplease #merrybelatedchristmaseveryone

Santa with a machine gun is slightly unsettling.

Thank you for this wonderful interview! I hope you have lots of fun during the holidays, the publishing deal goes great and that you write more soul-shuttering stories for us to read! ;) *makes goblins dance for you with my magical writer abilities* *the thing turns R-Rated so I make us disappear in a puff of purple smoke* *pink glitter sprays everywhere*

Thank you! And oh no don't force Soren to dance, he may just murder you!

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