Hello fellow readers! I’ve got something special for you today. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to review Sedition by E. M. Wright. It’s a great story about identity, growth, and revolution.
I was so excited about the book that I had to reach out to E. M. Wright and ask a few questions about her work. I hope you enjoy this Q & A!
EM Wright is an author from Portland, OR. When she’s not writing, she can be found daydreaming, taking long walks with her husband, or working on a musical-in-progress with a friend. She writes books in the hopes of inflicting her imaginary friends on other people so she can eventually sleep in peace. Sedition is her first novel.
Q: What was your inspiration for Sedition?
Sedition came from a bunch of places all at once. I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. I’d recently discovered the steampunk aesthetic and was eagerly diving into that. I’d read Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron, and Richard Harland’s Worldshaker in quick succession. And one day this scene with two characters popped into my head, squabbling over a clockwork mask and the concept of a time machine. That scene was cut in a fairly early draft, but the characters became Taryn and Royal, and the story became Sedition.
Q: What draws you to the steampunk genre?
Steampunk is a combination of the romanticism of the past and the longing for technology that never was. I love the potential of working impossible technology into the Victorian aesthetic. But it’s also a punk genre, which means I get to push against the cultural norms of the world I’ve created and see what gives. Sedition does a little of both, I think. It has all these fun fantasy elements: the clockwork cyborgs, the airships. But it’s also fundamentally about unjust systems and finding the strength to resist.
Q: Did you do any research for Sedition? What resources did you use?
I read a lot of Victorian literature. Most of my research involved fact-checking though. When was this or that invented. What kind of material would they have used to make X. That kind of thing. The fun thing about steampunk is you can kind of fudge what happened when, since you’re playing with the technology, but I also wanted to make sure the technology that I didn’t invent was realistic and time-period accurate.
Q: Who was your favorite character to write about in Sedition?
I really enjoyed writing Ace! He’s such a complex character and I loved peeling back his layers to discover what made him tick and what his motivations were. But of course, I can’t answer this question without also mentioning my MC, Taryn. She’s so much the protagonist I needed when I was in high school, and I hope other girls can connect with her too.
Q: What was your favorite scene to write?
My favorite scene I wrote is a spoiler, so I’m not going to list it here! But besides that scene, I loved writing anything aboard the Dauntless. There’s something about a pirate ship in the sky that really ticks all the boxes for me.
Q: Are you currently working on anything?
When am I not? You can always find me working on half a dozen projects. I like to talk about them and share snippets on Twitter! You can find me @EMWrightWrites.
Thanks so much to E.M. Wright for giving me the opportunity to read her book and for taking time to answer some questions!
Sedition will be available Tuesday, May 18th.
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