Author Auralee Wallace joins SciFiChick.com today to discuss her latest novel – The Late-Night Witches. You’ll want to pick up this new release after reading about her inspiration!
Tell us a bit about Cassie Becket.
Cassie is a full-time mom and part-time hardware store employee doing her best to raise her fifteen-year-old daughter and eight-year-old twin boys while her husband works overseas. Volleyball tryouts, homework battles, and a trouble-seeking younger sister have her at the breaking point, but there’s no time to rest. It turns out she’s destined to fight a hitherto unknown vampire nemesis on Halloween. But it’s fine. She has lots of time to unearth her supposed latent witchy powers – a whole month in fact. And it’s not like the fate of the world depends on her ability to stay alive.
Oh, wait…
Can you tell us about this fantasy world of vampires? Are they traditional?
For this book, I really wanted to create a master vampire who was truly a monster. So, Cassie’s nemesis, The Deliverer of Fear, Sorrow and Death – Del for short – is unapologetically atrocious. His goal is to break a centuries-long curse freeing him to turn the world into a vampire hellscape where humans become either bloodsuckers or cattle. So yeah, not a nice guy.
But master vampires aside, there are a few half-vampires in this book who are really quite sweet!
How did you approach your worldbuilding?
I am a huge fan of late-’90s/early-2000s cult TV shows and movies like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, The Craft, The Lost Boys, and Fright Night – to name just a few. The mix of humor with light horror is something I always come back to, so that was the jumping off point for this world.
Also, when I started writing The Late-Night Witches, I was finishing up active treatment for breast cancer. Being diagnosed in my forties was a surreal experience – almost as surreal as a vampire coming to town. And while I didn’t realize it at first, a lot of the feelings, questions, and insecurities I had at that time went into this story.
How did you decide on Prince Edward Island as the location?
Being Canadian, I wanted to choose a location that was closer to home than my previous novels, but one that would still be familiar to many readers. It didn’t take long to land on PEI. I have only visited the island once, but its beauty stole my heart, especially those red-sand beaches. I also loved the idea of vampires running around on Anne-of-Green-Gables’ turf. It felt so wrong, it just had to be right.
What was the most challenging part about writing this novel?
I would have to say balancing the cozy witchy elements with vampire slaying. My last series, The Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries, focused on gentler forms of magic like recipes infused with intention and gardens filled with mildly sentient plants, but this novel leans heavily into old-school vampire staking.
Still, there are a lot of cozy moments in The Late-Night Witches. It is essentially a book about family – and eccentric aunts who live with dozens of cats in crooked old houses by the sea.
What was your favorite part?
Without a doubt, the family dynamics. Cassie, her sister, and their aunt forging bonds and finding courage through adversity is the heart of this story. There’s something magical about watching characters discover they’re braver together than apart.
Do you have a dream cast for your characters if this was made into a movie?
Honestly, I can’t think of a good fit for Cassie. (I’d love to hear suggestions though!) But for Eliza, I picture Margaret Qualley. She was sooo good in The Substance, and for The Deliverer, my dangerously wicked vampire, Timothée Chalamet could surprise people – although he’s maybe a bit young.
What is your writing process?
First, I need to come up idea that really inspires me – something I can’t let go of – and then I plot obsessively. (I use the same brand of spiral notebook and BIC colored pens every time.) I really love getting to know my characters and seeing their stories develop in full before I start drafting. Once, I have most of my scenes mapped out, I start writing. At a minimum, I complete two full drafts…and then comes the editing. I have literally re-written single sentences hundreds of times, which can be quite torturous, but I have trouble walking away from a sentence that doesn’t feel right.
What do you think makes a great story?
Characters who feel real and emotions that linger. Readers will forgive a lot if you can achieve those two things.
Who are some of your favorite authors? What books do you love?
That’s such a hard one! I love reading from different genres and trying new voices. Sometimes I want to go to space. Sometimes I want to solve a murder in an English Manor. Other times I want light romance and then maybe horror. But if I had to choose, some of my go-to authors would include Ruth Ware, Sarah Allen Addison, Kristin Hannah, and Riley Sager.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Just a huge thank you to SciFiChick.com for having me, and thanks also to all the women who inspired me to keep putting one foot in front of the other when everything felt impossible.
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About the author:
Auralee Wallace is the author of multiple novels, including the Otter Lake mystery series and the Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in English literature, and she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. When this perpetually sleep-deprived mother of three children and one rescue cat isn’t writing, reading, or playing soccer, she can be found watching BBC mysteries and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard.