Transcript: Children Chatting With Author Alex Aster

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Children Chatting: Discussion between Alex Aster and the Children Chatting members

LAUREN: Hello, everyone. You're listening to Children Chatting With Authors. Today, we are going to be joined by award-winning author, Alex Aster, of the book Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch. Alex, welcome.

ALEX ASTER: Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited.

NICHOLAS: Hi, my name is Nicholas. So, my question is, where did you get idea for the powers, like the leadership, the ability to see all?

ALEX ASTER: That is such a great question, Nicholas, and that was actually one of my favorite parts about writing this book. So, originally, the powers were inspired by a story that my grandmother used to tell me before bedtime. I'm Colombian, and so it's a Colombian story. And that kind of inspired the world of emblems and the fact that the characters have powers. But, in terms of the specific powers, I kind of just had to be creative. And for Melda, Tor, and Engle, they kind of just came to me.

ALEX ASTER: And I know that's a strange answer, but it kind of worked out well that I had the ideas for their powers. I knew that Tor didn't want to be a leader, because I think that's something that a lot of kids can identify with. Sometimes, we're shy or we like something else or we don't want to step into our true potential. So, I knew that Tor needed to be a leader. I knew Melda needed to be a leader too, so that they could have their friendship, their enemy to friendship type of relationship in the book. And then, Engle being a sightseer, I don't remember exactly how I got that idea, but it really ended up working out throughout the rest of the story because Engle was able to help with the adventures.

ALEX ASTER: And I knew I didn't want to give them a power that I had seen in a lot of other books. I kind of wanted to play around with a power that wasn't necessarily the coolest power ever. I think one of the coolest powers is the snowflake emblem that you see later in the book. I think that would have been a lot easier for them to get out of their situations, if someone could have frozen things or if someone could have talked to animals or something like that. So, I wanted to give them powers that would help them, but wouldn't just be an easy solution to all of their problems that they face in the book. So, the rest of the ones, I definitely had a lot more fun creating because some characters like the snowflake emblem character, they just pop up for a few seconds so you can have a lot of fun in that moment.

ALEX ASTER: I will say, the second book has a new character, and the new character, you might have met them at the end of the first book. And their emblem is one of my favorites. So, I don't know if I should leave that mystery or just tell you. But, that's such a great question because it was definitely one of my favorite parts, but it was difficult because you need to know how to work that into the plot, and it needs to make sense. Again, if Engle could freeze things, a lot of their adventures would be easier. So, that's kind of how we came up with the powers. Thank you for your question.

MALIKA: Hi, my name is Malika, and my question is, are you like any of the characters? If so, which character are you most like?

ALEX ASTER: Such a great question, Malika. I am definitely like one of the characters, and that character is Melda. I was definitely, as a kid, the person who always wanted to get perfect scores on her tests and be better than everyone else, and kind of isolated myself from people because I was so focused on trying to be the best. And I did go through a similar journey as Melda where she kind of realizes friendships and having fun and enjoying your life is more important than constantly trying to be the best at everything. And so, I definitely relate to Melda. I think that she is not always a likable character, so I wanted to put in there, the good qualities and kind of not so great qualities because I wanted all of the characters to be able to grow. So, I'm definitely the most like Melda. I wish I could be like Engle, who loves adventure and is risk-taking, or Tor, who knows exactly what he wants from a young age, but I'm like Melda.

GABE: Hi, my name is Gabe, and my question for you is, is there a magical series or a magical person or a magical book series that you were inspired by to write this series?

ALEX ASTER: I love that question, Gabe. I think, more than a series, I was really inspired by my grandmother's stories. So, one in particular, it's called "The Girl With the Star on Her Forehead". In Spanish, it's "La chica de la estrella en la frente". And in that story, a girl follows the rules and she's gifted a beautiful star on her forehead. And she has this evil stepsister, kind of like Cinderella, that wants the star. And so, she tries to take it off. And the more she tries to take the star off of her forehead, the more beautiful it becomes, the bigger it becomes. And then, the sister tries to get a star, but she breaks the rules and she gets horns on her head.

ALEX ASTER: I love that question, Gabe. I think, more than a series, I was really inspired by my grandmother's stories. So, one in particular, it's called The Girl With the Star on Her Forehead. In Spanish, it's [foreign language 00:05:18]. And in that story, a girl follows the rules and she's gifted a beautiful star on her forehead. And she has this evil stepsister, kind of like Cinderella, that wants the star. And so, she tries to take it off. And the more she tries to take the star off of her forehead, the more beautiful it becomes, the bigger it becomes. And then, the sister tries to get a star, but she breaks the rules and she gets horns on her head.

ALEX ASTER: And so, I loved that story, not only because I love stars for some reason. I just love the shape and I love the idea of having a star on your forehead. But, it really inspired the world of Emblem Island because I wanted characters to have these symbols on their skin that represent their talents and also can represent mistakes, like the curse. Tor makes a mistake at the beginning of the book and he has this dark emblem, this eye on his skin that ends up trying to kill him throughout the book before they can find the Night Witch. So, that inspired me more than anything, my grandmother's stories.

ALEX ASTER: But, I will say, when I was growing up, I didn't necessarily see a lot of the Latinx stories that I grew up in in book series, so it was really important for me to use the influence of my culture in the book, but in a way that people who weren't familiar with these myths wouldn't be kind of put off by it, or would say, "Oh, this book isn't for me." I wanted the book to be for everyone, but I did want to highlight parts of my culture that I hadn't seen in publishing. So, I loved all of the books that, I'm sure, you guys love. All the famous series and everything, and those inspired my writing for sure. But, I think that my Colombian heritage definitely inspired the world of Emblem Island and the stories between the chapters.

GABE: Thank you very much.

LAUREN: I'm going to kind of jump off of Gabe's question. My name's Lauren, and my question, Alex, was, how much did you enjoy writing the mythology stories that happen before each chapter?

ALEX ASTER: Oh, Lauren, that was one of my favorite parts too. The stories and the powers are definitely my favorite parts, but actually, in the first version of this book, there were stories, but there were only, I think, three, and they weren't separate chapters. They were just kind of put in the book. And so, when I sold the book, my editor told me, she was like, "I think we need more of these." And that's when I was like, "Okay. If we're going to get more, we might as well put them between the chapters." And so, I wrote all of them in a few months, and I just loved it.

ALEX ASTER: Some are definitely based on Latinx myths, like [foreign language 00:08:15] or [foreign language 00:08:17], and some, I just kind of came up with from scratch using the tradition of these cautionary tales, these scary stories to kind of scare kids into following the rules. And I loved it. I got some books on mythology. And I think just growing up as a kid, we are surrounded by mythology, and we really believe it when we're young. And my grandmother used to tell me if I went to bed with a ponytail, with a bow in my hair that my hair would fall out. And so, I never did it. I don't know why she would tell me that. I don't know.

LAUREN: Alex, that's why I really enjoyed the book so much, is because I really looked forward to the mythology stories at the end of each chapter. And it gave you a preview. It didn't spoil it. They gave you a preview of what was going to happen next, and I really enjoyed that.

MALIKA: Hi, my name is Malika, and my question is, in the book, it's kind of about how Tor doesn't like his emblem and kind of doesn't like the way people said he should learn and stuff. So, have you ever had a moment in your life where you were kind of feeling that?

ALEX ASTER: I did, obviously, have societal pressures that everyone experiences to do something that's more, I guess, achievable, or something that at least has a roadmap because I failed a lot. This isn't the first book that I've written, and I've been writing books since I was 12. And I learned every single time I wrote a new book, and I got confident. And I think I started to believe in myself more. And I didn't have friends like Engle and Melda, who definitely supported Tor and helped him along the way, but I gained my confidence and I kept doing what I loved. And so, even though I did have doubt and I did have other people around me saying that I should do something else, I continued forward. So, I think I definitely had many instances of that, of someone telling me that I should be doing something else, but that's probably the one that's most relevant to my life right now because that's my job now. And for 10 years, I didn't know if I could make that happen. But, that's just a good question, a very good question.

GABE: So, I always felt that writing a book was super hard to do because you had to write all these chapters and do all this. I don't know, it was just super hard. But, was it hard or easy for you to write this book?

ALEX ASTER: Oh, thank you so much for the question. This book was definitely a lot easier than other books. And I definitely would encourage you, if you want to write a book, even if it's hard, just do it. It is hard. Everything is hard that's worth doing. But, it becomes easier the more you do it. So, I mentioned before that I've been writing since I was 12. I wrote many books in the last few years. And they were never published, but it was kind of like practice for me, the same way, in math class, obviously, the first day of school in math, you're not going to be the best math person in the world, but you learn, and there's nothing wrong with that. You learn and you get better. And you also, you realize what you want to write.

ALEX ASTER: So, I think in the beginning, your writing is kind of similar to books that you read. You maybe will write something that is almost exactly like your favorite book, but that's fine because you're just learning and you're learning how plot works and you're finding your voice. And so, I think starting by almost copying other works, but it's fine because it's not like you're going to publish that book. You're just practicing. So, just kind of emulating the books that you love and then going from there, it becomes so much easier.

ALEX ASTER: So, for this book, no, I wouldn't say it was hard because I have had other books that are a lot harder to write, but I think, at this point, I was ready to write this book, and it really came from my heart. And it just kind of poured out of me. I wrote it for weeks and weeks and didn't stop. And I got really lucky because my plot ended up working out. That doesn't always happen. But, it's a quest narrative, so it's Tor trying to find something. So that's one of, I would say, the easier ways to write a book because it's a linear narrative and you have an ending point. And so, it wasn't that difficult, but I also had been writing for many years.

ALEX ASTER: But, again, if you do want to write a book or do anything that seems difficult, just start. Because, by the time you're done, you'll have learned so much. And it does seem like so many words. And it can take some people years to write a book, but that's great. The more time it takes, the better it'll be, the more you learn. So, yes, I think every book I write is hard, but it's easy for me because I love it so much and I enjoy the process. Every day that I write, I'm not like, "Oh, I have 200 pages more to go." I'm like, "Wow, I get to write this." And I might have 200 pages, but I don't really want to reach the end because I'm enjoying it so much. So, that's kind of the way I think about it.

ALEX ASTER: But, you can definitely write a book. Any of you guys can write a book. You can do whatever you put your mind to, really. It's just about learning. And if that's what you want to do, just go for it. And, yes, it'll be hard, but if it's hard, it means that you're pushing yourself and you're doing something that is worth doing. So, if you guys want to write a book, write a book. You can do anything. You just have to work hard.

GABE: Thank you. That's awesome.

LAUREN: And, Alex, do you find that it was also fun for you to do because of your grandmother's Colombian mythology, and sharing those stories with you, and then you get to share the stories with other people? Do you feel like that's what made it a little easier to writing this book?

ALEX ASTER: Exactly. I think this was really the book of my heart. I spent so much time practicing and learning the craft, and this was really writing what I knew. This was writing the stories that I had grown up with and the mythology I was familiar with, and I think that's definitely why it was easy. I wasn't trying to force myself to write something that felt unnatural. It was just writing what was in my heart. And so, it came out, and I was really lucky with how it came out of me. And I think just I loved the characters right away. I loved the world. And I really think, when you enjoy it, it becomes easy. Even if it could take a long time and people can think it's hard, if you love it, you're always going to think it's easy because it's easy for you to do something that you love.

MILES: Thanks for listening to the Children Chatting with Authors podcast!

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