Fantasy with a Greek Twist: Author Interview-Parrisha Martelly

Today, I'm talking with Parrisha Martelly, author of the YA paranormal fantasy, Fox.

1) Tell us about your book.

Every year, Pandora's Box calls out to one corrupted being on the planet and drives its victim, named the Chosen, to insanity until they open the box. If they don't open it by January 1st of the next year, they die. Fox centers around a group called The House of Lords, whose job is to protect this artifact from the Chosen who seek to open it. In the story, this year’s Chosen has captured the Leader of The House of Lords, and his daughter, Fox, goes on a journey to find him.

2) It's 2011, yet stories with links to ancient Greek mythology still resonate with readers. Why do you think this is?

I think Greek mythology holds an air of intrigue. It contains fascinating people, mythical creatures, legends, and heros. Sometimes, it’s nice to have an escape from what we deem the “norm”. Fox contains light Greek mythology that becomes more prominent as the series goes on.

3) Your story mixes both elements of different types of supernatural beings and elements. How did you go about doing your world building?

World building was particularly difficult. It’s very important to be consistent within your own world and to understand what is and isn’t possible. It took a lot of brainstorming. I had to decide on things that wouldn’t seem to be a big deal, but would have had a huge impact on how the story played out. For example, is there electricity? How would electricity impact other aspects of the world? The world itself went through a variety of changes before I was finally able to settle on the environment that I wanted to create.

4) Fantasy, by its very nature, involves the unreal. What do you think is most important in getting a reader to suspend disbelief and accept such settings?

There are a couple of things that are important in this regard. First, I think having realistic characters is key. We may not be able to understand a character’s life (I can’t even imagine protecting an object that could cause the ultimate destruction of the world!), but we can identify and empathize with emotion. I think staying consistent within the world that you have built is critical.

5) When you wrote this book were planning on a sequel?

I wrote this book over the course of four years. I wasn’t intending to write a sequel at first, but over time, I realized that it would take more than one book to tell this story. I wanted the reader to see the characters develop through different points in their lives.

6) What was your inspiration for this book?


One night, I was sitting on my bed with my new laptop and exploring different applications. I opened up Microsoft Word, intent on writing a poem, but ended up writing a scene between two men, Levictious and Smitten. Levictious had just found his old friend Smitten, who had been in hiding, and tried to coax Smitten for information on the man he was running from. This man was said to have unspeakable power and had never been seen by the eyes of man. That scene is not in the novel today, but it was the idea that sparked the rest of the story.

7) What inspired you to write? 

Reading good books probably helped spark my imagination. Writing exercises in school, particularly telling stories, was always fun to me. Both of my grandfathers were writers, so I think I inherited their passion for writing. :)

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Thanks, Parrisha.

Check Parrisha's book out at Amazon or visit her at her web site at http://www.parrishamartelly.com/.

She's on blog tour this week, so if you're interested in seeing more from her, please check out her schedule at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/631404.