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It has been harder to write since being published, for sure. It was just me and my computer before, so it was super easy to sit down and write. But I’ve learned a lot, so in some ways, I feel like it’s starting to get easier. After I sold Caraval, I tried to write the second book in the series, and I was suddenly aware of all the things I didn’t know. I was really good at being an unpublished writer, and I knew nothing about being an author. I feel like I spent the last five years figuring out what it’s like to be published and how that changes things, finding that balance. The Caraval trilogy put me in the mood for stories about high-stakes competitions, magic, circuses, and the overall art of performance. Here are some book recommendations along those lines that might help with the recovery process. Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over. When the sisters’ long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show’s mastermind organiser, Legend. Think of the most romantic moments of the book where the characters let their guards down and show some truer feelings. They are usually paired with danger and injury and getting saved. Can you think of other "damsel in distress" tales? Are they as common now as they were decades ago?
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner. What appeals to you in a romance tale? What are the characters like who fall in love? Who's your favorite female romantic hero? What does her ideal partner look and act like? Are you looking for a person like that in your own relationships? She imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out. Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything. No one is truly honest. Even if we don't lie to others, we often lie to ourselves. And the word good means different things to different people.
Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever. Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show. I wrote Caraval as a standalone. I hadn’t thought through the whole series, and even if I had, I probably would have made a lot of mistakes because I’d never written a series before. With Once Upon a Broken Heart, I made a point of figuring out how many books I thought the series should be, and writing with that in mind. I wanted to write a series where you could read each book on its own and get a complete story, but then when you read all the books together, they feel like one complete story, too. I spent a lot of time figuring out the whole arc before finishing this first book. That’s why I wrote half of the second book before the first book was edited—because I wanted to set up a really cohesive series this time. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. By signing up you agree to our terms of use Queen of the Nightby Alexander Chee Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems. Caraval is a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister, Tella, it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father. When the sisters' long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show's mastermind organiser -Legend.Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father. I ended up taking a full-on break from all social media and all news for a while. It became too debilitating for me to read everything. Also, during the pandemic, my mom got cancer, so I went and stayed with her because she was going through radiation. And then I was given a false diagnosis for an incurable disease—it was really bonkers. I had a period of time where I couldn’t leave the house during the day. I couldn’t create until I cut out all news, all media, everything, and then it became a really welcome escape. Suddenly, I was able to focus again, and as I was revising this book, I also started on the sequel, and I wrote about half the sequel before I even finished the first book. And I remember writing and falling in love with the story and the world and just being so, so grateful that I had a place to escape to.
Though it was originally published in 2017, Caraval has recently been getting lots of love on BookTok. What has that experience been like for you?Has the pandemic affected your writing? How has it been for you to try to immerse yourself in a fantasy world when real life is so tumultuous? Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people won't wake up. He’d heard every person gets one impossible wish—just one—if the person wants something more than anything, and they can find a bit of magic to help them along. Fans of the Caraval series will be immediately drawn into this spinoff series, but more by the magic, ballgowns, and twisty intrigue than by the new main character. The Fates and their magic remain from the Caraval series, especially the troublesome and irresistible Prince of Hearts, but there's more magic in store in the Magnificent North where stories and enchanted archways hold a mysterious power. There's also power in attending balls and attracting the attention of the gossip rags and handsome princes. It's too bad for Evangeline, the main character, that she can't tell if anyone's affections or intentions are real, not when she's made a bargain with heartless Prince of Hearts that makes her his puppet on command. After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Tella finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn't yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend's true name.
I started writing Once Upon a Broken Heart in the spring of 2019, right after Finale came out. I finished my first draft right before Covid-19 hit, but it was revised during the pandemic, and that affected the book a lot. It was a really hard time, so I wanted to give my character even more hope and optimism. Even though it’s a story about heartbreak, I wanted to write a character who believes in fairy tales and true love and love at first sight and all of these things.
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Hope is a powerful thing. Some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether. Elusive, difficult to hold on to. But not much is needed. You were unpublished when you wrote Caraval and conceived of that trilogy; now you’re a bestselling author. Has your success made it easier to sit down at the keyboard, or more daunting? Did you learn any lessons from that first trilogy that inspired you to change your process or your approach? Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun - with lives, empires, and hearts all at stake. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win and those who will lose everything. Welcome, welcome to the Caraval's Finale. All games must come to an end . . .
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