‘ACOTAR’ Author Sarah J. Maas Tells All About Her Romantasy Universe: Exclusive

“Before having children, I wrote two books a year, but I also had no social life. I was basically Gollum in my little writing cave,” she tells Jenna. “(For) all working parents, it’s hard to have a job. You need to show up and focus on work, but also be able to focus on your children – make sure they feel loved, safe, and important in your life. And my children are the ones who bring me the most joy.”

When I sit down with Maas after her conversation with Jenna, I ask her about pioneering the romance genre. She could just be the queen of romance, I say.

This makes her laugh.

“I feel deeply honored that someone would call me queen of anything, considering I spend most of my days covered in my children’s fluids,” she says. “But I think it’s wonderful that people have realized the pleasures of romance and fantasy all in one. That’s what I grew up loving to read. It’s what I always wanted to write.”

The following section has spoilers for the “Crescent City” series and its latest book, “House of Flame and Shadow.” Skip to the next section of this story to avoid it.

MANY SJM FANS SAY that their romances are a majestic fusion of this trio: the poetic romanticism of a Taylor Swift album, the extraordinary world-building of the “Harry Potter” series, and the amazing crossovers of the Marvel movies.

Maas fans exist on a spectrum: at one end are people who casually appreciate his exciting stories; In the middle are people more intrigued and perhaps currently on a journey through the SJM catalogue. And at the other extreme are those deeply obsessed with these books. (Can you guess which end of the spectrum I fall on?)

For those on that extreme, Easter eggs are everything. In his books there are little nods to people, places and things from his other franchises. At first those little winks seemed like just that: little winks. But then, in 2022, came the cliffhanger ending of the last book Maas published, the second in the “Crescent City” series called “House of Sky and Breath,” when his heroine falls into the world “ACOTAR.” It set up a crossover event for Maas’s next book, and with it, readers reopened the case of whether the author had been plotting this all along.

I had to probe Maas about his planning process.

“For several years, I loved the idea of ​​little pieces of these worlds overlapping a little bit,” Maas says. “It wasn’t until about four or five years ago that I came up with this idea out of nowhere: What if I took that to the next level? What would happen if someone simply went to another world? What would that be like? And once I had that idea, I saw the end of ‘House of Sky and Breath.'”

It was very emotional to write: “I was a mess,” he says, and the real ones understand: you can’t underestimate how important that ending was.

Yo previously predicted that the next “Crescent City” book would be a “Captain America: Civil War” moment, meaning the title implies it’s a Captain America movie, but it’s actually more of an Avengers movie, where all your Favorite characters have joined.

After reading “House of Flame and Shadow,” I’m going to make a new Marvel comparison: this book is more of a “Spider-Man: Homecoming” moment, in the sense that it is, in fact, a Spider-Man movie. but Iron Man and Happy are sometimes there too. But let’s remember that when Bloomsbury announced “HOFAS” in 2023, also shared that Maas signed a new four-book deal in addition to the three books he already had under contract. So she has many books coming.

Talking to Jenna, Maas says she knows what four of those books will be about. Those releases are set in what she calls a “break-in position.”

The one he plans to publish next belongs to the series “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” he says, which already has five books. “I’m very, very excited about it,” she adds.

As for the “Crescent City” series, the ending of “House of Flame and Shadow” largely feels like it could be the conclusion to these books. But in a conversation with Jenna, Maas confirmed that the “Crescent City” journey will indeed continue.

“You’ll have to wait a little bit,” he says of the fourth book. “On the taxi line at the airport, there is a little slowdown, but I know who the book is about. I know the big ideas of what I want to happen.”

Later, back in the dark corner of the cocktail bar, Maas tells me more about his “taxi row.”

“There is a book that I am going to write after the next ‘ACOTAR’ book and that I am very excited about. I’m not going to say what world it is in. I am not going to say anything” he smiles as he raises his palms towards me.

“It’s a story that’s been brewing in the back of my mind for a long time,” he continues. “I think it’s going to be a very emotional book for me, just in terms of the world I’ll be writing and the characters that might appear.”

Then he adds sheepishly, “That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

While the most recent “Crescent City” book explores connections to “ACOTAR,” I noted possible Easter eggs that may also indicate links to its third series.

“The doors between worlds could open again, possibly to other places,” Maas tells me. “I don’t commit to anything. But I love the idea of ​​being able to play in all three worlds.”

SARAH J. MAAS REALLY, REALLY love a love story. She tells me this with a matter-of-fact shrug. “If books don’t contain romance, it’s like…” she shakes her head. “I usually make it up. I say: Okay, then they fall in love after this, and everyone is happy and everyone has a thousand children.”

In Maas’s books, his characters have transcendental, transcendental love stories. There are couples for whom their readers are fighting until the end. The supporting characters also have their own romances, straight and queer, that are just as magical.

It’s all very dreamy… and also, very torrid.

This is where we briefly talk about obscenity. Smut, for those new to this, is just a word for sex scenes, and Maas will leave you blushing. (Chapter 41 of “A Court of Silver Flames”: Hello!) Maas jokes with Jenna that he sometimes can’t look her family members in the eye.

“I think one of the most galling moments of my career was, after ‘A Court of Mist and Fury,’ when my mother-in-law took me aside,” Maas says. “She says, ‘Were all those scenes inspired by you and Josh?’ She wanted to just walk into traffic. I said, ‘No, Linda, they’re not.'”

Now, I look at her husband, Josh, who has been present all morning for this session, still smiling at his wife as he watches her be interviewed for national television.

These two are in love, and I suspect it’s in a big, momentous way. They met when Maas was a freshman at Hamilton College and her future husband saw her getting out of the car on moving day. He was a third-year student, a resident assistant, and they began dating shortly after revealing their romance to the residential offices. They married in 2012.

“I’m lucky to have a partner I literally grew up with. I’ve been with him for more than half my life,” Maas tells Jenna. “He was my first boyfriend, my first thing. It sounds really corny to say it, but I think I can write about true love because I can live it every day and have someone who supports me and encourages me, and just supports me and doesn’t feel threatened in any way. thanks to my success.”

In Maas’s fantasy worlds, love interests often exist as fated “partners,” with invisible threads between them that are powerful and often poetic. Readers can see literary metaphors as complementary powers between two characters. But other times there are no metaphors and their connection initially seems random.

“Sometimes I write a scene with two characters that I have planned to get together, and then they don’t have…” She shakes her head slightly at me. “It’s like holding two dolls and saying, now kiss each other! And they won’t. …And then sometimes a different character comes along and they just do it,” she snaps.

“It feels like magic in the sense that, as much as I tried to plan things years in advance, I let my characters guide the story. And they usually end up with the people they need to be with and who offer them the most growth and joy.”

I’m going down the philosophical route with my next question: we’re talking about destiny here, but at what point is a character the agent of his or her own destiny? What happens if someone rejects his partner? (Listen, if I were Fae and I didn’t like my partner, what God chose for me is none of my business.)

“That’s something I find very interesting,” he responds. “What if the forces put you with the wrong person? Or what if he just decides, eh, I’m not interested. …There’s a lot to explore within the concept of companions and your agency in that regard.

“I’m not going to say whether I’ll explore it in future books or not,” he continues, “but it definitely offers a lot of things to explore with this concept of free will and what true love is. Is it something that is destined? Or is it something you do? Are they both?

SOME MAY CLASSIFY MAAS The books are “girl literature,” also known as literature that appeals to women, but let’s take a moment to honor that. Girls love their romance and their fairies. But do you know what else they love? Brotherhood. Childhood. And Maas has a fundamental understanding of what that means and what that really looks like.

The mental and spiritual journeys of her female protagonists, through love, friendship and saving the world, are the basis of Maas’s stories. She tells me about “A Court of Silver Flames”, the latest “ACOTAR” book that follows a character named Nesta, whose greatest enemy is herself.

“When I reread that book, I find it very difficult to read it because so much of Nesta’s journey was my journey. Not literally, but I felt very similar to how she feels at some points in that book,” Maas says. “When I reread it now, I feel sad for my past self. I thought, ‘Oh my God, you were so mean to yourself, you were in so much pain.'”

And she adds: “I feel very proud when I look at that book. And I’m proud of Nesta for going through that. And Nesta, when she gets to the end of that book, she’s not “perfect,” she’s not cured. “She continues to grow the same way I continue to grow and learn about myself.”

From a young age, Maas has been keenly aware of that endless spiritual journey. He conceived the idea of ​​“Throne of Glass” when he was only 16 years old, but even then he knew enough about childhood to believe that Cinderella had much more to tell.

“I always try to give a sense of hope in my stories. Not just hope for a happy ending, but also hope for growth and self-love,” Maas says. “My heroines that I write about go through a lot of things and I always want people who read my books to come away with joy and hope that tomorrow can be better. That tomorrow is worth fighting for.”

Or, as Maas has written in his books: “There is a better world.”