Bitten by JORDAN STEPHANIE GRAY is a fast-paced romantasy debut, in which a teenage girl must survive ruthless werewolves, a glittering court, and deadly politics to exact revenge on the monsters who killed her best friend. Read on for a Q&A.
What inspired your debut novel Bitten?
One of the most wonderful things about debut novels is that, typically, an author pours everything they love inside it. Bitten was no different for me. I wanted to write a story that paid homage to all the books that made me fall irrevocably in love with reading. I was inspired by paranormal novels like Twilight and Hush, Hush, television shows like The Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf, and fantasies like The Cruel Prince and The Infernal Devices. I hope readers can sense that journey in the book, and I really hope they love how it ends!
What was your journey to publication like?
My journey to publication wasn’t easy or quick. Some writers are very lucky, and the first book they write is snatched up by an agent and then a traditional publisher. Other writers … it takes a bit more time. Bitten was my 14th completed manuscript, and the book that finally won me an agent. It took 12 years of consistent writing and editing every single day, over a dozen queried books, and around a thousand rejections from literary agents. I wanted to quit a lot. I cried a lot. I questioned my sanity more often than not. But there was some intrinsic part of me that couldn’t stop writing, even when it felt hopeless. I hope anyone reading this knows that if I can do it, you can do it too. Just keep going. Keep writing. Don’t give up. Your time will come.
What can you tell us about the werewolves of your story? And what sets them apart from more tradition portrayals?
I absolutely loved werewolves as a teen, but the more I read in the paranormal genre (both in adult and YA), the more I realised I wanted to see werewolves treated the way vampires and faeries had been. Vampires lived in luxurious castles; they cut their enemies down with glittering jewels on their fingers and wine goblets in their hands. Faeries played dangerous games with serpentine cunning. Brutal but not necessarily barbaric. So, in Bitten, the Wolf Queen’s Court is knife sharp and deadly. Secrets move like pieces on a chess board. People are pawns in a much larger game. They use their werewolf strengths and their brutality, but they don’t act without thought. Every single word is intentional. And bloodshed is just a part of their natural order. It’s one of my favourite parts of the story!
How did you develop Vanessa Hart? Is she based on someone you know or is she completely imagined?
Vanessa Hart was my introduction to Bitten. The first idea I had was a thought that I couldn’t quite shake about a young girl locked in a room as she went through a harrowing and painful transition into a werewolf. Immediately, Vanessa’s voice sprang into my head. She was afraid, but she was also angry. She wanted vengeance against those who had harmed her. And through that rage, I connected with her. Vanessa is by no means based off me, but she represented what I needed at that moment in time. I had been rejected almost a thousand times. Everyone kept telling me I would never make it here. I was going to quit and walk away forever, but there was a fire inside me that wouldn’t allow me to leave. Vanessa’s anger gave me my own agency to keep going. Without it, I wouldn’t have finished this book, and I wouldn’t be published.
How did you approach building the world of Bitten? Did you draw from any existing folklore, fantasy or places?
Bitten is truly an amalgamation of everything I’ve loved for so many years, but the world building came about rather organically. I adore whimsy. I love soft magic systems where anything is possible (like in Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart – two of my favourite series!). So when I was drafting, I naturally layered in different bits of magic that I’ve always been drawn to. There are prophecies and special powers determined by horoscopes and constellations. Stardust lingers between the trees, and faerie fruit is used in alchemy to make vicious poisons. When I received my first round of edits from my editor, I was worried she ‘d make me delete all the whimsy, but she asked me to add more! Which is when I got to add paintings that give way to secret passages, curio cabinets with haunted objects, and moving statues that might bite!
What will the romance in this novel look like? Are there any favourite tropes at play?
The romance in Bitten is my favourite part of the book! Sinclair Severi is a handsome prince who is charming, betrothed to someone else, and definitely keeping secrets. Calix Severi (Sin’s cousin) is a brooding bodyguard who is enraged at Vanessa’s presence, grumpy most of the time, and definitely keeping secrets. It also features some of my favourite tropes, such as: fake dating, sparring, hate-to-love, forbidden romance, claws-to-the-throat, and so much banter.
Do you see this book as part of a larger series or universe?
Bitten is absolutely part of a larger series. I always envisioned it to be four or five novels, but of course that depends on if my publisher will allow me to keep writing about angry teen werewolves!
Where did you get your love of storytelling?
When I was younger, we spent a lot of time at the public library. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother taking my brother and I to check out books in the summer. She would make sure we read every single day. As I got older, my father started taking us too. By that point, I would check out five books at once and read them all before the weekend was over. It was my favourite hobby, which then spun into wanting to write my own stories. While I wrote poems and short stories in my early youth, when I was around 14, I tried writing a full story for the first time. I never finished it, and it was basically an embarrassing self-insert paranormal romance, but it cracked open that love of writing, and I never looked back.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jordan Stephanie Gray is the debut author of Bitten and a long time daydreamer of the fantastical and the romantic. Prior to writing professionally, she spent most of her young adult life consuming any book she could get her hands on – especially if said book had lots of kissing. Local to Florida, though sadly the part of the state without any hot supernatural men, she spends her time either camped outside on her laptop or in front of the television with her four dogs, partner, and child.
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