Our SPFBOX interviews continue with Tessa Hastjarjanto, author of Undine’s Blessing.
SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) is a free online contest run by author Mark Lawrence. 300 authors compete across ten judging teams to see who will be the winner! You can read more about the contest here.
INTERVIEW WITH TESSA HASTJARJANTO
Tell us a little about yourself and let our readers know which blog you’ve been assigned to for SPFBOX!
What inspired you to write this book?
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing or editing process? What’s most exciting to you about writing or editing?
I loooooove drafting! And I hate editing in equal measure. English isn’t my native language so nitpicking on words and sentences is harder for me, especially after blunt head trauma which affected the language part of my brain. I can draft pretty quickly but it’ll be more like a skeleton of a story and I need more revisions and editing rounds to fill it up. I’m a notorious underwriter. The original draft for Undine’s Blessing was around 28k. It’s now 43k. Still short for a novel but a story should be as long as is needed.
I’ve written things I needed hear at some point. Some things I’ve written, I still need to tell myself.
Who or what have been your major literary influences?
I’ve watched many movies in the time between drafting and finally publishing it and I noticed a lot of commonalities with Disney, Pixar, and Ghibli movies. It’s the fairy tales I read when I was younger. It’s the places I have visited. It’s the books I have read (in English and Dutch).
What makes your SPFBOX book unique?
Marella’s journey reflects my own in some ways. I’ve written things I needed hear at some point. Some things I’ve written, I still need to tell myself. Chronic pain and illness is a complex beast, both for the person having it, but also for the people around you. I’ve been a caretaker, and taken care of. I hope this book will resonate with people in both positions.
Do you have a favourite character from your SPFBOX entry? Tell us about them!
Frirah! The tiny baby decapod. She’s small now, no bigger than your hand, but she’ll grow into a big kraken. She might even appear on a map somewhere.
I’ve watched many movies in the time between drafting and finally publishing it and I noticed a lot of commonalities with Disney, Pixar, and Ghibli movies. It’s the fairy tales I read when I was younger. It’s the places I have visited. It’s the books I have read (in English and Dutch).
How does your work fit into (or challenge) its genre?
I think so. It’s cozy, adventurous fantasy. No romance, but a strong focus on family and friendship. Love comes in many shapes and forms after all. It can be enjoyed by young teens (upper middle grade) and more experienced people alike.
What do you hope readers take away from your SPFBOX entry?
What are you currently working on?
A desert fantasy where three people are going to steal from a god. Nothing will go wrong with this plan, right?
It’s the novelization of another story that appears in Tales of Lunis Aquaria, where this story is told as a legend. I already have all the covers for this five book trilogy (a prequel novella, the trilogy, and a companion novel from the god’s perspective going beyond the story of the trilogy).
Undine’s Blessing
A dutiful daughter, a mystical archipelago, and a hidden power waiting to command the tides…
Marella spends her days caring for her sick mother and selling her father’s fish. Bound by duty and love, she dreams little of adventure. But when her mother must travel to the city for treatment, her father takes her out to sea, despite her fear of water.
A storm steers them to Emberrain, home to a tribe of magical nymphs and a place of secrets, where Marella discovers a startling truth: her father is a frequent visitor to these mysterious islands. Soon she learns that Emberrain isn’t the only secret he had kept from her.
Marella has the power to control water and communicate with aquatic animals.
Overwhelmed by the magical but dangerous islands, and the secrets of her father, Marella must learn to harness her powers to save herself and her new aquatic friend before they are separated from their parents forever.
Undine’s Blessing is a journey of wonder, where fears are faced and mysteries unravel, and a young girl learns that true adventure begins when you dare to embrace who you truly are.
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Tessa Hastjarjanto is a Dutch/Indonesian writer from the Netherlands. She writes speculative fiction, and blogs at narratess.com about books, fountain pens, and writing.
From a young age, she imitated popular stories and games in creating her own worlds. This love eventually led to a master’s degree in media and game studies at the University of Utrecht. However a mundane desk job was enough to inspire her to follow her creative passion. The first fanfics were written in lunch breaks and soon original fiction followed.
With the support of her husband, she now focuses on her writing career while battling chronic pain. Swiss white shepherd, Shiro, acts as a therapy dog to keep her healthy and reduce stress through extensive cuddle sessions.
