Nimira's Song and Dance

The celebration continues! Nimira from Magic Under Glass is here to tell us more about herself.

Hi Nimira. I'm honoured that you consented to take part in this mini interview. Will you tell us more about your family, and how life was before you came here?

When my mother died, my father fell deeply into debt... or perhaps it had already begun before she died, but either way, we had to move in with my uncle up north. He owns a large farm, and while he had servants, there was much work to be done by all the family. There was very little time for dancing. Looking back, I suppose I seem spoiled and selfish, but I hated the farm work and my cousins teased me. I was terribly lonely.

That's understandable. How long have you been dancing for Granden’s troupe?

Almost 3 years. Goodness, it seems like eternity!

It always seems that way when you're working for Granden. *g* What styles of dance can you do?

I mainly perform a simple form of Safiera, a song-and-dance style of my country performed solely by women.

How does your costume look like?

Wow, that's gorgeous!*

I do hate how stiff I look in photographs, and the hand tinting is rather garish, but you will get an idea from the enclosed photograph. The tunic falls almost to my knees, and beneath it I wear "trousers", like knickers that button at the knee, and decorated slippers.

What other skills do you have other than dancing?

I have a little skill at embroidery. And of course, I sing. Beyond that, nothing much.

Have you seen an automaton before Erris?

I once saw an automaton at the fair. It was a woman who "spoke" in a frightening, tinny voice.

What’s the history behind trouser girls?

As far as I am aware, it was first performed by a favorite courtesan, who combined dance and storytelling into a performance of song and dance with sparse instrumental accompaniment. Safiera means 'pantomime'. Over the years, it became a popular form of court entertainment. The most important characteristic is that every song tells a story, and it is always from a woman's perspective. The name 'trouser girl' is entirely an invention of Lorinar. Back home, most women wear "trousers", whether peasant, dancer, or princess, although a highborn lady might wear longer pants underneath a decorated robe.

Okay Nimira, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see these words. No take backs! :P
Dance: Pleasure
Hollins: Confused
Erris: Handsome
Castle: Stone
Magic: Forbidden
Fairy: Intriguing
Horrible: Death
Trouser: Girl!

Thanks for the insight, Nimira! Anything you’d like to add to folks out there?

I hope you will enjoy my story and not judge me too harshly for my mistakes.

*That's all for now, folks! The artwork above was created by Jackie Dolamore herself. Those who bought the hardcover can enter to win one of them (as a bookplate) here, which you will right?

Cross-posted at: LiyanaLand! on 24 December 2009.

A Magical Inspection: Jackie Dolamore

Hi Jackie! What was your inspiration for writing Magic Under Glass?
Various aspects of Victorian culture and "secrets in the house" novels like Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden, and Rebecca.

I read that you wrote this while querying for another book. How did that turn out?
I think I had mostly finished querying my first novel when I started writing this one, but in between drafts of Magic Under Glass, I wrote and queried another novel. No one wanted to see that one. I think it was for the best... that other novel was very near and dear to my heart -- probably too near and dear for a debut. It is also kind of a quirky book, probably better for the future. I'm actually finishing a rewrite of it now.

The tone of Magic Under Glass is really unique. How would you describe it?
That's a hard question... frankly, I'm so close to my writing that I'm not sure my perception is always the best. I'll get to that in a minute with question about family and friends reading my writing... but, I was going for a tone that was evocative of the 19th century while being clear, and holding a bit of magic.

How concerned are you then with the tone and the shape when you're drafting? Are you simply writing to find a story, assuming that you're going to go back and change everything later?
I don't write crappy first drafts (on purpose). I outline, although the outline always changes, and as I tell the story, it's important to me to have the feel of the story right from the start -- details of setting, beauty of language... and, if I hit a point where I realize the story has gone off course, I have to go back and make all those changes right then. With the last novel I finished, when I wrote the end, it was basically done. I had already been going back over the bulk of the novel to shape it many times, so I just polished up the end and sent it off!

There’s a rich history about Nimira’s homeland, and about the wall that went up between Nimira and Erris’s countries that might (will?) be explained more in book 2. Was it mirrored after any country in real life.
Well, the wall went up between Erris's country and Lorinar, not Nimira's home country, or maybe that's what you meant. Nimira's country draws from aspects of many real countries, including China, Japan, Thailand, India, and the Middle East (my grasp of cultural nuance there is not as fine as Asia, you'll have to forgive me for lumping it together). That's really broad, but I wanted the exact inspiration to remain vague, so you can't draw a total parallel to a country on earth.

Is there going to be a book 2? Can you give us a hint?
Okay, disclaimer: it's a little awkward right now because Bloomsbury has not bought a sequel yet. So, I don't want to sound presumptuous and say there will be one. But, considering my editor wanted me to revise with a sequel in mind, it would be pretty weird if they didn't publish one. So don't panic when you get to the end!

Too late, Jackie.

I *have* already started poking at a Magic Under Glass sequel. I can tell you that while the first book is about starcrossed lovers getting out of a hopeless situation, the second book is about what happens when starcrossed lovers really get to know each other...

If you could choose one fictional character to bring into real life,who would you choose?
Well, it would have to be one of my own. One of my own from unpublished works, Det Arianni. Because I know he would invite me over and make me wonderful food and I would just be dying that he really existed. I mean, can you meet your own character? Or do you explode like meeting yourself while time traveling?

Have you ever written something that you feel uncomfortable writing, knowing that your family and friends will probably end up reading it?
Okay, it's a funny thing. When I wrote Magic Under Glass, I thought, ooh, it's so dark and sexual and gothic and it has all these politics in it, and there are some people I'm so nervous about reading it, and then it goes out into the world, and it's like "a magical novel that would be perfectly fine for precocious 10-year-old!" and "it reminds me of a Disney movie!" Which, I don't mind at all. But it was a funny lesson about how much I project into a book in my mind and don't actually put on the page, apparently...

What is the strangest thing you have ever gotten inspiration from?
I definitely get inspiration from weird things. I mean, a major inspiration for Magic Under Glass originally was the TV show Lost. Would you guess that in a million years? No, probably not. It just made me think about making a plot more twisty.

Are there any upcoming projects that you can tell us about?
Well, my next book is about a mermaid and a winged guy who was her childhood friend, meeting again after years apart when she goes looking for her sister who ran off with a human. That one is with my editor. So that is definite. Right now I'm finishing that aforementioned quirky novel about a girl whose mother was a potion maker in another world, telepathy, the "potions Mafia", and living doll people. I don't know a good way to explain it.

Potions Mafia? Why does Severus Snape come to mind? Thanks for the interview Jackie! Anything you’d like to say to the readers?
Thank you so much for reading this interview, and thank you doubly if you go read the book! I'm so lucky to tell stories for a living, but it wouldn't be any good without you all to read them.

Stalkerage:
Jaclyn Dolamore
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Cross-posted at: LiyanaLand! on 21 December 2009.