An Interview with Lia Habel
Lia Habel was born in Jamestown, NY, and has lived there the majority of her life. Her first book, Dearly, Departed is a sweeping tale of zombie-living romance set in a cyber-Victorian/steampunk future. When Dearly, Departed sold, Lia was swimming in debt incurred from her studies and years of un- and underemployment, with only a few dollars to her name. Miss Habel enjoys attending anachronistic and steampunk events, watching zombie movies (she has watched over a hundred of them), commissioning ball gowns, and collecting Victorian and Edwardian books. She is incredibly grateful for the opportunities she has recently been given.
The Interview
1. What drew you to YA fantasy writing?
I definitely grew up preferring fantastical elements in my stories, that's for sure - mostly concerning monsters! Monsters are my true love, and where the majority of my ideas tend to come from. I've never been into realistic or contemporary fiction, but I wouldn't call myself a fan of high fantasy, either. I like a blend of elements - in my case, that's the weirdness of zombies, the fun of exploding machinery, and a lot of action, all mixed together. I love that I've been allowed to play with so many elements simultaneously.
2. I know you have a thing for zombies and horror in general, do you have any favorite authors you'd recommend?
Max Brooks and Jonathan Maberry for your zombie fix, definitely (although they tend to write for adults).I'm also a huge fan of the Dean Koontz Frankenstein series - it's delightfully creepy - and I can't wait for the next Justin Cronin vampire book. I also love classic horror, such as Lovecraft and Stoker. I'm afraid I tend to read more adult horror than YA, so really young readers, be warned!
3. Your website is filled with beautiful photos of you in Victorian outfits. What is it about that era that draws you in?
I've been attracted to it since I was a little girl, but back then, it was definitely a more superficial love. I grew up reading books like Little Women, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and I so desperately wanted to be the girls in those stories, live their lives. I loved the manners, the vocabulary, the clothes. As someone who felt that she had been born into a "bad" time, I would look upon this mythical Golden Age of beauty and splendor and just long to replace my drab gray world with it. As I grew older, I learned that the Victorians were just like us - wicked and heartless in all the ways we're wicked and heartless, sublime in all the ways we're sublime. They laughed at the same things, dreamed the same dreams, fought the same emotional battles. So my love changed, and I ended up loving the combination of fascinating history, amazing aesthetics, and fantastic literature that the era now represents for me.
Oh, and clothes. Always clothes.
4. I try my best to put Dearly, Departed into a single category, but it's impossible. It's paranormal, it's zombies, it's dystopian, it's got historical aspects, etc. How would you describe it?
Oh gosh, that's hard, isn't it? It's ten thousand things! I usually describe it as "a cyber-Victorian zombie love story." I hate forcing it into a romance mold, as it's so much more than that, but that usually gets people's attention - and it is an important part of the plot. If I can give a longer description I really try to emphasize the action, the fact that the world is just huge, that it takes place in this alternate Neo-Victorian future. But yeah, sometimes I look back and I'm amazed even my agent was willing to take a chance on something so hard to categorize!
5. What inspired Dearly, Departed?
It's hard to pin my moment of inspiration down, because the book started out as a joke amongst myself and my friends. It really was a case of, "Har har, I'm going to write a zombie romance book. Here I go." And because it was this personal exercise, a lot of my own personality ended up on the page. I threw in the steampunk and Victorianism I loved, the sci-fi I loved, the big explosions and heroic monsters that I love. Every horror movie I've ever watched is in the book in some small way! But overall, I just really wanted to write a story that involved a paranormal hero who wasn't dark and brooding and painfully hot, and a heroine who had some bite, who wasn't willing to just go blindly along for the ride just to be with him.
6. Can you tell our readers about Nora Dearly?
My New Victorian living girl, Nora, is this little ball of energy that just bounces madly around her environment - at least, that's always my first impression when I sit down to work with her! She's definitely her own person, even at such a young age - losing her mother, then her father, that's natural, I think. She learned how to deal with death, deal with being alone, to assert herself, because she had no choice. And yet, death has not conquered her. She broods occasionally, but she's still got some spark, some spunk. She's not entirely trod down. I really wanted to create a personality like that, because if the book has any "lesson" to impart it's that you can never give up, never stop going. So even though she's been through so much tragedy, Nora still has this great capacity for love, and for deep, grateful love at that. I think she's uniquely suited to love someone like Bram, because she's capable of looking below the surface. She's not someone who will quibble over packaging, not when the gift inside is someone as strong and compelling as Bram. Other than that, I think the strongest thread in Nora's personality is her fierce loyalty. She's a little bulldog - in a lot of ways, she is her father. She will gladly fight to the death for what's right, or for her friends.
I try to balance this, though, because otherwise I think she might run the risk of coming off as a brat. She's introspective, she knows her own weaknesses, and she's willing to listen (mostly). She's not an idiot. So she might really want to rush off into the fray with a shotgun, but she knows sometimes she can't. She's all about breaking the rules, but she knows that sometimes you can get further by obeying them, if only for a time. Nora learning her limitations is an ongoing struggle.
7. Is Dearly, Departed the first book of a series? If so, when is the next book coming out and can you give a sneak peek into a little piece of it?
Yes, it's the first in a series! I'm currently working on the sequel, Dearly, Beloved, which will be available in 2012. I don't want to give too much away, but D,B takes us back to New London, and we'll get to see how the world is dealing with the advent of the walking dead. A couple of one-liner characters from the first book will come back as huge characters, and there will be some major changes.
8. Can you name one of your favorite scenes to write in Dearly, Departed?
Definitely the scenes with Bram and Nora on opposite sides of the door. I liked the idea of them easing into their initial relationship, because so often in paranormal romance it seems like the heroine sees the hero and is immediately in his thrall - Nora's not the type to play that game, even if the guy in question wasn't a walking, talking dead body. But she eventually learns that the moving, talking dead body is trustworthy and reasonable, and they can move on from there.
9. Do you have any book tours/signings/appearances planned in 2012?
The big ones I know of so far are Authors After Dark in New Orleans and possibly Ad Astra in Toronto. I'd love to go to San Diego Comic-Con again, but I'm not sure if I'll be there or not. The best place to watch for info on appearances is probably my Twitter, @liahabel.
10. Can you tell us one piece of advice that you would offer aspiring YA fantasy writers?
Write what you love. Don't let anyone tell you that your ideas are too stupid or too complicated or that they're out of fashion. Just go with your gut, because you never know where it might take you!
Dearly, Departed: A Zombie Novel
Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid's arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead-or rather, the undead ? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
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