Happy Monday my wonderful readers. I said I was back and I am but I’m just getting back into a routine what with work at the moment. But I’m sitting here, a Sunday evening, writing a blog post after a day of being cosy with a coffee and good book! It’s been a good day. Anyways I digress.
Today I’m really excited to say that I have one of my favourite American authors on my blog today. If you follow me on Instagram, you would have had a sneak peak already, but I got the opportunity to interview Katharine McGee, author of The Thousandth Floor series and her latest American Royals. This is a bit of a fangirly interview as I couldn’t believe that I got the chance. SO thank you to Penguin for the chance. So without further ado here is a bit about American Royals.
American Royals (American Royals, #1) by Katharine McGee Published by Penguin on September 5, 2019
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Meet the Washingtons - the most scandalous royal family ever!
HRH Princess Samantha has always been a royal rebel. She's the spare not the heir, so no one minds too much who she dates or how hard she parties.
It helps that her sister, Princess Beatrice, is literally perfect. She's demure, sweet and beautiful, and she knows that the crown always comes first - no matter what her heart might really want.
But they're not the only ones with their eye on the throne. Daphne Deighton might be 'newly noble' but she won Prince Jefferson's heart once, and she'll do anything to get back into the court's favour - and his bed.
If only she knew that her competition was a common nobody - plain little Nina Gonzalez, the daughter of the king's secretary.
Together these four young women must navigate the drama, gossip, scheming and sizzling romance of the most glorious court in the world. There's everything to play for - but there can only be one queen.
Interview with Katharine McGee
For those who haven’t read your latest series, American Royals, would you like to introduce it for us…
American Royals reimagines present-day America as a monarchy. Among historians, George Washington is often called “the man who could have been king.” In American Royals, I ask the question, what if he had become king? How would modern America, and today’s world more broadly, be different? The books follow all the romance, drama, and misadventures of the American royal family, focusing on the young woman who will be the nation’s very first queen.
Between writing The Thousandth Floor series and American Royals, there is such a change in genre from dystopian to contemporary, what made you want to write something different?
My series actually aren’t as different as they seem on the surface! Both have such a specific setting, whether it’s a skyscraper in 22nd-century Manhattan or an alternate version of modern America. For each series, I did a great deal of research to make the worldbuilding feel believable. And within these heightened settings, my books always tell the story about a group of young people whose lives become intertwined in surprising ways. There’s something about coming-of-age stories and tangled romances that I never get tired of, no matter where they take place!
As soon as a I started reading American Royals, I had missed your writing, I loved it. How do you weave your storyline and multiple characters so flawlessly? Any tips?
I’m very much a “plotter,” meaning that I try to outline my books before I get started. (Try is the key word here, because I inevitably end up going off-outline, but at least I have a starting place!) I’m also a visual learner, so I like to write out the plot in bullet points once I’ve decided the general story direction for each character. The whiteboard in my office gets a lot of use! Once I can see the story outlines in front of me—I color-code them by character!—then I look for ways cross the stories. After all, the fun of a multi-POV book comes from the complicated and dramatic relationships among the characters.
What’s it like writing multiple points of view? Do you have get too attached to a certain character or struggle to connect with one of them?
The nice thing about writing a book with several POV’s is that every time a character starts to feel tricky, I’m usually about to switch to another character, so I get to slide into another person’s voice! But juggling the four narrators can also be difficult. I’m essentially trying to write four mini-books at once: that is, I want each of the characters to have a fulfilling and complete arc, even though their story is only a single part of the overall book. It means that every one of my scenes needs to move the plot forward, while also being emotionally satisfying. If anything doesn’t feel like it’s helping enrich our characters (even if it’s a scene that I love!) I’m ruthless about cutting it. I can’t afford for the books to feel slow!
How do you plan your books? Where do you take inspiration for them?
I find that inspiration can come from anywhere—from other books, new places (I miss travel!), or even a casual conversation with a friend. My family members will tell you that I’ve stolen lines of dialogue from them on more than one occasion! ☺ The key thing is to make sure you write down that flash of inspiration the moment you experience it. When I think of something that belongs in a book, I record it in a voice memo on my phone before I forget it.
Do you have a favourite royal and have you ever met one?
I would love the chance to meet one of the royal family! But if I could spend time with any of them, I would probably choose Queen Elizabeth. She’s lived through so much history (she’s outlasted fourteen prime ministers!), and has spent her entire life providing an example of a woman in power. I just know she’s got some amazing stories to share!
If your book was optioned for the media, which it should be, who would you want to play your characters?
I would be thrilled if American Royals became a TV show! I could see Belle Shouse playing Daphne—I think she’d capture both her ruthlessness and her surprising vulnerability. Bianco Santos is so talented; I’d love to see her as Nina. I adore Cole Sprouse on Riverdale, and think he’d be a wonderful Ethan. As for Samantha, Beatrice, and Jeff… I wouldn’t dare try to cast royalty!
If you could recommend one book for everyone to read, what would it be?
One series that I return to again and again is Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. I first read those books when I was in middle school, and they completely changed the way I thought about fantasy. I love how they balance an action-packed plot with deep questions about family, spirituality, and growing up.
American Royals and the sequel, Majesty is OUT NOW! I recommend all of Katharine’s books, so please go to a bookshop and buy them.
About Katharine
Katharine McGee is the New York Times bestselling author of the Thousandth Floor series. She studied English and French literature at Princeton and has an MBA from Stanford. She’s been speculating about American royalty since her undergraduate days, when she wrote a thesis on “castle envy”: the idea that the American psyche is missing out on something, because Americans don’t have a royal family of their own.
Katharine lives with her husband in her hometown of Houston, Texas.
