What if your kiss could kill? Find out more about Lindsay Duga’s writing style and what compelled her to write her debut YA Fantasy Kiss of the Royal!
A big Thank You to Fantastic Flying Book Club for picking me to participate in the Kiss of the Royal Blog Tour! I’ve really enjoyed working with them and can’t wait to see what other tours they’ll be hosting in the coming months! If you haven’t checked out their blog yet, you are missing out!
About Kiss of the Royal
Author: Lindsey Duga
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: July 3, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
In the war against the Forces of Darkness, the Royals are losing. Princess Ivy is determined to end this centuries-long conflict once and for all, so her new battle partner must succeed where the others failed. Prince Zach’s unparalleled skill with a sword, enhanced by Ivy’s magic Kiss, should make them an unstoppable pair—but try convincing Zach of that.
Prince Zach has spent his life preparing for battle, but he would rather be branded a heretic than use his lips as nothing more than a way to transfer magic. A kiss is a symbol of love, and love is the most powerful weapon they have—but try convincing Ivy of that.
With the fate of their world on the line, the battlefield has become a testing ground, and only one of them can be right. Falling for each other wasn’t part of the plan—but try convincing their hearts of that.
Find it: iBooks, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads
Interview
1. What gave you the idea to use a Kiss as a weapon? It wasn’t so much coming up with the idea of it being a weapon as it was expanding on the idea of a “magic kiss”. We’ve all read the fairytales of Sleeping Beauty, The Princess in the Frog, Snow White–heck, even Shrek has a True Love’s Kiss in it. It breaks evil curses and all that, so it was taking that basic fairytale motif and removing a very critical element–love. In my book, Royal Kisses have stopped being about love. It is simply a way to break curses and cast magic spells. As a result you have a society of people who are trained to use their Kiss as less of a way to convey your love, and more as a way to break a drought curse plaguing the land, or cast a strength spell to help you defeat a dragon or a giffin ravaging your village…a weaponized kiss if you will.
2. What is it about YA fantasy romance that draws you in? I adore really unique worlds (pretty much anything that falls outside the realm of reality is for me) so that’s definitely part of the obsession, but fantasy romance is a very unique genre in which the author has to make you believe in so many things: the world, its magic system, and the character’s relationship. One reason we love Harry Potter so much is that we are still expecting our Hogwarts letter even when we’re way past the eleventh-year mark. That book made us believe in a world that was impossible, and that’s super important for fantasy. So too, is the romance within that world. Our daily lives affect our romance, so why shouldn’t fantastical ones as well? It’s taking that challenge and really selling your world and that relationship that makes me so intrigued and dying to read more!
3. What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pancer? A bit of both really. I’m more of a constellation/connect-the-dot kind of writer. (I heard Victoria Schwab use this term and I am sticking with it!) This basically means that I have important plot points I have already figured out for the book, but how I get to those points is up for grabs. Though recently, I wrote an entire three-page synopsis for a new book idea before I even wrote the first word, so maybe I just fluctuate depending on how ideas come to me.
4. Do you plan on writing more fantasy or will you venture into other genre’s? Oh absolutely! I already have! My first novel was actually an MG magical realism, then my second was an MG sci-fi, then my YA fantasy (this one) is the one that got the book deal. I have a YA paranormal in the works, a MG paranormal, and another MG sci-fi. So like I said, basically anything that falls outside the realm of reality.
5. What piece of advice have you received during your writing process that really impacted you? We probably all know the concept of “show don’t tell” but there was one particular small tip that I received from my Pitch Wars mentor back in 2016 regarding that principle. Essentially she said to scan my manuscript for any “telling” words–words like “I heard” or “I felt” or “I saw”. Those simple phrases actually mean that they are telling the reader what the character saw, felt, or heard, rather than showing the reader what the character experienced. It was a tiny thing, but I’ve looked out for it ever since.
6. What advice would you give to aspiring authors? Try not to take feedback/advice/rejection too personally. Yes, these books are our babies. They are part of our souls. But ultimately, publishing is a business and extremely ssubjective. Even if we’re selling experiences and entertainment, rather than products or services, we’re still selling something at the end of the day. Once you come to terms with that, I think it becomes easier to grow a thicker shell. Also: writing conferences. They. Are. The. Best.
About the Author
Lindsey Duga is a middle grade and young adult writer with a passion for fantasy, science fiction, and basically any genre that takes you away from the real world. She wrote her first novel in college while she was getting her bachelor’s in Mass Communication from Louisiana State University.
Other than writing and cuddling with her morkie puppy, Delphi, Lindsey loves catching up on the latest superhero TV show and practicing yoga.
Giveaway
Follow the Tour
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June 26th
Book Slaying– Review & Favorite Quotes
The Clever Reader– Q&A
June 27th
Feed Your Fiction Addiction– Guest Post
Library of a Book Witch– Review
June 28th
Flyleaf Chronicles– Review
Velvet Spade Reads– Review & Favorite Quotes
June 29th
Rambling of A Book Nerd– Q&A
The Reading Corner for All– Review
June 30th
Jill’s Book Blog– Review
Sincerely Karen Jo– Review & Favorite Quotes
July 1st
The Reading Faery– Creative Option
Donnie Darko Girl– Review
July 2nd
Vicarious Bookworm– Review & Favorite Quotes
The Lovely Books– Review
Book Lady’s Reviews– Review
July 3rd
BookCrushin– Creative Option
Rattle the Stars– Guest Post
July 4th
F A N N A– Review
The Book Dutchesses– Review
Lisa Loves Literature– Review
July 5th
The Bibliophagist– Review & Favorite Quotes
The Clever Reader 
I really loved this book, and I’m so excited to see what her next YA is going to be, especially because it’s paranormal.
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Oh awesome! I’ll have to read it! It sounds really good!
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