We chat with Emma Clancey, author of the stunning YA fantasy, This Dream Will Devour Us.
A&U: Hey Emma! Thanks so much for chatting with us. Would you mind telling us a little about This Dream Will Devour Us?
EC: Sure! This Dream Will Devour Us follows a girl who wins a lottery to attend a once-in-a-lifetime magical gala in NYC. There’s just one problem: she never entered that lottery. So, someone wants her at the gala, and that person might just be willing to kill to keep their secrets safe …
It’s one part fantasy, one part thriller and one part (fake dating!) romance. Expect betrayals, banter and a family of magic-making billionaires who seriously cannot be trusted.
A&U: Where did the idea for This Dream Will Devour Us come from? Were you inspired by anything in particular?
EC: I always seem to get my best ideas when I’m walking, and This Dream Will Devour Us was no exception. The spark for the story struck during my commute to a hospital where I was placed as a medical student. Almost every day, I walked past the iconic Coca Cola billboard in Kings Cross. It’s such a recognisable brand – ubiquitous, really. It made me wonder: what if magic was a product like that? Something mass-produced, marketed and inescapable.
That spawned so many interesting questions. What would that product look like? Who would make it? Who would use it? What would it be used for?
Since I was pondering these questions on my walk to the hospital, it’s probably not surprising that my thoughts headed in a medical direction. In This Dream Will Devour Us, magic (which is called ‘levic’) is a pharmaceutical product. It’s exclusively manufactured and distributed by one very powerful family. I love stories about messy families – think Knives Out and Succession – so that was a big inspiration too.
A&U: The lush world of the Lamours and levic is so detailed and feels like it could honestly be real! How did you go about constructing this alternative version of our world?
EC: Oh, thank you! Truth be told, I probably spent far too much time (and had far too much fun) fleshing out the details of this world when I should’ve been writing the book!
I wanted this universe to feel close to ours, so I tried to parallel real-world issues and events wherever possible. You’ll spot magic-infused references to everything from the Met Gala and motorsports to Prohibition and the French Revolution. Equitable access to life-saving magic is a key issue throughout the book, and this is intended to echo discussions around the accessibility of healthcare.
To make a fantasy world feel real, I think establishing the details of daily living is key. I asked a few friends how they’d use levic, and some of their examples made it into the final book – like the friend who told me she would use magic to modify the flavour of a too-sour fruit!
A&U: The twists and reveals in This Dream Will Devour Us genuinely kept us guessing the whole time! Did you meticulously plan everything, or are you more of a pantster and discovered it all as you went along?
EC: I set out to write This Dream Will Devour Us with a 10,000-word outline and a very clear idea of where the story was headed – and I was completely wrong. I ended up abandoning that outline about halfway through my first draft. Then, once I started working with a publisher, the ending changed again! New setting, new twists. My favourite twist was actually one of those late additions. And I’ll reveal (no spoilers!) that a certain central character who died in the first draft now makes it to the end alive.
A&U: And lastly, what advice would you have for any budding writers out there who might be reading this Q&A?
EC: I’ll repeat some advice given to me by a wonderful mentor: keep your eyes on your own page. It’s so easy to get distracted or discouraged by factors outside of your control – the market, publishers, what other writers are doing and how fast they’re getting it done. Instead, try to focus on what you can control. Keep putting words on that page. Write the story that calls to you. You’re doing this because you love to write (I hope!), so when it gets tough, remind yourself of that love and shut out the rest.
This Dream Will Devour Us
by Emma Clancey
Sometimes you have to kill a dream to escape a nightmare. An intoxicating mix of magic and the machinations of the rich and powerful creates a compulsive, bingeable read.
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