Alyssa Roat is many things.
Award-winning poet. Writer of short stories—including contributions to the anthologies Fantasea and Realms of Fire. Author of various articles—including an award-winning article on making college campuses accessible from her time editing Taylor University’s The Echo.
She has also been a literary agent, publicist, and editor in various capacities. Currently, she works as the Managing Editor of Mountain Brook Fire, the speculative fiction imprint of Mountain Brook Ink.
And she writes novels—seven co-written with Hope Bolinger, another graduate of Taylor University’s Professional Writing Program (PWR). Four of their books fit into the Roseville Romances series—each set in Roseville, Michigan, following a different couple of artists who don’t expect to like each other… but, well, you know how these things go. The final book, Getting Reel, follows a director and actress taking part in a film competition.
The remaining three books fit into the Dear series, which is harder to describe. Each book is chat fiction—the story is communicated via characters’ personal messages. Dear Hero and Dear Henchman depict a world where superheroes and supervillains use an app to plan when they will meet for battles. Two users, Cortex and V, discover that despite working on opposite sides, they have something together they didn’t expect. Dear Hades, appearing in October 2023, is a spinoff based on a similar concept: characters from Greek mythology have arisen in the twenty-first century and some are looking for love. A dating app created by Hades and Persephone may solve their problems… or create new rifts in reality.
As a standalone novelist, Alyssa has written an award-winning fantasy trilogy. The Wraithwood trilogy is built on the premise that there was a historical warrior named Arthur in the fourth century who supported the Romano-Britons’ fight against the Anglo-Saxons. Centuries later, a young woman named Brinnie visits her ancestral home and discovers her family is connected to magic dating back to Arthur’s time. As her powers awaken, she must determine how to stop a conflict over magic’s usage from ending in disaster. The first book, Wraithwood, won two awards at the 2022 Realm Awards. The sequel, Mordizan, was a finalist for three Realm Awards. Time will tell how the final book, Castelon, will do at the 2024 Realm Awards.
I met Alyssa in 2018 when we were both PWR students. I was not immediately surprised to find she was exceptional. Exceptionalism almost went with the program. Past PWR students included Chandler Birch, whose first novel was published by Simon & Schuster, and Amy Lynn Green, who has published three historical fiction novels as of 2023. What I did not expect was that within four years of graduating, Alyssa would bypass all the milestones that past graduates had set.
Despite a busy schedule—she also speaks at various writing conferences throughout the year—she was kind enough to answer a few questions about writing.
Who are some fantasy authors who have inspired you over the years?
My love of fantasy started young—C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Brian Jacques’ Redwall books, Donita K. Paul’s Dragonkeeper Chronicles. Later, I fell in love with Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising, the many works of Diana Wynne Jones, and the humor of Lloyd Alexander. I read a lot of contemporary fantasy authors now and keep up with the latest trending works via BookTok and Facebook groups, but the books that hold my heart will always be those cozy fantasy books I grew up with.
What attracts you to writing for the young adult market?
In young adult, I’m free to tackle complicated plots, three-dimensional characters, and deeper issues while also writing about characters who are coming of age, discovering their world, and making decisions about who they are and what they believe. It’s kind of a happy medium between the humor and whimsy of middle grade, and the often-grittier tone expected in adult.
The Wraithwood books fit a different genre than the Dear books, but I was struck while reading Castelon at how much your sense of humor appears in both series. Do you naturally write funny?
There’s definitely humor sprinkled in all of my books. Humor is a big part of my life, so it trickles into my writing. I often deal with tough circumstances in my own life with humor, so even in more serious books, it makes sense that my characters would also do so.
We’re both members of the PWRs—a community that starts with writing students helping each other out and usually leads to alumni helping each other out. What are some benefits you’ve found from having a strong writing community and network?
Almost all of my opportunities in the writing world have come through connections with other PWRs—internships, jobs, connections with publishers. But more than that, having such a robust group of people who share similar passions has led to many of my deepest friendships that remain stronger than ever to this day. No one understands writers like other writers.
You’ve written about the inspiration for the Wraithwood trilogy, making it clear you enjoy medieval history. What attracted you to that period?
Medieval history is fun, but the “Dark Ages” are what really captivated my imagination. The sheer lack of information we have about the dramatic and fascinating events surrounding the fall of Roman control in Europe in many areas and the upheaval across the continent as new power structures arose are a powerful backdrop for both historical inquiry and imagination about what could have happened. The shifting of religion, the spread of Christianity, the fall of an empire… it’s the stuff of epic fantasy. In Britain, the conflict between the Britons and Anglo-Saxons in the wake of Rome’s departure provides a fascinating setting for an exploration of who the basis for a historical Arthur might have been.
You mentioned in the introduction to the first Roseville Romance that you believe you have been called “romantic as a potato.” What were some of the biggest challenges to writing romance?
It’s honestly hilarious that I ended up writing so many romances. In school, I was the kid who rolled my eyes at everyone pairing off and focused on my studies and sports. I’ve always been a fantasy and adventure reader, not a romance reader. So, writing a sweet romance series, without even the action and superhero shenanigans of Dear Hero, was way out of my wheelhouse. But we ended up infusing our usual Hope-and-Alyssa humor into the romances, and they became about much more than just falling in love. At this point, I have a soft spot for romance, and yes, I’m far more of a romantic in real life too.
You and Hope Bolinger announced in July 2023 that after seven books together, you’re going to focus on individual projects for a while. How do you know when it’s the right time to stop collaborating, and how to handle that change in a healthy way?
We’ve written the last books we’ve been contracted for, so rather than start any new series, we’re spending time on our own projects. I especially needed a bit of a writing hiatus, and Hope is super supportive of that. I’m looking into grad school as well, which means I’ll need some time off. So, in general it was best for us to focus on our individual projects. We’re still great friends, and it’s been a beautiful time of collaboration. We’re not going anywhere, and we’ll still be big parts of each other’s lives and careers, cheering each other on.
You seem to have made a big transition with Dear Hades—the previous two books were snappy, fun superhero parodies, this book looks to be snappy, fun, fantasy parody. What motivated the change?
Hope and I had lots of ideas for chat fiction stories. After Dear Henchman, it was time to leave V, Cortex, and the crew and venture out into new worlds. We pitched several ideas to our publisher, and she liked the idea for Dear Hades best, so that’s the one we wrote—a riff on Greek mythology in the modern day.
One that seemed struck me about the Wraithwood books is you presented a hero whose mother could be antagonistic, yet you make her empathetic. The mother could easily be like Harry Potter’s Aunt Petunia—a frightened woman who’s strived to bury her past and keep her daughter from learning their magical heritage. Yet I found I understood, without excusing, the mother’s choices. What was it like trying to make that balance work?
People aren’t all good or all bad. We all have unique backgrounds, traumas, experiences, etc. I find that when people hurt me in real life, I can often see where they’re coming from and have empathy. Brinnie has a complicated relationship with her mother, but her mom isn’t a bad person—she’s a scared, traumatized woman doing her best in a misguided way. True villains seldom exist in real life. Rather, our antagonists are usually people struggling with their own battles that overlap with our lives in conflicting ways.
Castelon ended the Wraithwood trilogy on an angry-yet-hopeful note. There’s a lot of interior dialogue where the hero rages about selfish leaders who’ve chosen self-preservation and created new problems. Yet it ends on an essentially hopeful note. Did you feel it was important to call out the darkness without ever forgetting the light?
Castelon brings to the forefront the undercurrents of frustration and conflict that have been bubbling in the previous books—raging against corrupt power structures and the hypocrisy of those who are supposed to be the “good guys.” Brinnie and her friends and family have never quite fit in with any established structures, and I think a lot of us can relate to that—not being “good enough” for those in charge, having to forge our own ways in the midst of criticism from all sides. By the end, without giving spoilers, Brinnie’s actions are simultaneously unexpected and yet inevitable. Not everything is wrapped up with a bow, but there is hope, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Life isn’t a happily ever after. It’s messy, and things go wrong, but it’s still good, and there’s still so much to live for.
Any new books in the works that you can tell us about?
I don’t have any more books under contract after Dear Hades, which is a weird feeling after publishing three books a year for the last few years. I’m resting, taking a moment to reconnect with writing for fun and for myself, without deadlines. I hope to soon finish a manuscript I feel ready to query to literary agents. Right now, I’m working on a young adult spooky Gravity Falls-esque tale of generational curses, backwoods mystery, and finding who you are—but who knows, I might pivot! All I can really say is that I’m excited for this new era in my writing and publishing journey, and whatever I release next will be truly and authentically Alyssa in ways I haven’t explored before.
You can learn more about Alyssa Roat’s work on her website. Dear Hades is available for preorder from all major book retailers.