One of my good friends gave me the book, Empress of the World as a gift a few years ago. I enjoyed it and years later…today, I thought it would be great to interview the author, Sara Ryan. If you are not familiar with her name, you might want to read her rather unique bio and pick up her books, Empress of the World and The Rules for Hearts at your nearest book store. “What are the books about?” you ask…my advice is to start reading without reading a synopsis. You will be glad you took the leap of faith.

Was the character of Battle Hall Davies created in Empress of the World inspired by someone you know, the exact opposite of you, or another way?
There was not one specific person but I took inspiration from a lot of people.

Did you always know that you wanted Battle and Nicola’s relationship after the end of Empress of the World to be more realistic and complicated than the usual, it all works out in the end?
I knew that I wanted everyone to know what happened to Battle. Actually, the biggest question that I had myself after, Empress of the World was, “What is the deal with Battle’s brother?” In answering that question and thinking about the difference between who Battle’s brother really is and how she was thinking about him during the time that he was absent from her life, it led me to the answer of the other question about what would happen with Battle and Nicola.

What do you think is the biggest struggle with teenagers today who want to accept their own identity but have concerns about being labeled?
I think a lot of struggle comes from how receptive your immediate environment is to the person that you are realizing you want to be. That could be family, that could be friends, a religious community, etc… Whatever your setting is, that may or may not be receptive to what you are realizing about yourself. One thing that differs from earlier years and teens today is the internet…so there is this sort of possibility of connection when that immediate setting might not be receptive. You can reach out to people online for any aspect of identity that you want to explore.

As far as your writing style, can you pinpoint anything that has changed from when you started writing Empress of the World to when you wrote The Rules for Hearts?
In between Empress and Rules I wrote a few comics. That experience of writing different mediums where a lot of the meaning is conveyed through the artist made me as a writer think more visually. For my books, thinking about who Battle is and the way that she responds and reacts to the world and the way Nicola is very analytical, I wanted Battle to be more grounded in her body. So a lot of the ways that I describe her describing herself reacting to the world are physical. That was a change that I wanted to make in Rules.

You have written about a the relationship between 2 females, Battle & Nicola so are there other controversial themes that you know you want to write about in the future?
Oh, I am sure that there are (laughs). I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. I want young adult readers in general to be less black and white. I know I am interested in telling stories that do not often get told as often as they should. Sometimes just in telling stories that are not often told, controversy kind of just happens.

You have used Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in your work, so I want to know that out of all of Shakespeare’s work, what about the play made you want to include it in your work?
That’s a really good question. I saw Battle’s brother being sort of a Puck character. As I wrote it I saw that even though it seemed like he was never phased by anything, (he just deceived people and moved on) there is some level that you can’t really see where all of the damage that he does really affects him. Also, it is just a really fun play in so many ways. I have seen it in a couple of different productions, so I felt very familiar with it. I do not think that there is a connection with everyone in the play and everyone in my book but there are some.

You mentioned in a previous interview that some of your favorite authors have written science fiction and fantasy. So can we expect a science fiction or fantasy book from you in the future?
It is definitely possible. I have a lot of love and admiration for those genres so we will see.

As a comic writer, can we expect to see you at San Diego Comic Con 2009?
I might go although I tend to go to smaller conventions.

Do you remember how you found out that your mini comic, Me & Edith Head was nominated for an Eisner Award?
That was actually the first comic that I ever wrote! I think I found out through an email or a phone call or something but it really was an honor.

What’s next?
I have a new comic that my artist is working on right now. It is a new story in the FlyTrap series.