this is a quiz. You are quizzing me. I'm gonna have a moment. I'm like, I don't know what dragon is that. Hey, poppers. Veronica Valencia here, and I am joined today by best-selling author of Fourth Ring, Rebecca Yaros. How are you? I'm well. How are you? I'm doing well. And I mean, speaking of doing well, Fourth Wi, congratulations. It has blown up. It is incredibly successful. I just first want to get your kind of thoughts, your reactions to kind of how it has gone so far. Thank you. It's been wild and really surreal, kind of like, I keep saying it's like someone dropped someone else's life on my doorstep, and I keep waiting for them to come get it. So it's overwhelming, and I'm just, I'm really glad it's doing very well. I'm really proud for my publisher that it's doing well. So that's I would like to talk about the early days of Fourth Wi. What would you say was kind of like the earliest idea you had of this book was

it was a scene, it was a character, it was Violet for the most part, and tear. Um, I loved the idea of a smaller, more fragile heroine. Of course, she has ERS danlos, which is what I have. Um, being chosen by this massive, very powerful Dragon, and then there being a forced proximity in a romance. Not between like a faded mates Bond of people, but they're dragons and her being linked to this enemy that she can't stand, who's a rebel. So that's kind of where it came from. And speaking of violet, you know you did write her with, and she is a character with chronic illness, as you just said, and it's something that you share. How was it writing that character for you? It's kind of cathartic, I think. It takes a lot of self-examination. Um, my four sons have it as well, so I kind I've kind of seen how it affects the four of them individually and myself, and I was able to kind of look at where Violet needs

accommodations and where I won't take them myself, or where she won't take them, and kind of exploring someone who's stubborn and what they will and will not accept was really helpful to me because I could step back and say no, I do have to change my signature 'cause my hand can't do that, or I do have to give myself accommodations. And I want to talk about Violet and Zaden 'cause we all love a morally great character, I know, right? And we all love that in our romance as well, I know I do. Um, and so this is a five-book series, it, and you know, so much has happened between these characters, and especially romantically, and I think that may have surprised some readers, especially all of this happening between them in book one, right? What were your thoughts on kind of really developing that romantic aspect in book one? So I'm a romance writer, right, so in Romance Writers, it's a certain contract we have with our readers as to what they can expect for their endings, and I think you

have to establish them as a couple and as a force in book one, so that you can rip them apart the rest of the time and kind of force them to see who they are. When you're 20, you don't really know who you are or who the person you're with is, so there's a lot of room for development within themselves and within each other. But you have to start with that solid base, or you don't have much to root for for books two and onward. And as I mentioned, it is a five-book series. But I, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe in a live you may have been talking about how you were writing your second book, Iron Flame, and you were kind of through it. And then you mentioned to your editor, Oh, we might have to explore it potentially being five books, right? So I'm very curious. When you set out on this journey, was it meant to maybe be a duology, or was it really just kind of you started writing, and you were like, There's so much more I

want to do so it was supposed to be a Trilogy, and then um as I was writing iron Flame, I kind of looked at the time constraints because of what happens in book one and the evolution of the characters into book two, and I called my editor, and I said, okay, I want you to just think about this for a second because of the time constraints here, here, and here. I think this story ends at this time point, which would actually make the book five or the series five books instead of three, but I want you to think about it. And she's like, nope, five books it is. And I like, hold on, hold on, hold on, think, think about it. I know it's a big investment. And she's like, nope, it's five books. And so we just went from there. That must be an amazing feeling to just know that you can tell your story in the timeline that you really want to. It's really great. I'm so, I'm so thankful to have that kind of support, and it's awesome, and they're all plotted so at

least I know exactly where it goes and and where it arcs and How It Ends, and at the end of fourth wi, we were treated to a little uh tease rather of a different POV from Zaden, and so is there anything you can tell us about maybe exploring uh other characters' POV in further books, and will it maybe be more than just possibly Violet and Zaden? I haven't made up my mind yet, really. No, I know why the story arcs, but I haven't made up my mind as to which angles to show show it from. I can definitely say that there's no more of Zaden until he stops keeping secrets; otherwise, all his secrets are out there in POV. A part of me would love to like have a POV from the dragons, but they're too powerful, they're too knowledgeable. Yeah, the dragons are never going to let you know what they're thinking. They have their own society, and one thing I love about fourth wi, because I mean I grew up reading fantasy, is that the dragons aren't the pets, the humans.

are so really like there's a main character. It's more like the dragons are the main characters, and the humans are just kind of there. So yeah, they're never going to let you know what's going on back there. And in fantasy, sometimes, you know, we come up with these really great names. And as a reader, you have your own idea of how that is pronounced in your head. So, seeing as you know, you are the author, you are the source, I get quizzed, aren't I okay? I just, I just want to know if we can set the record straight on like maybe this is how we pronounced them. Um, the War College they attend. So I say it's B bayth bth. Oh my gosh, I was totally off. I said bazia, and that's a more Gaelic spelling, so more pronunciation. So that can be, it can be. I say best GTH because of just how I constructed the words. The full name of Violet's black dragon. Oh, turno, mhm, yeah, oh great.

full name of Violet's gold dragon and dar Noam. I'm gonna be going back to this like now that I know how to pronounce all this. The name of Zayan's dragon Seale. Sale. Seale. I was just going like scale like so s and gaale. The name of Mea's dragon Ty. This is a quiz. You are quizzing me. I'm going to have a m. I'm like I don't know what dragon is that. It's more just for me. I really just wanted to know. And then uh lastly the name of the Kingdom oh naar naar. Yeah. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh. If people are going to be going to this be like I know now. Yeah. It's amazing. Um. And then our last question. I know you're a fan of Taylor Swift. I am. And I know that you've mentioned when you write books you have playlist. Some of it has been Taylor Swift. Some of it has been Hyot. Yes. And so my question to you is is there a Taylor Swift song that you think

represents Violet um gosh so I always say like I wrote a lot of fourth wi to miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince because I think it has a lot of like underlying political themes in that song that kind of go with Navar so any Taylor spliff songs are mostly I would say representative o Zaden in Violet and I would say um nightmare is more Violet byy so that's that's what I would give her love it and I Know Places. I wrote a lot of iron flame that I Know Places. I like I'm going to have one more question is there obviously uh iron flame coming out very very soon a lot of excitement. Is there anything you can share there's dragons. I love that yeah there's lots of there's dragons lots of dragons there's more dragons yeah Violet there's Violet there's a violet there's a violet zayan's in there too well Rebecca it's been my honor having you join me today. Thank you for having me than guys and.

How Fourth Wing became a five book series | Rebecca Yarros Interview

How Fourth Wing became a five book series | Rebecca Yarros Interview