Story & Lesson Highlights with Elana Mugdan of Queens

Elana Mugdan shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Elana, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
Something I’m very proud of is the world I built for my fantasy novel series, The Shadow War Saga. At this point, I’ve spent more than half my life writing about the realm of Selaras. I have a hundred-thousand years’ worth of lore to draw from, which makes it easy to jump from the past to the future. (For example, my most recently published book is a spinoff novel that takes place five hundred years after the main series ends, and I’m currently writing a prequel series that takes place seven thousand years earlier.)

Not many people know the vast amount of work that goes into creating a coherent and internally consistent universe. If the author has done their job right, then their worldbuilding should be integrated seamlessly into the narrative. Most readers probably have no idea how much time is spent developing a brand new world, and that’s okay! That part of the process is meant to be invisible. Even though only a small tip of the iceberg is what ends up on the page, having a solid foundation is crucial for a great story.

So I’m proud I’ve done my homework—and I’m very glad past-me put in all that effort so present-me can write feely!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a fantasy author whose brand is, simply put, Dragons™.

I’ve been a dracophile since birth, and everything I’ve written involves dragons in some way. My five-book young adult series, The Shadow War Saga, follows a Chosen One (who we ultimately learn was chosen not to be a hero, but to be a sacrifice) who must save the last living dragon. My most dragon-centric book to date, Dragon Ascendant, is a YA fantasy murder mystery told from the dragon’s point of view.

All that being said, I’m excited to announce that my first NON-dragon book will be published soon! I’ve written a picture book for early readers called “Medusa the Snake Escapes Her Tank.” It’s the story of how I came to adopt my pet rescue snake, Medusa. Since Medusa accompanies me to all my book events—and since she’s far more popular than I could ever hope to be—I figured it was time to give her her own story.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was everything, once upon a time. As a child, I remember thinking I wanted to be President of the Universe, and also a veterinarian and an Olympic gymnast and a movie star. Back then, I really believed I could be all those things.

But, of course, reality and adulthood have a certain way of grinding you down, until eventually you shrink yourself to fit inside the box and color within the lines. Big dreams often get sacrificed for survival and conformity. (In fact, I wrote a whole book about this: under pen name L.E. Harper, I wrote Kill Your Darlings, which is an allegorical dark fantasy that examines depression and its destructive effect on our dreams.)

While I never managed to become President of the Universe, I like to think I did a good job ignoring the people who told me what I couldn’t be. Even in my darkest moments, I continued to forge my own path. Thankfully, writing about fantasy and magic has helped me hold onto the youthful spirit that once allowed me to dream big.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I feel like I’m always on the verge of giving up. Every day I think, “Surely there are easier paths than the one I’ve chosen.” I often wonder if I’ll ever become successful as an author, and I often fear the answer is “no.”

But then I take a step back and consider that question. How should I define “success”? Our capitalist society tends to have a very narrow view of success, and it often centers around having lots of money and/or lots of power. While I’d certainly love to have lots of money, that’s never been my main goal—and I often lose sight of that fact.

My goal as an author is to share my stories with others. I love the world and the characters I’ve created, and whenever I hear that a reader also loved one of my books, I feel like I’ve made a real difference. I’m lucky enough to be able to run my own book tours, which allows me to reach people across the country. I may not be rolling in royalty payments, but I’m connecting with my audience.

So every time I’m tempted to give up, I remember all the people whose lives I’ve touched, who told me my stories mattered to them. That reminds me that I’ve already found success as an author, and it inspires me to keep going.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
I was fourteen years old when I starting writing my first book, Dragon Speaker. Back then, I thought I knew everything. I had a fairly mature worldview for that age, and I believed nothing was black and white. No one was truly good or truly evil. I believed this so wholeheartedly that I centered my book series around the idea that the main villain could be redeemed at the end, because he wasn’t really so different from the hero.

But as I grew older, my worldview changed. I witnessed acts in our world that were truly evil—and I realized that there can be no redemption for such heinous acts. This was unfortunate, since I’d spent a decade foreshadowing the reconciliation between my hero and villain. I had a minor existential crisis when it came time to write the fifth and final book of The Shadow War Saga and realized I no longer believed in that ending.

Fortunately, I was able to rework the plot, and I feel secure in the new ending I created. Villains who commit war crimes and genocide for the sake of making a point do not deserve redemption—not in fantasy books, and not in real life.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What light inside you have you been dimming?
Recently I’ve felt like I’ve been dimming my bravery in terms of making new art. There is some nuance here, as this bravery is intertwined with risk-taking—namely in the form of spending money.

I took a long time greenlighting my children’s book, because I knew it would be very expensive to pay an illustrator. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t dragged my feet on the project, because it could have been finished and published by now. But spending large amounts of money is scary, especially when there’s no guarantee you’ll make your money back. I validated the spend by reminding myself that I really wanted to put Medusa’s story out in the world, expenses be damned. I’ve now found a fantastic illustrator, and I feel much better about the project.

I’m facing a similar issue with a screenplay I wrote. In order to get funding for the project, ideally I need to shoot some scenes to provide proof of concept. Making a movie—even a fraction of a movie—costs a LOT of money. So I’m dragging my feet once again, because this is a high-risk investment. If it pays off, I could produce the full feature film next year. If it doesn’t, I’ll be out $20k. That’s scary, but it’s something I used to do all the time when I was younger. I believed in the beauty of my dreams and the quality of my art, and I spent the money required to make that art well.

My fears are very valid in today’s economy, but part of me wishes I could take the plunge and make the proof-of-concept movie!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.ai/dragonspleen
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadowwarsaga/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShadowWarSaga/
• Other: https://ko-fi.com/shadowwarsaga