Crier’s War Blog Tour | Q&A With Nina Varela

Oh my goodness, you guys! An own voices, queer fantasy book with royalty and ROBOTS?! Plus, a main character with my own name?! Sign. Me. Up!!! Crier’s War is one of my most anticipated releases and I’m so, so glad I got the chance to ask author Nina Varela some questions about the book, her writing proces and more. Enjoy!

What inspired you to write Crier’s War?

I’ve always loved the “robot catches feelings” trope, and I wanted to write an exploration of a character like that, who was supposed to be cold and emotionless and found themselves the exact opposite. And I wanted to contrast a character like that with someone who was already the exact opposite—someone overflowing with emotion, passion, ferocity. I just love that dynamic so much, the idea of these two characters clashing so much in the beginning and then, later, balancing each other out. 

What is your writing process like?

I write to the next deadline. I work full time at my day job, so I write on evenings and weekends, which means when I sit down to write I have to get a lot done all at once. And I’m working on multiple projects at the same time right now, so I’m juggling all of them, working on whichever thing is due next, basically just trying to keep my head above water. I can work okay at home, but I’m most productive outside the house, so I go to the nearest coffee shop, put on my noise-cancelling headphones, and just marathon a writing session. Gotta get stuff done!

What was the hardest part of writing Crier’s War?

The story ended up being a lot more personal than I thought it would be. There’s a certain part of Crier’s storyline—I won’t spoil it, but I think it’ll be pretty obvious upon reading the book—that ended up hitting really close to home for me as a queer person. Like, I set out to write this fun forbidden android/human romance, and though homophobia doesn’t even exist in the world of CRIER’S WAR, I ended up exploring a lot of my own feelings about my queerness, my experiences growing up queer in the South, in a red state. A lot of my old fear bled through. I wasn’t really expecting that.

And what was your favourite part about writing Crier’s War?

Exploring the relationship between Crier and Ayla. The scenes where they’re alone, just observing and learning more about each other, were the most fun to write. Especially because the story is told in dual POV, so I got to play around with the unreliable narrator aspect—the same moment interpreted in two wildly different ways. Let’s just say Ayla tends to assume the worst of Crier. 

Finally; I love how you named the main character Ayla! How did you come up with the name?

I see you share the name with her! You probably already know this: “Ayla” has roots and variations in a lot of different languages, but the three main ones are Turkish (where it means “halo of light around the moon” or just “moonlight”), Scottish (“from a strong and resilient place”), and Hebrew (“oak tree”). (I’ve been asked a couple times about pronunciation—Ayla’s name is pronounced the Scottish way, Ayla rhyming with Kayla, not Eye-la.) All those meanings feel true to her, to different aspects of her. And it’s just a beautiful name—I’m sure you agree! 

About Crier’s War

After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, designed to be the playthings of royals, usurped their owners’ estates and bent the human race to their will.

Now Ayla, a human servant rising in the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging her family’s death…by killing the sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier.

Crier was Made to be beautiful, flawless, and to carry on her father’s legacy. But that was before her betrothal to the enigmatic Scyre Kinok, before she discovered her father isn’t the benevolent king she once admired, and most importantly, before she met Ayla.

Now, with growing human unrest across the land, pressures from a foreign queen, and an evil new leader on the rise, Crier and Ayla find there may be only one path to love: war.

Harper Teen | Goodreads | Book Depository*

About Nina Varela

Nina Varela is a nationally awarded writer of screenplays and short fiction. She was born in New Orleans and raised on a hippie commune in Durham, North Carolina, where she spent most of her childhood playing in the Eno River, building faerie houses from moss and bark, and running barefoot through the woods. These days, Nina lives in Los Angeles with her writing partner and their tiny, ill-behaved dog. She tends to write stories about hard-won love and young people toppling the monarchy/patriarchy/whatever-archy. On a related note, she’s queer. On a less related note, she has strong feelings about hushpuppies and loves a good jambalaya. CRIER’S WAR is her first novel.

You can find Nina at any given coffee shop in the greater Los Angeles area, or at www.ninavarela.com.

I’d like to thank Nina Varela so much for answering my questions! I haven’t been able to pick up Crier’s War just quite yet, but I really cannot wait to start reading it! It’s going to be so weird reading my own name, hehe! For more fun blog tour content about Crier’s War, click the image down below for the official tour schedule.

Have you read Crier’s War yet? Or are you going to? Let’s chat!