If you were a kid in the late '00s, or if you're a television junkie who's seen all the best and buzziest shows, then you're probably familiar with the award-winning fan favorite animated classic Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series Legend of Korra. With an intricate fantasy world, engaging and complicated characters and intense yet complex villains, the world of Avatar had a huge impact on its fans.

Lucky for them, one of the minds behind the show is back at it again, this time in the book world.

Michael Dante DiMartino, who created Avatar with Bryan Konietzko, spoke to MashReads about his first novel, Rebel Genius, due out this October. Here's what you need to know to tide you over before the book's release.

He started working on this story during his Avatar days

“This particular idea is something I’ve had for many, many years. It’s something I worked on off and on during the course of Avatar and Korra," DiMartino said. As he gravitated more toward writing and storytelling on those projects, he would also sketch out ideas that he'd eventually use in Rebel Genius. It was only when Korra ended that he finally had time to focus on the story. A chance connection with an editor lead to a book deal.

He quickly noted how writing Rebel Genius was different than writing Avatar. And different turned out to be a good thing.

DiMartino gravitated more toward writing than animation during his time in television, and he was struck by the similarities and differences when it came to writing a book.

“There’s a lot of similarities, just as far as breaking down the story into scenes and here’s what going to happen in act 1, act 2, act 3. I definitely use all those tools still. It was a little harder because even though in Avatar and Korra there was one story arc per season, it’s still episodic. There are 22 minutes, which is a small amount of time, and you tell this one story. I could wrap my head around an episode of a show. But this is so much bigger. This is maybe the equivalent of a season of a show, but the way you tell it is so different."

But there is a plus side to those differences. "[During Avatar and Korra] I never got to focus as intensely on the writing side of things as I would’ve liked, because that was only one part of making the show." And so, being able to focus on the storytelling was one of his favorite parts about writing a novel. "I think it was having that time and also the fact that the words on the page are the finished project. It doesn’t go to an animator; an artist doesn’t have to draw it. I like that idea, too. This is it, it’s finished in this form. It’s a satisfying experience."

While Avatar and Korra drew on Asian influences, Rebel Genius is inspired by Renaissance Italy

“That came partly from my background. My dad’s side of the family is Italian, I’ve been to Italy. Also growing up and being into art and learning to draw and paint and stuff like that. I was always interested in art history and that sort of thing. It just seemed like a cool time in the world."

But the choice to use Western influence was more complicated. "I did specifically want to steer away from stuff we’d done in Avatar, at least initially."

And, as you might guess, the work of Leonardo Da Vinci is a constant presence. "The idea of him as a character was so interesting to me, as an inventor and a scientist, studying anatomy…. It’s hard to avoid Da Vinci when you’re talking about Renaissance Italy.”

The story is grounded in art history, particularly the most fantastical elements.

The story takes place in a world steeped in art, where artists' creativity physically manifests itself, an idea sparked by DiMartino's research. "It wasn’t until I was reading a book about Da Vinci and came across this idea [of geniuses]," he said. "During that time the idea of genius was different, people weren’t referred to as being a genius. But they had a concept of people or places being protected by geniuses. Genius was this external spirit or force that protected people or places. It’s the physically embodiment of creativity and art."

In DiMartino's world, those geniuses took the form of magical creatures similar to birds, with human ears, who are adorned with crowns and jewels, similar to the Buddhist Garuda. "It was just a way to externalize that concept. It was a different take on the muse."

It's not just the heroes: Even the villains are artists

"Coming up with who would be the antagonists... I didn’t want to have it just be [that] they hated art. It feels too simplistic." Instead, art is a force that can be used for good or for evil. "It’s more the dark side of where the ego can go, 'Only my version of what art should be is the thing I’m gonna allow.' Artists can go down that path; there is always a dark side of art.”

In the end, DiMartino learned a lot from his research and hopes his readers will, too

DiMartino discovered much about philosophy and art history while writing the book, and incorporated those ideas throughout the story. One key element to the world of the book is something called Sacred Geometry, a concept that relates geometric shapes as the building blocks of both art and the natural world, an idea that exists in our world as well. He said that, “Once I was reading more about that, it’s a really cool way to understand the universe.

"The thing that surprised me when I was researching was how related math is to art, how interwoven all that stuff is. And how nowadays we’ve separated it all into different disciplines. You’re either creative and an artist or you’re good at math and a scientist. But obviously Einstein was super creative, and Stephen Hawking is one of the most creative guys in the world. That’s part of what I even learned in doing the book, getting that connection between all the different disciplines. And hopefully inspiring kids, whether they’re into art or not, to use that more creative part of their brains.”





Rebel Genius hits shelves this October. And for fans at Comic-Con this weekend, you can find out more about Rebel Genius (and maybe get some goodies) at the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group Booth #1117.