I love your take on a magical America in Wayward Son, with its treaties and territories and individualism. It feels more right than any other “magical America” takes I’ve seen from British authors.

First it was overwhelming. And then I thought, This book is not going to be called Magical Encyclopedia of the Americas. How do we function in America a little bit differently from the U.K.? How would the fact that we’re all spread out and we have fewer shared traditions, from place to place, affect us? You kind of just think about how the language is different.

Which brings us to your new title. The idea of “carry on” in Fangirl was a reference to the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Whereas the title of the first Simon Snow book is referencing the “carry on” lyric in “Bohemian Rhapsody”—a very British song. Book two is titled Wayward Son, an American reference to the “carry on” in the song by Kansas for your American-set book. But in book three, Any Way the Wind Blows, we’re returning to the U.K. and so we’re back to the British “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Phew. Did I get that right?

I actually just teared up a little, because you just got it, like you just got it. What you said is exactly right. I did research on what would be the most powerful spells in the U.K. and I looked up—do you want to guess what the most popular songs of all time in England are?

It’s not “Bohemian Rhapsody”?

One of them is “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the other one is the Princess Diana “Candle in the Wind.” I worry that it was a little bit too much switching around, but the fact that you just explained it to me makes me feel like it’s fine. And [“any way the wind blows”] is the last line of that song—and it’s a powerful song. It’s a long title and I’m normally really, really strict about short titles.

BY KEVIN WADA VIA ST. MARTIN’S PRESS

Simon’s carrying a sword in this Any Way the Wind Blows image—but he lost his magical weapon after the first book. What are we looking at here?

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Simon’s going to have a sword in a magic book.

Okay.

I mean, it is a spoiler. But it’s right there, right? We’ve seen Simon hit bottom in Wayward Son. But the other thing I hope people see, even when he doesn’t see what a badass he is, is that Simon’s really a badass. I am not a cruel person. I would not keep writing these books just to watch these characters marinate in pain and despair. So for me these books are about healing. I hope that what we’re pointing to is Simon picking himself up. He’s picked up his sword. He is facing what’s coming.

I’m always writing about people trying to feel whole and figure out who they are. The third book is going to be about that. They’re not children anymore. All of these characters had been told by the adults in their life who they were and what mattered to them. In the third book we’ll see them decide for themselves.

What, if anything, have you learned about your own characters from reading all the Simon and Baz fan fiction that’s out there?

Oh, my God, I don’t go near that. I can’t read it at all. There’s something weird about reading fan fiction about my own characters. It’s like reading fan fiction about my kids. I love that people are writing it, but the idea of reading it, oh, my God, it makes me shudder.

So if Simon is an exploration of the Chosen One trope, and Agatha and Penny are a dive into classic archetypes like “the girlfriend” and “the sidekick,” what is Baz to you?

That’s trickier, isn’t it? It starts out and he’s the antagonist, but I don’t think that’s who Baz is anymore. I think Baz has become, for me, this way of talking about vulnerability, identity, and fear. I don’t know what he is other than he’s the star of Wayward Son. He’s the main character. I just feel like he’s so close to my heart and so close to my own feelings I’m scared of. I think Baz is kind of a way to talk about shame, and being afraid to want what you want, and feeling like you don’t deserve what you want or what you need.