A Book(ish) Life: Interview with Lisa Tirreno
"You need to find your people."
I am so excited to share today’s guest with you - Lisa Tirreno, a fellow 2024 Debut who wrote Prince of Fortune, a delightfully swoony YA fantasy (one of my favorite kinds of books)! I’m delighted that Lisa is here to share some of her wisdom with us.
Welcome to Book(ish)! Please introduce yourself, and share a little bit about your latest book.
Hello there! I’m Lisa Tirreno and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like museums, I make a lot of handicrafts and cakes, and I have a flock of backyard chickens, including two very fluffy silkies with pompom heads.
Prince of Fortune is my debut novel and it’s a romantic fantasy for young adults in a Regency-flavoured setting. It has stolen kisses at balls, murder scarecrows, creepy forests, swordfights, spies, political manoeuvring and evil sorcerers.
There were also highwaymen in the first draft but that scene got cut out. I think I miss it. I’ll put highwaymen in something else lol.
What’s one highlight from your debut journey?
Listening to my audiobook. I loved it. My publisher got Raphael Korkhill (who read Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit, which is one of my comfort listens) to do Aubrey’s POV, and James Meunier (who did Erin Cotter’s By Any Other Name) to do Edmund. They very much understood the assignment, I was thrilled.
Describe your ideal writing scenario. What would a perfect writing day look like for you? Where would you be?
Ideal? On a retreat where I do not have to worry about cooking or cleaning or parenting. Nobody ever interrupts me, I have no competing study or work demands, and the neighbours are not operating heavy machinery. It is not too hot or too cold and I always have a cup of tea at the perfect temperature.
(This is a fantasy right?)
If your book had a themed scented candle made for it: what would it smell like?
If it were for Aubrey, it would be citrus and lavender. If it were for Edmund, it would be something forest-y and grassy and green.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? How long did it take you to reach publication?
From my early childhood, I always had the urge to write and to tell stories, but I funnelled that into a career in journalism because I didn’t think my fiction would ever do well enough to justify spending too much energy on (looking back, this messaging was coming in strongly from my family).
I had heaps of half-finished manuscripts lying around but I didn’t have the craft skills to work out how to fix the glaring flaws I could see in them so I decided, after my kid started school (and my caring responsibilities eased up a bit), that I would take some courses and they helped so, so much. I started writing Prince of Fortune after that and here we are!
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given in your writing career?
You need to find your people. Writing is lonely and hard. It’s much easier when you have other writers to keep you motivated, vent with, critique your work and share resources and info with.
What advice would you give to future debuts?
Publishing is absolutely bonkers. Think about joining some groups with other authors you can swap notes with, or you’ll think it’s just you. It is not just you.
How do you celebrate your writing/publishing wins?
Big ones are always with champagne or a nice meal out somewhere. But you can’t forget the little ones; the goalposts feel like they’re moving constantly in this industry so I make myself celebrate little things too.
What’s something you’re looking forward to?
I have my Australian debut coming up soon; I can’t wait to see my book in the flesh on actual shelves in bookstores. I’ve introduced myself at some of my nearest ones and they suggested I sign their stock when it comes in, which will feel like such a privilege.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you so much for having me!
About Prince of Fortune
Red, White & Royal Blue meets A Darker Shade of Magic in this swoony debut young adult romantic fantasy following a magical young prince and a noble seer who fall in love in the midst of war and intrigue.
Shy Prince Edmund will be a great king one day: it has been Seen again and again. With rare magic giving him dominion over the nation’s plants and weather, Edmund feels a great deal of pressure to live up to his nation’s many expectations, including making a perfect diplomatic alliance through marriage. That is, until he meets Lord Aubrey Ainsley.
Charming, romantic, and politically insignificant, Aubrey is a Seer, but not even he could have predicted catching the eye of Edmund, the Prince of Fortune—nor that the anxious prince who talks to plants more than people could feel so right for him. Aubrey’s dream-visions have been full of battle, not love, but to say that Prince Edmund has captured his fancy would be a grand understatement.
As the two become more and more intertwined, the nation of Saben falls under attack. War and dark sorcery loom on the horizon. To save their homeland, Edmund and Aubrey must resist the outside forces seeking to drive them apart and find the power within themselves to create a future for Saben—and each other—they never could have imagined.
Where to find Lisa:
Website | Instagram | Threads | Bluesky | Newsletter