Ava Morgyn

Ava Morgyn grew up falling in love with all the wrong characters in all the wrong stories, then studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University. She is a lover of witchcraft, tarot, and powerful women with bad reputations, and she currently resides in Houston with her family, surrounded by antiques and dog hair. When not at her laptop spinning darkly hypnotic tales, she writes for her blog on child loss, hunts for vintage treasures, and reads the darkest books she can find. She is the author of YA novels Resurrection Girls and The Salt in Our Blood, and paranormal women's fiction The Witches of Bone Hill.

Morgyn's new novel is The Bane Witch.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My title, The Bane Witch, is fairly straightforward, as the book is about the main character discovering that she possesses the unique and hereditary magic of the women of her line, making her a witch. The word bane points to the poisonous nature of their power and hints at the death toll that is to follow. I also believe that the archaic etymology of the word bane subtly implies the ancient origins of their magic.

I knew from the moment I first conceived the premise of this story that I wanted to title it, The Bane Witch. On the surface, it lets readers know this is a novel about witches and therefore carries a fantastical element. But the implications it carries for something dark and deadly were so intriguing to me, and I hope that readers feel the same.

What’s in a name?

The names of all the bane witches in this book, including the main character, Piers, are taken from either the Latin or common names of poisonous plants. In Piers’ case, I wanted the masculine origins of her name to both conceal the true intent behind it as well as allude to the disappointment Piers’ mother feels at having her, and Piers’ subsequent feelings of rejection and abandonment as a result. Piers is an English boy’s name. When she meets her husband Henry, she tells him, “My mother always wanted a boy.” While this is true, it’s not for the reasons she believes. Later, Piers comes to learn the real origin of her name—taken from the highly toxic Pieris Japonica, or Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub—and her mother’s true reasons for preferring a boy—because they don’t inherit the witches’ deadly power. In addition, Piers’ name ties back into her own mother’s, Lily, who was named for Lily of the Valley, also poisonous. This represents all the ways she comes to understand and empathize with her mother in the novel, even though it is long after Lily’s own death.

Even the false name Piers chooses for her fake I.D. when she prepares to leave her husband is a related to a poisonous plant—Acacia Lee—though she only comes to know that later. But it implies that the magic has been at work in her all along, even when she didn’t realize it.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Not surprised at all. I was always a rebel, always getting into trouble, always fiercely independent in my ideas and beliefs. I think she would find The Bane Witch to be very on brand.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Truthfully, both beginnings and endings are the easiest part of any novel for me. It’s everything in the middle that’s hard. I generally have a solid premise to start with, and that includes knowing how I want to open and where I want to end up. So points A and Z are plotted very early on. But navigating from one to the other gets tricky. If I had to choose, I would say I probably change beginnings more than endings, but not because I need to alter my original idea. Only because I often go back and layer in more details about the characters and the setting and the plot that I want my readers to get straight out of the gate.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I see a lot of myself and my personal angst in Piers. As she navigates learning who and what she is and what she’s capable of, Piers grapples with the moral and ethical challenges of her power and calling. We see her go back and forth as she tries to find her own voice in the matter between what culture has taught her and what the other bane witches are telling her. It’s so important to Piers to remain true to herself, especially after escaping all the ways Henry impeded her sovereignty. In the end, when she finally makes a decision about herself and her magic, what we know for sure is that it was her choice, not anyone else’s. She got there all on her own. And that’s what empowerment is, that’s the true arc of her story.

Visit Ava Morgyn's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Bane Witch.

--Marshal Zeringue