Chace Verity joins us this morning to tell us a bit about themselves and their upcoming sexy Snow White retelling, Illusive Wishes! Welcome, Chace!
First questions… why are you doing this interview?
Hello! I’m Chace Verity (they/them), author of romances across multiple subgenres and gender pairings/more-ings. I have a nonbinary/nonbinary dark, sexy Snow White retelling releasing soon called Illusive Wishes. Discover a new kind of Prince Charming on October 15!
What started you writing?
I’ve been writing freely ever since I was a very small child, always looking to discover new worlds. I’ve taken writing more seriously in the last six or seven years. More recently than that, I discovered why I was looking for new worlds. As a very queer person, the vast majority of media around me didn’t resemble my own lived experiences and feelings. Since joining the online writing community, I’ve approached my own writing with more purpose, and I’ve had the extreme joy of discovering new worlds written by other queer authors.
What do you like to read?
These days, I read mostly adult romances spread out through many subgenres. Contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, historical, etc. Some of my favorite authors write in multiple subgenres as well, so I get excited following their publishing journey and seeing what’s new from Alyssa Cole, Katrina Jackson, Skye Kilaen, J. Emery, etc. I also have gotten back into reading graphic novels and manga since the pandemic started, and those can be in wildly varying genres. The recent paperback shortage has made it difficult to read those in my preferred format, but I was gifted Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu recently, and I bought a big beautiful volume of Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi for my birthday and have enjoyed rereading the manga that compelled me so much as a teenager.
Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?
I used to belong to many different dedicated writing groups, but I’ve had to step away from all of them for one reason or the other in the last couple of years. Not because I think groups are inherently bad, but just because I had personal stuff going on. I’m slowly stepping back into joining groups with people I don’t know, but I’m trying to keep it low pressure. Large groups, in general, may not be for me.
Right now, I want to focus on building friendships one-on-one with mutuals I admire on social media like Twitter, and I am dedicated to protecting my friendships with the writing partners I’ve had for several years. Writing is very solitary, but I value my writing friendships tremendously. It’s nice to have a safe space where I can cry because a book release flopped or because I’m stuck mid-draft. And it’s equally nice to be able to offer an ear when a friend is going through similar troubles.
When I look at my books on my shelf, I don’t see word counts or sales or rankings. I see the friends who were with me on those journeys. Sometimes it’s a bittersweet reflection because some friendships change and dissolve. But overall, I don’t regret any of it.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I play a lot of video games and listen to K-pop while playing with my cats. I don’t talk a whole lot about my hobbies because I grew up with people gatekeeping everything I liked, but I’ve realized during this pandemic that people are going to shit on everything I do, no matter how much I try to present myself as worthy. So since the pandemic has started, I have found myself enjoying my hobbies with much more enthusiasm and not caring at all about what others think. When I tweet that I’m playing through the Yakuza series or that I’m excited for BTS’s upcoming online concert, I don’t give one flying fuck who might come into my mentions to fight me or what “friend” decides they don’t want to associate with me anymore. Hobbies refuel my creative vehicle, allowing me to write all the weird books I want. Speaking of weird…
Tell me a little bit about your most recent release. What gave you the idea for it? How long did it take to write? What did you enjoy about writing it? What did you hate?
Illusive Wishes is my favorite book I’ve written thus far, and I think it’s because it’s the first one where I wrote without worrying about making it appeal to a broad audience. This queer Snow White retelling is very niche. Even in contemporary genres, books with trans/nonbinary protagonists still aren’t hitting best-seller lists to the same degree as cisgender leads. So add in fantasy + romance + a hefty list of content notes…
Yeah, I probably spent two years writing a book that maybe thirty people will read. But it’s what I wanted to write. I have a note on my whiteboard from an interview with Alyssa Cole that says, “If it makes me happy, it can make others happy.” Next to it is another note from the famed violinist Stuart Canin. I had asked him during an online event what advice he could give for struggling creatives, and he simply said, “If you don’t love it, don’t do it.”
I love writing. And I very much loved writing Illusive Wishes. It probably won’t pay the bills, but it filled my heart with a lot of excitement and happiness.
Illusive Wishes
Ever since becoming disowned by his family, the person who matters most to Isaac is his best friend. Unfortunately, said best friend is trapped inside a mirror. For two years, Isaac has traveled various kingdoms with Penn at his side, searching for clues to break the curse and earning money however he can. When offered a job as an escort for a lavish party at the Embedded Palace—a place teeming with wealth and potential magic—Isaac is quick to accept. For the friend he’s fallen in love with, he’ll do anything.
Being stuck in a mirror is one thing, but for Penn, it’s even more humiliating because they’re a fairy who should have been able to avoid the curse. Whatever the curse is. They can’t quite remember. If only they had been a storybook Prince Charming instead of a useless fairy, life would have been better. But with a sweet, kind, and alluring friend like Isaac helping them, they refuse to give up.
As soon as the pair arrive at the Embedded Palace, buried memories start surfacing, darker than either of them ever imagined. With a misanthropic knight who has ties to fairies, cursed apples, a queen seeking an enchanted mirror, and a hunter obsessed with Isaac, the inseparable best friends find themselves being pulled apart. Maybe not even a Prince Charming can save the day, but Penn and Isaac will do anything to make their deepest wish come true—to be with each other.
About Chace
Chace Verity (they/them) is publishing queer as heck stories with a strong romantic focus, although queer friendships and found families are important too. Chace prefers to write fantasy but dabbles in contemporary and historical fiction as well. An American citizen & Canadian permanent resident, Chace will probably never be able to call a gallon of milk a “four-litre.”
Website : Newsletter : Bookbub : Twitter : Instagram
