Interview With Victory Witherkeigh, Author of The Demon

Welcome to YAOTL, Victory. Please tell us a bit about The Demon.

 

I titled my second novel and main character as The Demon. The book is the companion piece of my debut novel, The Girl. The Demon explores what happens when you’re a supposed evil entity and start having an identity crisis. She explores the mortal plane by attending the college university - dealing with all the growing pains of being a young adult.

 

I have to admit, I was hooked from the first line–the idea of a demon in 2003 holding a Nokia cell phone was such a wild visual. How did you come to the idea of blending Filipino mythology with contemporary urban fantasy?

The idea came from my experience as a Brown girl and feeling like I couldn’t identify with anyone in the books I read. I love fantasy, and I wanted to give more representation in these YA genres. Plus, having more exposure to non-Western mythology is suitable for young adults to explore.

 

I love the rich characters throughout–the character of Magwayan plays a crucial role. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind this primordial sea goddess? 

 

The Philippines historically had many versions of deities across the various islands because of the lack of unity until the Spanish conquistadores came to the islands. Magwayan was consided the goddess of the sea in some islands, but others viewed her as the primordial goddess who helped in the creation of the world. Some even said she was the goddess of the dead and ferried souls to purgatory.

 

The collegiate setting also points toward dark academia (I love an excellent genre-bender). Are you also a fan of the genre? 

 

I am! In fact, I just completed another book list of some of my favorite dark academia books. There’s something so satisfying about the idea of school being a haven or a hell, depending on the person.

 

I’m a total plot-technique junkie. How did you go about plotting multiple timelines? 

 

Oh yes! If I know I’m writing things with various timelines - what works for me is actually plotting out each timeline individually. So, I plotted their points of the story for the “ancient” sequences of characters and then wrote that fully out. Then, I continued that idea with the other timelines and plots. Once I had clean drafts, I mapped where I wanted the sequences to break up to integrate and weave other parts together. This helps me ensure that I know what will follow if I combine a timeline to make a plot point for a character or give nuance.

 

I highlighted this quote while reading: “’ I can smell it on you,’ he said, whispering in her ear. ‘The bloodlust…the hunger for more…that human shell can’t stop it. Can’t appease what you crave…’” It illustrates the internal struggle between the demon’s inherent nature and her human experiences. How did you approach writing the tension between these two aspects of the protagonist’s identity? 

 

I get a lot of inspiration from this struggle with the young teens and children in my life. There will always be the struggle of identity, especially as we grow up - the initial draw to emulate the surrounding adults until you are old enough to not only understand and comprehend what they’re doing. By then, the question is, why am I doing this, and do I even want to do it. There are plenty of examples in just an individual story of development and how we come into making our own choices. The reality of following or questioning your elders’ authority and even puberty’s struggles also reflect this challenge of nature. There’s the societal morality that governs, and those who wish to express anti-establishment views were ways I thought about showing the conflicting nature we face as we come of age.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that growth and change can occur in beings usually considered irredeemable (demons). It points readers toward thinking of the capacity for change in real-world individuals, yes? 

 

Yes! How much joy does it bring when a reader picks up on something I am trying to convey? As humans, we need to label and see the world in black and white - good vs evil, but the reality of the world situation never follows that. I think it’s why so many of the previous mythologies of history influenced us strongly; those dirty reflected more of our human nature rather than omniscience and all goodness.

 

I was fascinated by how The Demon culminates with Death, giving the demon a choice about her fate. In so many ways, this seems to dovetail with the coming-of-age aspect of YA. Did you always think the book would be YA, or did it come into that genre later? 

 

It would be a good YA piece because of the choices. It’s something that is the double-edged sword of coming of age. When you’re a kid, there’s so much you can blame on outsider forces - parents, school friends, religion. But then, at 18 - we’re thrown into the deep end of the pool with now you’re on your own and all those issues building up the past -8 years - well, there’s there, and guess whose responsibility it is to fix it - yours.

 

What’s next? 

I’ve got some ideas for my subsequent work. I’ve been journeying for the past two years, working on expanding my next story concept.

 

Where can we find you? 

 

You can find out more information about me on my website: https://victorywitherkeigh.com/

 

Snag a copy of The Demon