Gigi Griffis
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis
Author of We Are the Beasts
When a series of brutal, mysterious deaths start plaguing the countryside and whispers of a beast in the mountains reach the quiet French hamlet of Mende, most people believe it’s a curse—God’s punishment for their sins.
But to sixteen-year-old Joséphine and her best friend, Clara, the beast isn’t a curse. It’s an opportunity.
For years, the girls of Mende have been living in a nightmare—fathers who drink, brothers who punch, homes that feel like prisons—and this is a chance to get them out.
Using the creature’s attacks as cover, Joséphine and Clara set out to fake their friends’ deaths and hide them away until it’s safe to run. But escape is harder than they thought. If they can’t brave a harsh winter with little food… If the villagers discover what they’re doing… If the beast finds them first…
Those fake deaths might just become real ones.
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis
Author I draw inspiration from:
Jessica Lewis! I was lucky enough to befriend her online just when we both had finished our first novels, which means I've gotten to read even her unpublished stuff.
I particularly adore her debut novel, Bad Witch Burning, which has the best depression rep I've seen in a book *ever*. It's contemporary fantasy about a girl who realizes she can raise the dead and turns it into a get-rich-quick scheme, but under the escalating tension, there's this authentic emotional core to that book that makes me cry every time.
That perfect balance between emotional truth and tense horror is what I strive for in my own work and I admire how well she does it.
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
My reading nook! I just moved into a fixer-upper apartment in Porto, Portugal and I've been DIYing the place into my personal dream space.
In the corner of my bedroom (which is painted deep blue and has glitter on the ceiling meant to look like constellations!), I bought this secondhand orange-red cozy chair, arranged it on top of a very soft faux lambskin rug, and built a little side table out of one of those wood pieces that shows you the tree rings. I also made a DIY lampshade with drawings of trees on the inside (so you see them very clearly when it is lit up).
During the day, it's one of the sunniest spots in the house, so I can cuddle up with my book and warm myself on winter days. In the evening, it's so cozy with the lamp and the dark, moody room. It's really my favorite place in my whole house.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Well, most of my favorite characters are actual menaces (Katrell from Bad Witch Burning, Mona from Divine Mortals, Nora from The Girls I've Been, Victor from Vicious), and any of those choices would doubtlessly go poorly (possibly even ending in my demise).
A safer choice (though also a messy character) is probably Calla from The Raven Boys. She's a psychic, tarot reader, etc. and 10/10 I'd ask her to do a reading for me. It would likely also go poorly, but at least I'd have some tantalizing prophecy out of the deal.
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I am absolutely the author cliche: all I remember is wanting to be an author. I co-wrote my first book with my best friend (which we then lovingly stapled together and stored in my bottom desk drawer) when I was something like seven.
Perhaps more interesting is the fact that I didn't write fiction for many years because my day job was too demanding (among other reasons). I came back to it, deciding to attempt writing a novel, after getting a mystery illness while traveling and ending up horrifically and then chronically ill.
I did that thing people do when they're reminded of mortality: I went back to what I actually wanted to do with my life. And so I wrote my first novel (not stapled, lovingly stored in an old computer file).
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I read about half my books in audio and the other half mostly paperback. I love audio because I can read while I walk (and living in a European city without a car, I walk *a lot*), while I garden, and while I do DIY projects. And I love paperback because there's just nothing like cuddling up with a real book in my cozy chair (and since PB is lighter than HB, it's also easy to cart around town and read in cafes).
The last book I read:
I'm currently re-reading The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, which is one of a handful of books/series that I go back to every year or so. I love it for its deep characterization and for the fact that it always makes me want to write.
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I jot a lot of notes on paper, but I do my actual writing via computer. Usually with two side-by-side Word docs open: one the draft of my latest novel, the other a detailed outline I made before I started writing.
I also usually have a couple docs on standby: the first is full of historical notes and research; the second is snippets of scenes or things I cut as I draft but hope to incorporate somewhere else in the book.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
This is a surprisingly hard question! I tend to love books with messy, mean, or downright villainous characters (think: They Never Learn by Layne Fargo or Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis) and I'm not convinced they'd like me all that much in real life.
I do tend to get along with other activists (accidental or otherwise), so perhaps Nida from Sarah Mughal Rana's Hope Ablaze - which is the story of a hijabi poet who gets assaulted by a political candidate's team, writes a poem to process her feelings, and then accidentally has her poem go viral, launching her into the public eye.
Author Interview - Gigi Griffis | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
If I couldn't write at all (which rules out my previous career in marketing and being a foreign correspondent for a magazine), I'd either be a professional organizer (give this Virgo your messy closet or chaotic pantry and I will be happily engaged for hours), a private chef (I ADORE cooking, though I would not want to work in the toxic environments of professional kitchens), or perhaps a public historian (the weirder the history I could focus on, the better).
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I'm an 80s girl at heart and I'm beyond thrilled that leg warmers are coming back into style.
Place I’d most like to travel:
I've actually mostly hit my bucket list! For about 12 years, I was a digital nomad, working remotely all over Europe (and occasionally outside Europe). I've lived in the center of Florence, Italy; on the Croatian coast, in a chalet in the Swiss Alps...etc.
Eventually, I ended up in (and fell in love with) Porto, Portugal, so I'm fully in nesting mode, making this place more my home every year. My next planned trip is a foodie adventure with my best friend in southern Italy this winter.
My signature drink:
I spend the first half of most days sipping on French press coffee that I steep in spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, etc.) and sweeten with a little honey. In the evenings, you might find me with a glass of red wine from the Alentejo region of Portugal (a few hours south of where I live).
Favorite artist:
This is so very biased, but right now it's my partner. For my birthday this year, he did fan art of every single one of my books and I cannot stop looking at it. He made it as stickers, but I had every piece printed and framed, too, to go on my office wall.
Number one on my bucket list:
Right now, I'm kind of an anti-bucket-list journey. I've done so many amazing things and I'm very grateful for my adventurous life. But the things bringing me most joy in this moment are hours curled up in my reading chair, quiet evenings cuddling my love, afternoons with my dog snoring beside me in a sun spot, learning to make homemade ice cream, and drinking fresh-squeezed juices with tonic water.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Readers will love my work if they love weird history, rebel and revolutionary girls, and tension, tension, tension from page one. You won't like me if you require your historical fiction to be written in Shakespearean English. ;)
About Gigi Griffis:
Author Interview with Gigi Griffis
Gigi Griffis writes edgy, feminist historical stories for adults and teens, including The Wicked Unseen and The Empress (as seen on Netflix). She’s a sucker for little-known histories, “unlikable” female characters, and all things Europe. After almost ten years of semi-nomadic life, she now lives in Portugal with an opinionated Yorkie mix named Luna and a collection of very nerdy books. When she was hiking through Gevaudan, she just might have seen the beast crossing her path in the distance. Fortunately, it did not eat her.
