Interview with Day Leitao for The Cup and The Prince
The Cup and The Prince (Kingdom of Curses and Shadows #1)
by Day Leitao
Release Date: October 15th, 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Age: 15+
Synopsis:
One prince wants her out.
Another wants her as a pawn.
Someone wants her dead.
Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.
Yes, 17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn't attain glory on her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So she took his place.
Now she's competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It's her chance to prove her worth and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.
But winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she's a fragile damsel who doesn't belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he's stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.
The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted.
And then there's someone trying to kill her.
Disclaimer: Mentions of cheating, and alludes to virginity and sexual relationships. No steamy content.
Can you briefly describe THE CUP AND THE PRINCE and its characters?
Our girl, Zora, leaves her Dark Valley to go to a competition in the castle. But see, she wasn’t the valley’s champion. She just went to spite her boyfriend. Or rather, ex-boyfriend.
But that’s the thing, now she really needs to win or they’ll blame her.
In the castle, she meets 3 brothers: the princes Griffin and Larzen, and the young king Kiran.
Griffin doesn’t want Zora to compete. He tells her that she should rather go to balls and maybe even get a husband. That’s offensive and infuriating. Now she wants to win just to make him shut up.
With Larzen and Kiran, oh, it’s some weird flirting entanglements.
Could you describe your story with emojis?
😰😟😢👿🍾🌄🤦♂️🏰🏟️🎻🎆🤩👗🤢🤨🎵🧙♀️🏇😨🗡️🐎🎵😠⚔️⚗️🥂😟😱🛡️😭🏹💘
Never thought I could summarize a novel in 32 characters. But there it is.
Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?
The protagonist, Zora, surprised me in many ways. She’s quite compassionate and cries easily. It’s the first main character I write who cries that much. Usually crying is the ultimate humiliation, but I find that for Zora it’s a strength in the sense that she’s not afraid to feel deeply.
Something that struck me was her search for hope. It’s funny, she says that her dream is to live in a world without walls and at first I thought it was about her unique reality in that fantasy world, but then I realized it applies to us, too, who live in a world with so much injustice and inequality. It’s from where I got the dedication of the book.
Zora has an intro short story, The Shadows and the Children, which I wrote after the novel to fill in some background information and as a freebie for my newsletter subscribers. For some reason, I cry at the end of it every time I read it (when revising, proofreading, etc.) I guess it’s the idea to keep fighting, keep trying, keep searching for hope even when everything seems hopeless. Perhaps for some reason this idea touches me personally. Which is weird, as I hate crying. And it’s quite weird to cry when reading your own writing. And I don’t think that this story is going to touch people other than weird me. So no worries, no tears there.
Still, despite the sensitive main character, The Cup and the Prince is fluff fun and light.
How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?
I was toying with the idea of writing a book with a competition. But then, at the same time, I was thinking: what would it be like to live in a place where monsters spawn in the dark? What if they could spawn everywhere, not only outside? From that I got the Dark Valley and the ideas meshed together.
Now yes, it’s slightly inspired on Minecraft. Maybe I played it too much with my son. There are many differences, of course. There’s no crafting and the Dark Valley doesn’t have large animals. But then, since I already had a bit of Minecraft inspiration, I ran with it and added enchanted objects and potions, as they fit well in the story. And Zora’s enchanted sword looks gorgeous on the cover!
And of course I realize it’s not a very compelling premise. I mean, if I wanted to use Minecraft as an inspiration I should write middle grade 😂. And that’s what I told myself. I said, “Nope, let’s write something more compelling. This idea sounds like lemon-filled chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but the mix is dreadful.” And then I replied, “Sure, get a better idea, but while you brainstorm it, why don’t you just keep writing this book?” So I started writing it and it just flowed really well and it’s still flowing. I think it’s a light, fun read. And yes, I have arguments with myself.
If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?
Oh, it’s a cliche, but I feel that Zora has a lot to prove because she’s a girl in a male-dominated space. See, women are not forbidden in the Royal Games, but they’re not treated the same either.
I find that women often have this burden of having to prove that they belong in certain places. Just think about female movie directors, for example.
So the song I think describes some aspects of the book is No Doubt’s “Just a Girl”.
And if I may add a second song, I was in a Danzig mood when I started to write this book, so I’d add “Devil’s Plaything”. That said, I find that if I really got inspired by that song I’d end up with a much sexier book. 🤔 I need to write that book. For the series A Kingdom of Curses and Shadows, the inspiration is subtle.
If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?
Young, unknown actors, of course!
But I know that this question is to get a hit about the look of the characters. This book is a rare case where I actually got inspiration from a real person.
For some reason I wanted one of the princes to be short, and I remembered a famous singer who’s not tall and looked absolutely gorgeous when he was young. That’s Glenn Danzig, an amazingly talented musician, sometimes called the Evil Elvis 🤘.
So Griffin’s physical appearance is based on young Glenn Danzig’s and the character in my mind has his hair, height, and body type. Not face, as he’s a different person and I can’t use someone’s likeness for illustrations. The personality is quite different, too.
That’s the look:
Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish THE CUP AND THE PRINCE?
Oh, yes, readers who enjoy this book should read The Curse and the Prince. It should be coming up later in 2020. It’s book 2 in the series and you’ll find out what happens to Zora after… Well, after what happens in book 1.
Now, assuming you enjoyed my writing, I’d recommend Kissing Magic. It’s book 2 in the series Portals to Whyland but I find that readers who start with it end up reading the whole series and enjoying it. Readers who start with book 1, not so much. Hey, I don’t make the rules. 🤷
But I think you want me to recommend other writers, right? I always get stressed when it’s time to do that, fearing I’ll miss someone or suggest my writing is similar to someone’s. So my suggestion is for you to check the amazing bloggers in the tour and check their reviews and recommendations.
What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?
They can all be equally easy or difficult depending on whether the ideas are flowing naturally or not.
What’s next for you?
The Curse and the Prince, which is the sequel to The Cup and the Prince, and then the third book in the series Kingdom of Curses and Shadows, which doesn’t have a title yet.
Then I’ll start another YA fantasy series, but I haven’t decided anything yet.
I'm originally from Brazil but I've been living in Canada for over 10 years now. I have some influence from Brazilian writers and Brazilian culture, but I also read popular books in English. I watched some Anime as a kid, my favorite being Yamato. I'm a longtime Star Wars fan and I'm active in the fandom podcasting at Lords of the Sith as Denise.
I've always loved to write stories, and I like to always include romance, action and humor in my writing. I think stories can touch us deeply. I live in Montreal, Canada, with my son.
My books include the Ya fantasy series Portals to Whyland, and the sci-fi standalones The Sphere of Infinity and Star Spark.
Check out my blog for some news, updates, and nonsensical ramblings.
12 comments
Thanks for the super fun interview! Excited for this blog tour!
ReplyDeletePortals to Whyland Book Series is a favorite of mine. I never want it to end.
ReplyDelete💗 I love those characters too...
DeleteLoved the interview. Sounds like an awesome book!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love the cover.
ReplyDeleteThe cover looks so cool and I just added this to my TBR list:)
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteAdded to My TBR, The book sounds great, and I Love the Cover!
ReplyDeleteI love the cover, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletesounds great. I like the cover.
ReplyDeleteLove the cover for this book!!! Sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis cover is gorgeous! The story sounds quite interesting too!
ReplyDelete