With author Alyssa Moon’s new novel Delphine and the Silver Needle set for release next month, Jess recently had the chance to chat with Moon about the book.
Jess Salafia Ward: Alyssa, thanks for chatting to us here at Laughing Place!
Alyssa Moon: Thank you for the invitation! I’m so excited to be talking with you.
JSW: Your debut novel, Delphine and the Silver Needle will be released on March 2! How do you feel?
AM: I can’t even express how excited I am! I’m still pinching myself! And the best part was when I got to call my mom and tell her that I was going to have my book published. She was a librarian and she’s the one who gave me my love for books, so to be able to say those words to her…it was such a dream come true. And she’s just over the moon about it.
JSW: You are soon to be a published author of your very first Disney book. Have you always wanted to be an author? How did the opportunity arise to write with Disney?
AM: I’ve been writing stories for a long time, although when I was a kid, they were all a great beginning and then after two or three pages, I would always end up writing “To Be Continued.” I was terrible at endings. But I kept on writing. When you love to write, you just can’t help it…you’re always making up stories about anything and everything. The littlest thing can inspire a story. I’m a huge fan of all the Disney animated films, but especially the classics, and I love the little woodland animals in those movies. I always wondered …what are their stories? Where do they live? Do they have their own adventures? I couldn’t stop thinking about the mice who lived in Cinderella’s chateau and that pretty quickly turned into the idea for Delphine. Then one day I met a Disney editor and shared my idea, and he liked it enough to take it back to his team at Disney Publishing. And the rest is history!
JSW: Have you always been a Disney fan?
AM: Always. I’m a second-generation Disney fan – my aunt and uncle both worked at Disneyland, and the highlight of every summer vacation was the trip to visit them and the day at Disneyland with my cousins. No matter what, I had to go on Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was non-negotiable. And then I discovered the animated films. I babysat for a family who owned Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, and every single time I babysat, I watched one or the other after the kids went to bed. I think I loved those movies even more than the kids did.
JSW: Delphine takes place in the Cinderella universe and during the same timeline, but this story is truly Delphine’s own. Were you given a lot of freedom in writing this story? Tell us a little bit about the sort of conversations you had with your Disney liaisons about story, worldbuilding, etc?
AM: The folks at Disney were so supportive in this being a story set in Cinderella’s world but starring a brand-new character. And I took that responsibility really seriously. It’s a big deal when you’re writing a story set in a world that’s already so well-known and beloved. I wanted more than anything to create characters that would fit into the world of Cinderella, but also give readers a chance to explore a whole new part of that world that they had only had glimpses of before.
In terms of how that actually played out, we all agreed that we wanted to keep true to the canon of the original film, with all the things fans love about Cinderella’s journey, and just have Delphine’s story woven through. And I wanted the character of Delphine to be inspired by Cinderella’s personality and traits. I loved the idea of this little mouse who’s grown up in the chateau alongside Cinderella, and thinking about how she watches Cinderella every day and learns from her. Delphine really admires Cinderella and aspires to be as good as a seamstress as Cinderella is, but also to be as kind and caring as Cinderella. But what I love about Delphine is that she isn’t always totally successful on the “kind and caring” side – she can be awfully hot-headed. It makes her a lot of fun to write about.
JSW: What are some of your favorite parts of the Disney Cinderella films that you chose to include in the story you wanted to tell in Delphine and why?
AM: Definitely Cinderella’s cozy chateau with the winding staircases – I always wanted to see more of how the mice lived inside those walls with their tiny homes and kitchens and storerooms. Did they have their own tiny staircases built inside the walls? I had a lot of fun exploring those questions. And I always loved the sewing theme in the film, so I made that a central theme of the book. In the film, there are two iconic moments with garments, one where the mice sew Cinderella a dress, and the other one where her fairy godmother magicks a dress into existence. So I started thinking about what would happen if those two themes were combined – the idea of sewing with magic. That’s how the Threaded – the magical mice of the book – were created.
JSW: What is your process for creating characters? Do you “trial” characters during the brainstorming process to determine if they are a good fit or does it happen more organically as part of plot?
AM: The main characters do have a lot of planning ahead of time. I think through their personalities and character traits, both good and bad, and a lot of that happens by putting them into a situation and seeing how they react. Also, for this book, I did a lot of research into the fashions and living conditions of the time period, and that ended up helping to shape the characters in various ways. But ultimately the characters really create themselves, especially the supporting characters who often pop up in a scene without me even seeing them coming! There’s a great scene where Delphine is trying to buy a little rowboat from a group of newts, and when I had started writing the scene, I had no idea there would even be newts. I thought she’d just head down to the riverbank and find a boat floating there. But lo and behold, as I’m writing, she gets down to the edge of the water and there’s this band of newts standing there, blocking her way, and they’re trying to sell her this boat that’s completely falling apart. It ended up being one of my favorite comedic moments in the book, and I still don’t know where those newts came from, but I’m glad they decided to show up!
JSW: You do a lovely job of character development and relationships, not only between Delphine and Alexander but also the snippets we see of Elodie and Rien. How did these and other story and character choices come about as part of the planning process? Did you make any or many dramatic changes to your initial ideas along the way?
AM: I knew from the beginning that I wanted the relationship between Delphine and Alexander to be one of those situations where you’re thrown together with someone and you have to learn to get along with them…and in Delphine’s case, she ultimately learns to see the goodness in Alexander and to let go of some of her assumptions about being able to do everything herself. You know, as we go through life, we all need friends with us through the tough times, and there’s no shame in that, but it’s a lesson that Delphine has to learn.
And Elodie and Rien’s story is so special to me. They both care so deeply for one another, and they’re both alone in their own respective lives, and they find one another and support one another through years of hardships. There’s a lot more to Elodie and Rien’s story coming in book two, by the way! I cried a few times, writing their scenes in the sequel. So in terms of the key story ideas, those themes are very clear to me from the start. What ends up happening is that I try a variety of plotlines and see which ones “hang” the best on the framework of the theme, and then the story begins to take shape from there.
JSW: Themes in this book include the pursuit of truth and understanding, trust, belonging and adventure. What do you think are the key takeaways, and what theme(s) resonate most with you, from Delphine and why?
AM: You’re so right about the theme of truth and understanding. If readers take away one message from this book, I hope it’s that we are each a unique individual with our own talents and shortcomings, and that every person should be seen – and loved – as an individual. The book deals with a lot of different characters facing a lot of assumptions about how they – or others – should act, and what happens when things don’t go the way they expect. It’s not easy to figure out who we are and where we belong in the world, but as long as we all keep trying and keep being open to growth and change, then I think we’ll all end up in the right place in the end. And that’s what the characters in this book end up discovering.
JSW: Who is your favorite character in this story and why?
AM: I have a particular fondness for Alexander. He wants so much to impress Delphine and be this dashing noblemouse, but somehow he’s just always tripping over his cloak or eating a strange berry that doesn’t agree with him. I think his character arc is so relatable because we’ve all wanted so much to seem important and impressive, but ultimately what makes others love us is when we can show our weaknesses and just truly act from the heart.
And of course I love Cornichonne, because she’s based on my own cat who was a rescue and she just has so much love to give. I thought it would be fun just to give my cat a cameo in the book, but the character of Cornichonne took on a life of her own and ended up becoming very important in Delphine’s journey of learning that family can be made up of all kinds of creatures, not just blood relatives. There are a lot of characters with big hearts in this story, but I think Cornichonne’s is the biggest.
JSW: What non-Disney resources did you look to for inspiration in writing Delphine?
AM: Of course there’s Charles Perrault’s original story of Cinderella – that was a great resource. And eagle-eyed readers will notice I’ve paid homage to him by making Alexander’s last name Perrault. There are tons of hidden references and easter eggs like that throughout the book. I read so many fairy tales and fantasy books as a child, and all of those became this big melting pot of inspiration, but especially the stories where a brave young lass heads out on an adventure and ends up saving the kingdom. For visual inspiration, I spent a lot of time looking at the concept art of the original animated film, both the character designs of the mice, but also Mary Blair’s gorgeous concept art. She’s one of my favorite Disney artists and her aesthetic informed the entire world of my book so much.
JSW: What likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, can you share with us about your writing journey on this project and others?
AM: Oh, “journey” is the perfect word to describe what it’s like to write a full-length book. Writing is such a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and it’s all taking place inside your head. There are days when the words are flowing out of your fingers, and you can’t even type fast enough to write down everything that you’re seeing happen to the characters in your mind’s eye. And then there are those days when you’re staring at a wall of post-it notes with scribbles all over them, and it’s supposed to illustrate a plotline, and you’re just thinking, “But what does any of it mean??” And then I would put on the soundtrack to the new live-action Cinderella film and take a long walk, and by the time I got back, I could usually figure out what those post-its meant.
Sometimes I’d get really stuck, on plot points that just wouldn’t connect, or absolutely no idea of how a character would react in a situation. And then I’d always go back and rewatch the film, and it would reinspire me all over again. It’s really incredible how perfect that film is, in every way. You can just get lost in it.
JSW: Delphine and the Silver Needle appears to be book one in a new series. What can you tell us, if anything, about the upcoming books in the series?
AM: My standard line to fans is “If you think book one is a big exciting adventure, wait until book two!” But seriously, book two takes all the conflict and danger and excitement of book one, and amps it up to a whole new level. Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that by the end of the first book, Delphine is realizing exactly how dangerous the enemy truly is, and just how far she’ll need to go to save her life and her friends’ lives. Book two also takes some cameo characters from book one and makes them key to the plot, which is really fun. And after book two, who knows what might be in store for Delphine… or for minor characters from other classic Disney movies!
JSW: What is next for Alyssa Moon?
AM: I’ve just put the finishing touches on book two, and am looking now at what happens next for Delphine and Alexander. Cinderella’s kingdom is a big world, and even by the end of book two, not all of the secrets have come to light. There’s a whole lot more to discover out there in Delphine’s world. And maybe in the worlds of other minor characters from the classic Disney movies!
JSW: What do you ultimately hope readers get out of Delphine and the Silver Needle?
AM: I think we can all use more hope and goodness and optimism in our lives right now. We all need a chance to escape into another world for a little while. If one person out there loves this book as much as I have loved so many books over the years – falling into the story, living inside it, staying up late to read one more chapter, and thinking about the world and the characters long after the book is done – then I’ll be happy. I’m a reader first and foremost, and I write the books that I want to read. I hope everyone else will love reading Delphine and the Silver Needle too.
Delphine and the Silver Needle by Alyssa Moon will be released on March 2nd, 20201.