Brookline’s Leah Cypess is the author behind YA fantasy novels Mistwood and Nightspell. Leah’s new novel, Death Sworn, is a tale of a young sorceress exiled to teach magic to a clan of assassins. I spoke with Leah by phone to ask her about the state of YA fiction today compared to when she was growing up, and to find out how she managed to find time to be a full-time writer while raising three kids.

Brookline Hub: Tell me a little about Death Sworn. Where did the idea come from?

Leah Cypess: It’s the story of a young sorceress, Ileni, who was supposed to be the most powerful sorceress but loses her powers at 15. She’s designated as a tutor for assassins. This is a death sentence for her because the last two tutors were murdered. I was reading another fantasy book about a sorceress who tutored magic to knights, even though she was a pacifist. I wondered, what if they didn’t get along? What if she wasn’t so powerful? What if she was afraid all the time? How would she feel? It got me thinking about the character of Ileni.

BH: At the Brookline Booksmith event you are going to be joined by several other YA authors. What do you think about the state of Young Adult fiction today compared to when you were a teen?  Why do you choose to write for this age group?\

LC: When I was reading YA it was different. It was Sweet Valley High and girls dying of cancer—there were a lot of those! When I submitted my first book, I thought it was adult fantasy. I got no response. My agent said the book was too short—it was 70,000 words and my agent said it needed to be 100,000 words. Could I add 30,000 words?  I had read Dream Hunter by Elizabeth Knox (A YA fantasy) and it was really long and complex, and I thought, my book could be YA also. 70,000 words was not the standard YA length when I was growing up, but now it is.  So I sent a query and got an offer.

BH: Who were you favorite authors when you were reading YA? What are you reading now?

LC: My favorite author was Megan Whalen Turner. The most exciting moment of my life after getting my first book published was being at a conference that she was at. We both have the same publisher, HarperCollins. Diana Wynne Jones is another author I read. I would still be reading her today but she passed away (in 2011.) I read adult fantasy authors Dave Duncan and Sharon Shinn.

BH: You took a circuitous route to becoming a published author. Tell me about that.

LC: I was always submitting work, starting when I graduated high school. I’ve been writing since elementary school. I was always writing on the side, in my spare time. Then I became a lawyer at a large firm and that was great, but it was all consuming. I worked there for two years, then I moved to Brookline with my husband and now I’m at home with my kids and I’m a full-time writer.

BH: How do you manage to find time to write with two kids at home?

LC: Actually, I have three now. My youngest is 2 ½. I love the playgrounds! They allow me to write while also keeping my kids interested and occupied. Brookline seems designed for families with small children who live in apartments. There are so many public play spaces.

BH: So it sounds like playgrounds are one of the things you like best about living and working in Brookline?

LC: Last summer I visited every playground in Brookline and wrote a blog about it: http://visitingbrooklineplaygrounds.blogspot.com/.

—By Jennifer Campaniolo