Interview with Anna Fiteni, Warwick writing alum and author of The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire

Warwick Writing Programme’s graduate, Anna Fiteni, has released her debut novel, The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire, with Electric Monkey. Her ‘romantasy’, inspired by Welsh mythology, follows the headstrong Sabrina into the magical world of the Tylwyth Teg, where the fae she encounters lands her in a dangerous deal to save her sister. 

Fiteni talks about her inspirations, Welsh culture, time at Warwick, and advice for aspiring authors. From discussing the root of Sabrina’s lying nature to imagining Neirin drunk at Pop! on a Warwick Wednesday, enjoy the interview below. If you want to make a playlist to connect to the characters while reading along, Fiteni suggests ‘Swingin’ Party’ by The Replacements for Neirin and ‘The Ballad of Matt and Mica’ by Magdalena Bay, which she describes as “a really triumphant and hopeful song”, for Habren Faire! 

In this ‘romantasy’, readers can expect to fall in love with both this novel and the characters within it. What made you first fall in love with writing and storytelling? 

I loved Peter Pan as a child – I was obsessed with it and I thought about it all the time. I used to make up extra stories about Peter Pan and force my friends to play them with me in the playground. But I think for me, when it came to falling in love with writing as a craft, was when I read His Dark Materials when I was nine, because that was the first time I really saw this idea of creating worlds with your words, and you having a point of view that you want to get across. It was also the first time I read a character that I thought was quite like me. 

I used to try on lots of heroines for size growing up. Lyra was the first one who fit. But I felt myself becoming a writer in high school. I used to write a serialised zombie story for my friends that I would send around on an email chain. It was absolutely dreadful! But my friends got really attached to it, and I let them vote on which character died and who ended up together. Once I got into writing for other people, that is when I really, truly fell in love with being a writer, because I think I write to entertain other people. 

It’s a lot easier to talk about the things we’re worried about through the lens of a dragon or gods, rather than thinking about evil tech billionaires

One of your inspirations was Hadestown. One of my favourite lines in the show is “To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now” – why do you think fantasy and mythology are so important for helping readers understand the world they live in now? 

Starting with mythology, personally, I think a lot of folklore is used to explain the unexplainable. We invented creatures and ghosts and gods to sort of explain what we couldn’t understand at the time. I think the reason we, in the modern day, keep coming back to the myths and legends of our ancestors is because it’s nice to know that someone all the way back then had the same problems as me. They were worried about love, they were worried about ‘do people like me?’ And in Hadestown, where we’re going to keep telling this story over and over again, maybe sometime it’s going to turn out the way we want it to. And I think for me, it’s a lot easier to talk about the things we’re worried about through the lens of a dragon or gods, rather than thinking about evil tech billionaires – somehow the dragon is easier to understand.

I also had to think about what these stories are to me, now that I have to tell them to other people who may have never heard them before

You have said that you were lucky to be exposed to a bit of Welsh mythology when you were young – what was it like delving back into the stories and giving them new life in your own novel? 

Oh, it was so much fun! I think I realised that I actually don’t know as much as I thought I did. So it was looking back on what I knew and having to develop it from there, which was really fun. I was looking back to when I was first exposed to these stories as a kid. That meant I was thinking a lot about travelling with my sister, parents and grandparents, and looking back at old photographs and how these places like Fagans or The Devil’s Bridge relate to me as an adult, because obviously it now has the baggage of nostalgia with it. So how do I work through the nostalgia and get to what the actual story is? But generally, it was really fun. I also had to think about what these stories are to me now that I have to tell them to other people who may have never heard them before. It’s actually hard to find a lot of information because much of it has been lost. But I think that adds to what makes it fun – you take it and run with it, which I definitely did. 

If you found yourself in the world of the Tylwyth Teg, what creature do you think you’d be most excited to meet, and most hopeful to avoid?

I’d really like to meet a Bwbach, which is like a little house goblin, and I’d be so nice to him. He would look after my house and we wouldn’t ever fall out – I’d leave him lots of cheese, he’d be fine. I wouldn’t like to meet a Morgen, a mermaid, because I love swimming and I’d be really scared of drowning because I’d get distracted and then, I’d be gone, absolutely gone. I’d absolutely fall for it, and a mermaid would drown me so easily. 

You know, nasty girls can go on adventures too.

I was able to connect to Sabrina more than usual the ‘chosen-one’ heroes for the relatable ‘ugly feelings’ she shares. Did you always intend to write her this way, or were her traits something you found suited the story you were creating more? 

It’s kind of a mix. I knew I really wanted to go for this traditional fairytale convention, where I wanted the fairies to be bound to tell the truth. So I knew if I was writing about a human girl, I [had to think] why is she so good at lying? Why does she feel the need to lie all the time? It comes from insecurity – you’re pulling back and thinking what makes her so insecure? Most importantly, what is she embarrassed of in herself that she lies so much? I’ve never been able to connect with a world-saving princess character, so it was very, very conscious. I’m really glad that people have been connecting with her because that is something I built the whole book around.  You know, nasty girls can go on adventures too. This matters to me for some reason!

I think we’re all so scared of being criticised that we forget it’s so fun to have someone read your work. 

When you were studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick, what was a piece of advice or lesson you learnt that most influenced your writing moving forward? 

I loved Warwick, and I think the best thing I learned was unfortunately, the hardest, which is: no matter how good you are at writing, the only way to get better is just persistence. I also know that you shouldn’t be afraid of sharing your work – you need to develop a thick skin. Not sharing your work also robs you of the joy of having people read it, and I think we’re all so scared of being criticised that we forget it’s so fun to have someone read your work. 

My personal piece of advice for everybody is to ask for advice from everyone working on the creative writing degree as much as possible. I used to bug my tutors constantly – Gonzalo and Tim. I didn’t leave them alone – every question, every weird idea. I don’t think we understand how lucky we are to have published authors on hand. So persistence and making the most of the people around you is my advice for everyone on the Warwick [Writing] Programme right now.

If I can talk about something, I can write it – if I can explain it, it comes out easier.

My fellow Creative Writing students and I love getting the feel of our characters by making mood boards – what methods do you use? 

This is the best part of my job – people now care about my Pinterest boards. One thing that I do with my Pinterest boards, that’s a bit different to how I think other people do it, is I am into historical fashion, so I will always build a wardrobe for each book. I love to describe clothes; it stops me from having to sit there and be like, ‘what are they wearing?’ I think a big thing for me as well is that I’ve got one person that I will tell everything to, and I sort of talk it through with them – that’s my mum. And that helps me get everything – I feel like if I can talk about something, I can write it – if I can explain it, it comes out easier. 

Neirin acts as Sabrina’s guide to the Tylwyth Teg – if you were Neirin’s guide in our mundane world, are there any places you would want to show him around?

I love this! So the first thing that came to my head was I want to take him to a big Primark. I want to take him to the top floor of a massive Primark, and I just want to leave him there. I think the fluorescent lights alone would kill him, and the plasticky garments – I think he would have a sensory overload and die! But my other answer: I want to take him to Warwick on a Wednesday, I want to take him circling, and I want to take him to Pop! – Do we still have Pop!? (Interviewer: Yes, we do, and we have Disco Dave) I want to just set him loose at Pop! and I think he would have the time of his life. I think he would stack it at the piazza while queuing at the kebab van, and he would throw up at the piazza! 

I think that’s why it became accessible – we had so many different eyes on it. 

Why was it important for you to incorporate the Welsh language into the book, and how did you go about making it accessible for readers who may or may not know the language? 

I’m not fluent in Welsh, first of all, so I had to make it accessible for myself, so I was really riding on that A* from GCSE Welsh that I hadn’t used since I was 16, and then I had to get my cousin in to help me because she’s fluent. And then, when we got to publication, we had a Welsh editor come in as well, just to check and make sure it was all correct. It was really wonderful getting to work with so many different people, and I think that’s why it became accessible – we had so many different eyes on it. 

I had a really interesting conversation – what if we made it [so that] Sabrina is able to engage with fairyland because she speaks Welsh, which I hated. I really didn’t like that idea because so many of us in Wales, particularly in the South, aren’t fluent. Access to Welsh education isn’t quite there yet for everybody, and the idea that being able to speak Welsh makes you more Welsh than someone else, I didn’t like. I wanted to make it really clear that in this, it doesn’t matter. 

Perseverance and endurance are the most important things you can keep in mind when working as a writer.

What advice do you have for other writers hoping to tell stories meaningful to them and become published authors? 

Publishing, more than anything, is a huge endurance game – you get kicked down. You just have to take it, let it roll off your back and keep going. If you want to hold your own book in your hands – a traditionally published book – you’ve just got to keep pushing. If that’s what you want in life, writing is really only half the battle. They tell you that when you’re at Warwick and you don’t believe them, and then you get into the world and you’re like ‘oh my God’. No, they were right. They were completely right. 

The rest is just about perseverance and, quite honestly, being really brave because it takes guts to put yourself out there, and then get rejected, and then continue to chase it anyway. Just because there are millions of other people who want to do it, there is no reason it shouldn’t be you. That’s what I kept telling myself – why can’t it be me? If I want it, why can’t I have it? And I just kept going and going and going. Eventually, you get there. Whether it happens when you’re 25 or 50, if you just keep pushing and keep improving and that’s why I think perseverance and endurance are the most important things you can keep in mind when working as a writer.