I’ve been honored to feature Misa Suguira’s young adult books before, and I always enjoy her writing. Her middle grade series, Momo Arashima, is one of the best fantasies out right now, and I loved talking with Misa about the first and second books in the series. It concludes with the final book, MOMO ARASHIMA DUELS THE QUEEN OF DEATH, which came out on February 25, 2025.
Momo Arashima is half goddess and half human – torn between two worlds. But with her friends Danny, Ryleigh, Jin and Niko by her side, she’s finally starting to find a place where she belongs. Too bad none of that matters when Izanami, the treacherous goddess of death, threatens the life of someone Momo loves and forces her into a terrible bargain.
Izanami is after the Jewel of the Heart, an artefact that will help her finally escape the land of the dead . . . and she wants Momo to get it for her. Along with her friends, Momo must face fire demons, fanged mermaids,and spiders as big as horses. But even if they succeed, what will Momo do? Sacrifice the person most precious to her, or hand over the Jewel and unleash Izanami on the world?
In our last interview, you said, “Revision is nice because at least I’ve been given some direction by my editor: put more emphasis on this theme, work on developing that character, etc. On the other hand, it’s during revisions that I really start to doubt myself, especially when the revisions are hard.” What advice, if any, do you have for writers who also doubt themselves and/or might struggle with revisions?
Whoo, that’s a tough one! If you have a writing group or a critique partner, get together for coffee (or cake, a glass of wine, a walk–whatever works!) and see if you can get their insight. A friend and I recently helped a multi-award-winning author who was struggling with a very tough, multi-layered revision problem. We didn’t even need to read his draft: they went over the important plot and character elements, we asked questions, we brainstormed ideas, and we came up with a solution, all in one hour! It was super fun and we all had delicious baklava! If you don’t have any writing peers you can bribe for revision advice, I find it’s helpful to remember that every writer—even the award-winning, best-selling ones—struggle in the same way, and that this is just part of the process.
That’s reassuring at least! In MOMO ARASHIMA DUELS THE QUEEN OF DEATH, Momo has to make some pretty tough choices. Without giving away spoilers, what were the biggest challenges to writing the finale in this series?
By far the biggest challenge for me was finding a way for Momo and her friends to keep growing as characters, both as individuals and in relation to each other. I had to have two looong Zoom conversations with my editor, and she had me go over every single scene in the book and show how each one affected which characters, which I did not want to do. But it worked!
That definitely sounds tough! What is the best feedback you’ve gotten from one of your readers?
The most interesting feedback I’ve received is from a reader who felt like Danny got off too easy in Book 1 (Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind) for something he’d done in the past. I could totally see where that reader was coming from, and it made me want to go back and re-read the sections to see if I might feel the same way.
Another reader pointed out that in Book 1, Momo admonishes Danny for his “joke” insults, but seems to be okay with Niko and his many insults. All I could say to that was, “Yeah, that’s true. I should have thought about that.”
Ah, if only we could live life in hindsight! Now that the Momo Arashima series is concluded, what’s next for you? Anything particular project you’re excited to work on?
I have a picture book biography of Hayao Miyazaki coming out sometime in 2027 (omg so far awaaay)! I’m working on the first draft of another MG fantasy that involves time loops and magic clocks, but it’s still very early days, so we’ll see what happens, I guess…
Order MOMO ARASHIMA STEALS THE SWORD OF THE WIND
Order MOMO ARASHIMA BREAKS THE MIRROR OF THE SUN
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