Welcome back to our interview collection! Come meet a real life young writer and author and hear about her story!
(Inertia) Hello! Welcome to the Feather Treasury, we’re so glad you’re here! Can you tell us your name and how you started your writing journey?
(Guest) My name is Israfel Shae! I’ve loved words for as long as I can remember. I was three when I taught myself how to read, and when I was seven, I found the word “novelist” in the dictionary and told everyone I knew: “I’m going to be that!” I’ve always wanted to write stories that impact, not just entertain.
(Inertia) What genre(s) do you normally write in?
(Israfel) I write in many different varieties of fantasy, from allegorical to epic to literary.
(Inertia) Would you like to share with us about a character from one of your stories? How do you hope readers will connect with them?
(Israfel) One of my favorite characters is from the novel I am publishing this November—my protagonist, Verit Visquer. I wrote him to experiment with the saying “actions speak louder than words”, creating him as a cynical, saddened character who often says pessimistic things that apply to his honest-but-rigid outlook on the world. But deep inside, he has a spark of life and love and imagination that comes out of him in surprising ways—namely, his actions.
My early readers and I related to him because of how deeply human he was, contradicting his true heart. He is a seeker, always searching for truth, but it takes him a whole novel to understand that lies within.
(Inertia) What is something you wish someone would have told you before you started writing? A piece of advice to share with other young writers?
(Israfel) Don’t fail. In my definition, failure is a mistake you do not learn from. Go ahead, try brave new stories, experiment with crazy plot tricks, then fall down and make mistakes. Everyone does. But only the people who grow to be masters pick up their mistakes and study them. So take the last thing you were disappointed with and ask yourself “why did this not work?” and then “how can I make this work?”. Pound away at your flaws every minute of every day until they are your strengths. I personally find it is after I have had a particularly hard time or found something majorly wrong with my writing that my writing quality soars, NOT after I have achieved something.
If a failure is a mistake you do not learn from, a mistake that you do is the greatest success you will ever have. It’s as simple as that. So embrace your mistakes, or the months when your writing feels “not good enough”. Those are not failures. Those are just the stairsteps to mastery.
(Inertia) Israfel, could you share with us about what you’re working on now?
(Israfel) Currently, the story that my heart is closest to is a YA allegorical fantasy called The Songs the Stars Sing, which is set for publication November 24th, 2026. This is its blurb!
The world is made of Stardust. That’s where the magic comes from.
Or that is what Verit Visquer’s mother tells him—but he’s not so sure. Ever since the Darklings came, children have been stolen from their beds, and the stars are falling from shattering skies. So when hard-hearted Verit makes an impossible wish upon a shooting star, he does not expect it to come true.
After his beloved little brother is Taken, he finds that maybe there is one beautiful thing left in the world—and now Verit is the only one who can save him.
His only hope for getting his brother back lies with a shooting star determined to return to a distant planet, the wish that saved the star’s life, and Verit’s own questionable ability to shine.
Full of heart-warming characters like the ones in Wingfeather Saga and a subtle-but-whimsical allegory like that in A Wrinkle In Time, this book will be sure to delight readers looking for a story both wholesome and inspiring.
(Inertia) Thank you so much for joining us! Is there any place where readers can go to learn more about you and keep up with your writing?
(Israfel) You can find more about me and my upcoming book at www.israfelshae.com, and sign up for updates on my newsletter!
I hope you all enjoyed that interview as much as I did and learned about another wonderful author that you might want to follow! There are still more interviews to come so keep watch!
With Faith, Hope, Love, and Feathers,
Inertia.
