Wake up!
The Night of Legends author Leslie W on truth, deception, friendship, following your own path, and the tools you need to navigate them all
“What if everything you’ve ever been taught was a lie?”
Well, I’d probably freak out. Or not. I think I’d probably be able to think clearly and calmly, and decide on my next move.
“Who can you trust if you found out that everything you’ve been taught is a lie?”
I guess myself? I’d assume everyone else would’ve been lied to as well.
These two questions are fun to answer, not only because I’ve never been in a situation where I had to separate fact from fiction, or truth from lie, as if my life depended on it, but because I got Kayce Teo – aka author Leslie W – to answer them too.
“If everything that I’ve been taught was a lie, I think my value system would likely come crashing down on me,” Leslie says.
“I’d question myself and everything I’ve done and everything I do moving forward. I’d probably be paralysed and unable to make decisions.”
Before we go any further and things get too serious, Leslie and I are talking about how the above two questions served as my quick introduction to her book, The Night of Legends. They’re the first lines you’ll likely come across when you read the summary.
They’re also the questions being asked of Leslie’s main character, Keix, who gets rescued by her friends from a two-year coma. It’s how her story begins.
In the book, Keix finds that she has a lot on her plate: She needs to deal with Atros, the organisation that had been training her as a solder since she was 14, but is actually the one responsible for her coma. She has to figure out what Atros is going to do with the ghost army it’s been building. She must find a way to close the portal between the living and the dead, as was asked of her by the Ifarls. And then she has to go get her best friend out of lockup. (Whoa.)
Will she succeed? What happens to her then, and all that’s left?
Cool, huh?
The first book in Leslie’s YA fantasy trilogy, The Night of Legends will have you begging for more.
But to continue with Leslie’s answer, she says to “find your own truth”. This was after Leslie spent one year at her first job, and it left her in that very state of “decision-making paralysis” and going through a “quarter-life crisis”. Not what she thought it would be, the experience led to her taking some much-needed time off.
“Learn to see the world not just through the lens prescribed by society, but through keen observation of what’s happening around you,” she urges.
Although we might think differently if we were in Keix’s position. At least at first.
“Keix isn’t really the type of person to have deep thoughts (until she experiences what she experienced in the book),” Leslie says.
“She’s been conditioned since young to not ask questions and to have an innate trust in the authorities. So she would probably reply, ‘What do you mean by lies? Then what’s the truth?’ It’s very direct.
“She’s also been conditioned to accept the answers that are given to her,” Leslie adds.
“But with the events in The Night of Legends, she will begin to acknowledge that there’s this internal struggle that she has to work through between who she’s been taught to be and who she is.”
Meet the rest of the team
Keix understandably gets the spotlight, but she wouldn’t be who she is if not for the presence of Zej, Pod and Dace. Through these three, we have some of the elements that make The Night of Legends riveting.
I asked Leslie to describe them, because doing so feels like they represent some of the things we love in a character – and look for in a good story – too.
• A strong moral compass
“Doing the right thing for Zej is of the utmost importance, even if it’s at the expense of his loved ones,” Leslie says.
“But not everything is in black and white, even if he sees it that way. Through his character, I try to explore the toll it takes on the people around him. His decisions do affect him greatly, but most of the time, he is able to keep his emotions at bay because of his strong convictions.”
• A balance between personalities
We find it in Pod. Unlike Zej, who Leslie feels is “overly serious most of the time”, Pod is “smart, funny and confident”.
“He’s also thoughtful and has a sensitive side to him. He’s the most wholesome character in the group.”
• A sense of darkness
But not that kind of dark. Leslie sees Dace as “broody”, and someone “who runs his mouth all the time”.
“He’s trying to overcome his own demons. He’s sarcastic and witty, but exceptionally cutting towards Zej because of their history,” she says.
“These characters bring their own quirks to the story and make the relationship dynamics in The Night of Legends more fun to explore, and more layered too – I hope.”
It does, actually – because on top of all that, the book also contains issues that we all go through and still grapple with sometimes.
I happen to think that the ones below will add to our appreciation of the book. I like how Leslie injects her own views and experiences to make our reading experience even richer too. (Plus: There are some spoilers!)
• Friendship and loyalty
“There was a period when I was reading a lot of young adult fantasy,” Leslie recalls.
“I found that too many of the books focused too much on romantic love, and I wanted a protagonist who wasn’t obsessed with romance. Most importantly, I wanted young adult readers to not let romantic love define them, and to know that friendship is also crucial.
“I wanted to point out how blind loyalty is problematic, and again, it ties back to the theme of finding your own truth or path in life,” she adds. “You decide who you want to be loyal to, and why. Don’t follow a path that’s set for you blindly.”
• Trust and betrayal
“This is a tough one,” Leslie muses.
“I think that when one’s beliefs are shaken, it will lead to one feeling betrayed. And when the trust in the system or the values that the system has instilled in you is broken, who and what can you trust then? How do you work past the betrayal? That is something that Keix has to contend with.
“For Zej, when he finds out that Atros is not what they make themselves out to be, he works through the betrayal by finding another organisation to work for, because his core motivation is to do the right thing,” she continues.
“But when the same thing happens yet again, even someone like him, with such conviction, will start to question his choices and moral values.”
• The idea of being part of and being trained by an organisation at a young age (like Keix in Atros)
“This is something that I believe is seen in a lot of dystopian novels. Young minds are the most malleable, so it’s the best time to ‘brainwash’ them. Hopefully, readers who are feeling despondent can find strength in Keix’s journey of self-discovery (which has just started), and know that dark times will eventually pass, and you will find your way.”
• Atros
“The inspiration for Atros is actually none other than Singapore, where I’ve lived my entire life. Of course, I took it further and exaggerated certain elements, where Atros is a one-‘party’ governing body, and any traces of opposition are negligible and portrayed as ‘rebels’.”
• Race
And by this we mean Keix and her mixed bloodline, Odats as “vile beasts”, Kulcans as “a race of fierce warriors”, and Ifarls as “a race with mysterious magical powers”.
“I figured that if high fantasy writers, many of whom are American or British, have their own set of mythical creatures, I could create my own too,” Leslie states.
“I wanted my characters and the creatures living in it to be unique and never seen before, so I just let my imagination run wild. I just wanted to create my own world à la Avatar’s Pandora, without the Western influences – or perhaps, with not just Western influences, but also Eastern influences too. Because science fiction and fantasy series like Animorphs played as huge a part in my life as wuxia and xianxia stories like The Legend of the Condor Heroes.”
• The underworld, a ghost army and enemies
“I experienced the very devastating loss of my mother about 10 years ago, and it just got me thinking: If people who’ve died could speak, what would they say? What would they regret the most? And how would this knowledge affect us, the people living?
“My mum didn’t get a chance to say her last words, and that still hangs over me to this day,” Leslie admits.
“I wondered if she felt any regret that she sort of lived her entire life for the people around her. I wondered if she would regret not being more selfish. Would I regret not being more selfish if I were to die young, because being a mum myself, there are really many instances where you have to prioritise other needs above yours?
“I can’t process it, even till now. So the ghosts in The Night of Legends are just a distillation of the most vengeful and selfish parts of our beings, and my attempt to break up something this huge into smaller pieces, and just process this small piece of the puzzle.
“Plus, growing up, there’s always this belief that spirits linger in this world because of unfulfilled desires,” she adds.
“They haunt people to fill this gap that they had in life. They are often portrayed as still having an element of humanity to them. But if you’ve died, do you lose your humanity too? The ghosts are like a ‘reverse’ version of zombies, where instead of a mindless craving for human flesh or brains, they take pleasure in inflicting pain.”
• Strength, be it physical, emotional or mental (or all three)
“There is a subtext that I guess is both depressing and optimistic. Just like how romantic love isn’t up front and centre in The Night of Legends, I created Keix to not be ‘the chosen one’. The depressing part is the fact that Keix believes she has agency even though she doesn’t. She was just a pawn caught in the fray, and the path was set for her. To be honest, Keix only ever got out of the entire mess because of luck. Much like real life, strength in any form doesn’t matter if Lady Luck chooses to smile on or turn her back on you.
“But at the same time, life isn’t all about luck – good or bad. And strength does matter. It’s whether or not you have the strength and courage to make the move when the opportunity presents itself. So while Keix was dealt a bad hand in the book, she got lucky and didn’t die in that ritual. So the chance for her to walk her own path presents itself at the end of the book, and she takes it.”
• Ancestry and family history (as Keix’s strength and abilities are credited to her Kulcan dad and lineage)
“For this, I’d probably say that the message here is that your identity isn’t solely based on your ancestry. You are also a product of your experiences and your choices.”
Did we mention that The Night of Legends was a cool read?
It’s time for some tips
And I’m rubbing my hands in glee.
The Night of Legends introduces us to a different world, one that takes an imagination like Leslie’s to create. Authors are often asked about their writing process and inspirations, so I’d love to get Leslie’s thoughts on this. What was writing and researching the above characters, issues and themes like? And what did she learn about herself through it all?
• Inspiration in general
“I’ll be the first to admit that I have an overactive imagination,” Leslie says.
“Scenes from dramas (I watch Korean, Chinese and American dramas mostly) and everyday life all serve as inspiration for me. Once I get vibes from a scene, my brain goes into overdrive, thinking, ‘OMG, I love/hate this! What’s the character thinking? What’s their backstory? Wow, that would be something I would like to read.’
“I always cite the ending of Hotel Del Luna as an example. If you’ve watched this Korean drama, you would know that Kim Soo-hyun has a cameo at the end, where he takes over as the ‘proprietor’ of the hotel following Jang Man-wol’s release from her duties. He appeared for barely five seconds, but he really captured my imagination. I wanted to know his story – how it started, how is it going to go, what’s his redemption arc – stat. I would let my imagination take me on a ride by writing fan fiction, if I had the time. But of course, I don’t. So I’m just eagerly waiting for someone to tell that story, and any news of Hotel Del Luna Season 2 gets me super excited.” (Note: I’m also a K-drama fan, so I can relate.)
“Sometimes, I get bursts of energy and I write short flash fan fiction just for fun, and I post these snippets on my Instagram account,” she relates.
“So, basically, getting inspiration is the easy part for me. I file the ideas in my head; I have at least a dozen floating around, waiting to be fleshed out and plotted into stories that I would like to read and tell.”
• Inspiration for The Night of Legends
“The Night of Legends is no different. I also wanted to work through some philosophical questions that I had myself, mainly these four, which I documented here.
#1 Is romantic love really that earth-shattering and all-consuming? Should it be?
#2 If people who’ve died could speak, what would they say? What would they regret the most? And how would this knowledge affect us, the people living? (Like what was mentioned under ‘The underworld, a ghost army and enemies’.)
#3 How do you process pragmatism and societal expectations when it’s in direct conflict with your own feelings?
#4 What are you willing to sacrifice for the ‘greater good’? How will your sacrifice affect you?
“These are addressed by some or all of the characters in the book, and I don’t think they’ll ever be answered definitively,” she stresses. “But the idea is to keep thinking about them and to come up with your own answers.
“I also realised after the book was published that I drew a great deal of inspiration subconsciously from the Final Fantasy role-playing game series. I grew up loving the games – the out-of-this-world setting, the quests, the next-level creativity that went into every single detail of the game, from side quests to NPCs and the landscape – although I’ve only ever completed Final Fantasy X and X-2. I’ve played Final Fantasy VII, VIII, XII and VX (still playing the last one on and off!).
“So although The Night of Legends has been compared to YA dystopian series such as The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner, among others, I would say that the vibe is really much closer to the Final Fantasy games.”
• The writing process
“After I choose an idea to work on, then comes the fun part, which is the fleshing out of the backstory of the main characters and their character arcs,” Leslie says.
“The themes are usually tied to their arcs and fall into place as more details reveal themselves to me. I think about the story and ask myself questions such as, ‘What would Character A do? What needs to happen in order to move the plot forward? How do I make it happen in a logical, organic way? Is it interesting? Would I be excited if I’m the reader?’ and more. I’m a pantser, and many times, the characters, when their backstories are fleshed out at about 20 per cent, start ‘talking’ to me, feeding me the story they want to tell.
“The hardest part is really the writing,” she acknowledges. “My brain has been reprogrammed by technology and social media, and I find my attention span shortening. So it’s really having the discipline to sit down and think and write.
“I’m also a really slow writer (on average I write about 100 words an hour), because I tend to think and rethink my sentences as I’m writing them down. It’s hard to silence my inner editor, and it’s not really the most efficient or productive way of writing, because when I finish my first draft and edit my manuscript, sentences get changed all over again.
“But on the bright side, at least the editing isn't as tedious as if I were to word-vomit 5,000 words an hour onto a page, and have no idea what I was trying to say or do when I come back to it.”
• Researching
“The best thing about writing fantasy is that you get to create your own world and your own rules, and you’re only limited by your imagination and creativity. As long as the world ‘makes sense’ and has its own rules, it pretty much stands on its own,” she maintains.
“I research mostly on settings, so that the descriptions of the places are as rich as can be, because I’ve set The Night of Legends in an alternate universe. Otherwise, I just research the craft of writing. I watch shows and analyse how the plot flows, how the writer presents the character’s dilemma, etc, and I try to work on my storytelling skills.”
Leslie’s top three
Or should we extend it to six? I asked Leslie to share with us three of the tools she relied on for her world- and character-building in The Night of Legends, and why she loves them. But I’m actually glad she has more, because I think we’ll find them useful. Practical, even. We now have no excuse but to write.
#1 Imagination
“Probably the first tool is really just this,” Leslie laughs. “I love creating, and it gives me great fulfilment whenever I write.”
#2 Word and Google Docs
“If you’re talking about physical tools, I wrote The Night of Legends in Word. I’ve since moved from that to Google Docs because it’s on Cloud, and I can write anywhere.
“But I separate my chapters into different documents because once it runs over a number of pages, it takes very long to load and becomes very laggy for me.”
#3 Scrivener
“Most recently, I’ve discovered Scrivener and it’s changed my life. I can have all my notes and chapters in one window, and I can move things around easily. There’s also a target word count and it helps you track your session target (not that I ever hit it). It helps to prevent me from slacking off, or so I would like to think.”
#4 Google Sheets
“I also use Google Sheets for plotting, though I’m a terrible plotter,” she confesses.
“Because writing a trilogy is a massive task, and with more and more characters populating the story, I tend to lose track of things. Having a plotting sheet also allows me to keep the chapter on track. (See example of plotting sheet for the sequel to The Night of Legends below that’s censored and I’ve not bothered to update for a while. As I mentioned, terrible plotter.)”
#5 A good old-fashioned notebook
“Sometimes when I’m really confused and need to figure out the direction of the chapter or novel, I need to scribble in a notebook. Not that I can understand what I’ve written down after that, but the physical act of writing helps me process my thoughts too.”
#6 Friends
“I also have a group of friends who write, and we try to meet every two weeks to workshop our chapters. I talk through my thought processes during these sessions and it helps ground my thoughts too.”
The aftermath
Now that we’ve broken down The Night of Legends and her experiences writing it, what’s Leslie most satisfied about with the book?
“Probably how the form of the novel turned out,” she says.
“It’s unintended, but I’ve read reviews saying that the readers feel like Keix, being thrown in the middle of something. Although many of them hoped for more world-building or the story to start at an earlier point, I think there’s something quite ‘poetic’ (I use this term loosely because I don’t feel that my writing skills are at that level yet) about throwing the readers into the main character’s shoes.”
And what does she hope readers take away from it?
“There are many themes that I’ve incorporated into the book. If there is one takeaway, it’s perhaps for young readers to know that you decide your own path in life. But overall, I just hope that readers had a good time reading The Night of Legends. Personally, I love the breakneck pace. It’s like a rollercoaster ride and I just hope readers enjoyed the ride and were entertained by it.”
Should we now turn our attention to the next two books? It’s a trilogy, after all. (Ahem, teaser, please.)
“To be frank, I wrote The Night of Legends as a standalone because I didn’t want to hold anything back. I always knew that there’s potential of it becoming a series because of the extensive world-building; but plot-wise, I would say that the sequels will explore deeper into the world and why it is set up the way it is. And of course, the stakes will be raised as the threats become bigger.”
Considering the challenges of plotting a trilogy – think “having a proper story arc for each book in the trilogy, expansion of the world and drawing out the details, and trying to make each book better than the previous one, both in terms of writing and plotting”, as Leslie enumerates – it won’t be easy.
You can bet, though, that Leslie will make it good. “I look for some sort of resolution to the inciting incident that set the main character on their path,” she replies, when asked about what for her makes a good ending to any Book 1 in a trilogy.
“Also, a setup of subsequent books in the series that point to another exciting adventure for the characters.”
Going back to our love of K-dramas as reference, Leslie has this to say: “Never do what Vagabond (starring Lee Seung-gi and Bae Suzy) did – have the last episode end where the first episode started. I felt so cheated because all the questions I had of the interesting premise were not answered!” We feel reassured and excited about the next two instalments then.
Leslie is also a lifestyle editor and short-story writer. Find her here and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Buy The Night of Legends from these sites.