Q&A With Garrett Curbow 

Back in December, before the end of an old year and the beginning of the new one, I finished reading Whispers of Ink and Starlight by Garrett Curbow. It has magic as well as romance, something that is right up my alley. I fell in love with it immediately after the first sentence. Garrett has also written The Daughter of Light Trilogy. I’m delighted to be doing this Q&A with Garrett and I’m very grateful to Rachel Gul at Over The River Publicity for sending me a copy and arranging this interview! Whispers of Ink and Starlight will be available on April 1^st wherever you get your books! 

Q: Welcome to Book Notions Garrett! I’m glad to have you here! Would you please give a brief description of your books beginning with Whispers of Ink and Starlight?

A: Of course! Whispers of Ink and Starlight is about a woman born from ink, who defies her creator for love. Nelle and James escape small town Lincoln, Georgia and fall in love on a journey across the United States East Coast, France, and Scotland. But with every mile they travel, the ink in Nelle’s veins threatens to rewrite their story. In a world where every moment could be her last, Nelle and James must fight to write their own ending—before the final page turns.

The Daughter of Light Trilogy is perfect for fans of early 2010’s YA epic fantasy. It weaves threads of friendship and romance into an expansive, character-driven story of adventure and war.

Q: You wrote in the Acknowledgements Section that you began writing Whispers of Ink and Starlight during your freshman year of college six years ago! Where did the idea for Whispers of Ink and Starlight come from?

A: It was mostly born from boredom. It was 2020, I was feeling moody and invigorated by my newfound freedom as a first-year college student, and I wanted to write a troubled romance about young artists. Though I have a playlist that is my dream soundtrack for Whispers of Ink and Starlight, I do consider folklore by Taylor Swift to be the unofficial soundtrack. I listened to it almost exclusively while writing that first draft, and it’s where a lot of the whimsy and youthful angst was drawn from. 

Q: Which scenes did you enjoy creating the most? Its such a unique magical novel, it’s hard to choose. I do enjoy all the places Nelle and James saw together! 

A: Though it’s probably the most controversial section of the book, I had the most fun writing Part Three. For me, this was the part of the book where everything clicked. Once I figured out what needed to happen in the last seventy-five pages, writing the ending was like running a marathon. I was going, going, going non-stop. 

I also particularly enjoyed crafting the first part of Whispers of Ink and Starlight, before James and Nelle leave Lincoln. I felt nostalgic creating a setting so heavily inspired by the landscape I grew up in. I’ve lived through twenty-four hot summers in Georgia, and it was nice to be able to draw from a lifetime of my own experiences for those early chapters. The plot of that first part, before everything explodes, is also so tight and purposeful, I had a blast loading it with bits of foreshadowing.  

Q: What are lessons and emotions you hope readers feel after they finish reading your books, especially Whispers of Ink and Starlight? For me I feel it’s a reminder that dreams are worth going after even if those in your life don’t always support you. 

A: I love that takeaway! Finding the courage to follow your dreams is definitely a lesson that I wanted to convey with this novel, through both James’s and Nelle’s journeys. This book has its bleak moments, so it’s important that it also has a North Star of hope.

I want readers to leave this book feeling okay with disappointment. One lesson I learned while writing Whispers of Ink and Starlight is that the destination you want is almost never the destination you get. Sometimes it is, so it’s worth it to keep fighting, to keep dreaming. But in some instances, it’s okay to find contentment with knowing that you’ve received what you need, and not what you want.

Q: If/When Whispers of Ink and Starlight were to be made into a series or a movie, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created? One suggestion for Nelle would be Florence Pugh. 

A: I love this question because I have an immediate answer for Nelle. Great suggestion with Florence Pugh, but my dream cast would be an actress I’ve followed for a while now, Iris Apatow. In my head, she is Nelle.

For James, I think Timothée Chalamet is the obvious A-list choice. If we could go back in time, a Gilmore Girls-era Milo Ventimiglia would also be interesting, bringing a bit more edge to James. 

If Sally Field can do a Scottish accent, I think she would be perfect for Penelope. 

For Quill, I would choose Penn Badgley. In a few years, he would be around the right age, and with wardrobe and styling, he could pull off Quill’s unnerving demeanor. 

Q: Can you reveal details for your next book or is it too early to reveal anything at the moment?

A: I’m working on edits now, so anything is subject to change. But it’s a stand-a-lone novel (with series potential) about Jules, a demon slayer who dreams of being a popstar, her best friend Peter, and Ezra, the man who comes into their life and wrecks everything.