I knew I needed to talk with Laurie Forest about the relationship she’s cultivated with her readers after I attended Phoenix Books’ “most interactive event of all time”: the virtual launch of The Demon Tide, the eagerly awaited fourth installment of The Black Witch Chronicles.
As soon as I joined the Zoom call I was met by flashes of purple clad fans, swarms of purple hearts and excited messages in the chat, and Forest’s moody, magical, and–yes–purple, custom Demon Tide Zoom background. Why so much purple? Forest chooses colors, moods, and images that embody each book she works on, then puts them out on social media for her fans.
“I’m very cinematic in how I write”, she tells me over the phone. “I work with Pinterest a lot and I love to share those images with the book fans.”
From purple flowers seen on a walk and purple foods purchased for Forest by her husband, to ideal film castings for her book characters and rave reviews of her fellow authors’ writing, Forest’s Instagram, Twitter, and, more recently, TikTok accounts give her followers a steady stream of evocative, aesthetic, and uplifting content.
“I like to take a really positive approach to social media and put out positive messages of support for other authors. I really like to encourage people in their creativity. I think there’s a lot of negativity out there online and a lot to discourage people so I want to share the joy of writing and falling into a story. And people really respond to that.”
While Forest’s writing certainly appeals to a wide range of readers, she says it’s geared mostly toward older teens and young adults, groups that make for voracious (and impressionable) consumers of social media. YA fans traditionally are some of the most vocal on the internet, especially where any love triangles are concerned. And one of the most talked about aspects of The Demon Tide at the launch event was, unsurprisingly, the resolution of one killer of a love triangle.
“I boxed myself into a complete corner with it”, Forest reveals with a laugh. “I thought it would be interesting to try my hand at romance and use it as a vehicle to weave these more important themes around it. I didn’t know how the love triangle was going to play out. I did know that I was going to basically upset half my readership… It’s good when people feel strongly. It was a very hard decision. It’s funny how these characters get so real.”
Forest’s steady and continued online engagement with her readers enables them to connect with her characters and become a part of an incredible community of book lovers who feel strongly enough about a story to discuss it over and over again. As fierce as the arguments for Team Lukas vs. Team Yvan can be (and trust me, they can be fierce, indeed), Forest’s reading community is united by a genuine love of the world she has created and an overwhelming desire to keep that love alive both on and off of the page.
