Daniel José Older is the author of numerous novels, short stories, and essays, and a comics writer for Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures and Marvel. The conclusion to his YA fantasy duology Ballad & Dagger, The Last Canto of the Dead, is due in May. Brittany N. Williams is an actor who studied musical theater at Howard University and Shakespearean performance at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in London. Her forthcoming YA debut, That Self-Same Metal, out later this month, kicks off a historical fantasy series set in Shakespeare’s London, about a Black craftswoman who can melt metal and is the key to mending humanity’s pact with the violent fae. We asked Older and Williams, who are married, to discuss their new books, perspectives on their publishing journeys, and sources of inspiration.

Daniel José Older: Hi, Brittany.

Williams: Hi, Daniel.

Older: What are you working on?

Williams: Well, I have book one of The Forge and Fracture Saga coming out: That Self Same Metal. What’s your next book coming out?

Older: The Last Canto of the Dead comes out in May, which is the sequel to Ballad & Dagger from Rick Riordan Presents.

Williams: So, we’re looking at publishing from two different vantage points, because you’re having your 19th book come out May 16, and I’m having my debut book come out April 25. Did you ever imagine you would be looking at it from 19 books published?

Older: No, I mean that’s what I wanted to happen for sure, but I never expected for it to be this many. But here you are into book one and all the excitement that entails. First of all, how do you feel about that? Second of all, does it help or hinder to have someone who’s like a grizzly old, established writer right next to you all the time?

Williams: It’s exciting and terrifying in equal measures. Because I am at the precipice of so much potential. Nothing has been established, there’s nothing definite or known yet.

Older: Expectations are the hardest things to manage as a writer. There are things we don’t have control over, and that’s a good thing but it also means that you have to give up a little bit. But let’s talk about research!

Williams: Yeah. How do you feel about how long you should research as you go into something, and finishing reading your research books?

Older: Oh, don’t. The way that I feel is don’t. You cannot take the preciousness of finishing every research book into the process, because then you will literally never write. You have to be able to jump, be flexible, and you have to be nimble.

You studied Shakespeare at Oxford, but you still had a lot of research to do. How did you approach that?

Williams: I had a lot of assumptions based on individual teachers’ interests and partial knowledge. Like, I wrote my first couple drafts and I realized that the majority of my side characters were all men. Because I was working from this idea that only men were involved in the theater-making process. Then I came across a research book called Labor’s Loss that was all about how women were involved in theater-making. So that allowed me to go in and kind of course-correct and add more women into my book.

Older: Course correction is so important.

Williams: It’s especially important when you’re considering the role of women in history, and the role of non-white people in history. Because they are so callously and intentionally forgotten. So you have to acknowledge where your limitations are, and you have to be okay with having those challenged and correcting yourself.

Older: It’s a very intentional form of oppression that we have to actively fight against to not replicate.

Williams: Anyway, let’s talk about inspiration.

Older: Right, inspiration. So much of research is about creating the experience of the novel. There’s research that helps us with facts, then there’s inspiration research. For example, George Lucas built this library on Skywalker Ranch; it’s a research library and it’s one of the most beautiful, and to me, sacred places I’ve ever been.

Williams: Oh, must be nice.

Older: It was. It’s just two floors of incredible books and they use it for inspiration research, which was a concept that I hadn’t even thought about. We all do it, I think. So what was that like for you?

Williams: It’s so interesting because I use inspiration research very heavily in my acting process. I’ll collect images that inspire my character, make collages, make playlists and all of that. Working on this second book I did the same thing. It’s fun to have that carry over from my acting life into my writing life.

Older: Are there works that are more thematically related or just related vibes that you would go back to in the middle of writing?

Williams: Yes, something that refills my creative cup is watching Dimension 20.

Older: For me it’s anime. I find it helps me break out of the mold of the typical western stuff that we see over and over.

Williams: I also put on Beyonce’s Homecoming. That inspires me as a working mom dealing with a brain and a body that work in very different, very new ways. So seeing her go through that process as a mom who had a challenging pregnancy, the work she put in simultaneously with the incredible result, that helps me get through working on certain things.

That Self-Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams. Amulet, $19.99 Apr. 25 ISBN 978-1-4197-5864-5

The Last Canto of the Dead: An Outlaw Saints Novel by Daniel José Older. Disney/Rick Riordan Presents, $18.99 May 16 ISBN 978-1-368-07090-4