Celebrating Wisdom, Magic, And Empowerment
Lydia M. Hawke discusses creating dynamic older heroines, blending supernatural and real-world themes, and her passion for showcasing the resilience, power, and vibrancy of women stepping into their strength later in life.
Lydia M. Hawke is a name that resonates with fans of paranormal women’s fiction, celebrated for her ability to blend magical realism with the deeply personal journey of reinvention. Through her groundbreaking Crone Wars series, Hawke challenges societal norms around aging, offering a refreshing and empowering portrayal of a sixty-year-old heroine embracing newfound magical abilities. Her work, lauded for its authentic and layered approach to representation, brings to life a world where the wisdom and strength of older women take centre stage. Reader’s House Magazine is pleased to share an exclusive conversation with Lydia M. Hawke, delving into her inspirations, creative process, and the themes that make her stories so profoundly resonant.
What inspired you to create the character of Claire Emerson, a sixty-year-old protagonist with magical powers
As I was approaching my own 60th birthday, I couldn’t help but notice the dearth of older characters—particularly women—in fiction. I was seeing a lot of what is being called “Paranormal Women’s Fiction” that was intended for an “older” audience, but even those had characters in their 40s who were dealing with teenagers and life situations that I was well beyond. I wasn’t seeing me in books, and it occurred to me that there were a lot of other women my age who might feel the same. We were facing empty nests, looking back on a lifetime of looking after others, and wondering what the heck came next. Claire is a compendium of all those women. Her experiences (minus the magick part!) reflect the experiences of just about every woman I know at this age—the feelings of having become invisible, of having been made redundant. I wanted to show that we still had more to give, that we were still very much alive and vibrant and capable—and that we could still save the world. Yes, even at our age and beyond.
“I wanted to show that we still had more to give—that we were still alive, vibrant, and capable.” – Lydia M. Hawke
How do you balance writing darker urban fantasy as Lydia M. Hawke and lighter romance as Linda Poitevin?
I’m actually not writing romances anymore. I loved doing so at the time (and still love the books I wrote then, too), but my focus these days is on the older woman coming into her power—particularly where the patriarchy is concerned. I am happily married (37 years) to a wonderful man, but the real world at large is having a definite impact on my stories and my characters.
What challenges did you face in blending supernatural elements with real-world issues in your Grigori Legacy series?
The biggest challenge for me was making the supernatural feel as “real” as the real world. I wanted the story to feel believable, for angels to feel possible. To do that, I played a lot with angel mythology, digging up obscure names and stories, and tweaking the more well-known figures and stories just enough to fit them into my own while still leaving enough of the original to be recognizable for readers.
How has your personal life, such as being a wife, mother, and pet owner, influenced your storytelling?
Those things have definitely influenced my writing, lol, especially when it comes to time and discipline. As far as the storytelling itself is concerned, I think growing older has had the most influence. Dealing with issues such as that feeling of invisibility that comes with age has made me determined to give other older women heroines they can connect to—and who reflect them.
What drew you to explore themes of redemption and purpose in your novels?
I think we all wish we could have an impact on the greater world—especially in a good vs. evil kind of way. And I also think most people want to be better—to grow, to heal, to become more. Everyone I’ve ever known has been fighting a battle of one kind or another, and so exploring these themes is akin to exploring the human condition in general, I think. I love creating characters who feel real, who struggle, and who still manage to rise above when the cards are down.
Can you share your process for developing complex characters like Alexandra Jarvis and Aramael?
Character development is an ongoing process for me. I often get to know the character as I write the story (just as the reader does when reading). If I’m stuck, I’ll write a mini autobiography for a character in the first-person point of view. That often unlocks background stories that help to shape a character’s … well, character … even if those backstories don’t make it into the final manuscript.
How do you approach world-building in your urban fantasy series to make it both immersive and believable?
The what-if question is my favourite starting point. What if … there was a god-world parallel to our own? What if … angels were real? What if … a woman discovered her magickal powers on her 60th birthday and then learned that she was supposed to save the world? What would that look like to friends, neighbours, coworkers? What would the impact be on family? What impact would that have on the characters? What horrible things can I make happen to really make them suffer? How will they survive, and what will they look like when it’s over?
From there, it’s a matter of deciding what my magickal/power system will look like—what is possible/impossible, what are the consequences, that kind of thing—and then filling in the details. Letting my imagination run wild is the fun part. What would an angel’s wings look like? How can I make my angels different from the standard mythology? What if my 60-year-old grandma inherits a cranky gargoyle along with her magickal destiny—and maybe a wolf-shifter who was a Knight of the Round Table? Ooh, I know! Let’s throw in a dragon!
Immersing my readers in my stories means letting them see what my characters see, hear what they hear, smell what they smell. Reality is in the details … but not so many that I bog them down with description and inadvertently take them out of the story.
