Five By Five: Author explores her main character’s life in fantasy series

By Max Bowen

When Victory Witherkeigh began writing “The Girl,” it was meant to be a coming-of-age story with a new perspective. But Victory decided to take it a step further, by seeing how The Girl changes as she becomes a young adult in “The Demon.”

In this interview, Victory shares the origins of her series and how the story changed as she went along. We also learn about the Filipino and French Polynesian myths and legends that are woven into the story, as well as how she’s feeling with a multitude of awards and nominations.


What inspired you to write this series?
I wanted to write books for young brown girls like myself who felt they couldn’t identify with most of the female characters in the novels, especially if they were of the fantasy or dark fantasy genre. The idea for “The Girl” hit my brain in the late 2000s, but I realized it was more of a series once I started writing my first novel.

Since I wanted to help expose the dangers that “likeability” or even “popularity” meant “goodness,” I found myself with more questions or journeys I wanted to explore with “The Girl” once she came of age. I’ve read many horror and dark fantasy novels, but nothing seemed to look at the other side of the coin, when the character is now a young adult with the world at their fingertips. Sometimes, getting precisely what we want can be the worst thing in the world.

Your books explore the world of Filipino deities and mythology. How much of this did you already know and what did you have to research?
Some pre-colonial myths and legends that inspired these books are from the Philippines and French Polynesia. They were stories I grew up hearing, with multitudinous variations in pronunciation and even names, depending on who was speaking. I was first brought back to the Philippine islands at 2, with various stopovers along the way to see relatives. Since the islands we come from were prone to multiple monsoons or lack of government infrastructure, power outages were widespread. A common way to pass the time in the dark would be to grab a flashlight and tell stories — often, the scarier, the better.

But even with these generational seeds planted, I did as much research as possible into the more “modern” retellings of some of these fables. Like most sciences, the translations and understandings of the past change with new theories, which can only enhance the storytelling. Also, since I was a child when I first heard these myths, I needed a refresher to ensure I still remembered the proper deities.

Who are the Girl and the Demon?
“The Girl” is both the title of my debut novel and the main character of that novel. She is a character dealing with the coming of age story that explores the question — can you do good if you come from something terrible? “The Demon” follows the same suit of being both the title of my second novel and the main character of the former. The Demon’s story of the aftermath when one becomes an adult and gets what they said they always wanted.

I read that the new book is a companion piece to “The Girl.” Does one need to read the first book to follow the second?
While the stories of both books tie together, one can read them as companion novels or as stand-alone pieces. The novice reader may not catch a few details in “The Demon” without reading “The Girl,” but they could follow the characters’ stories in either.

“The Girl” has won or been nominated for different awards. How did that type of recognition influence you as you wrote “The Demon”

I still can’t believe that the first sentence is real! I’m super grateful for the small recognition I’ve received thus far, and it was those small things that helped me continue writing and editing and finishing “The Demon” when it felt impossible. Whether it was getting stuck in too much minutia or sitting and trying to edit down the chapters, the recognition would give me that little boost of confidence to push through those dark days.