Remember growing up and finding that one fantasy series that hooked you into reading? With Lindsey Duga’s passion for fantastical worlds and elaborate character development, Lindsey is establishing herself as one of this generation’s new favorite fantasy authors. As a recurring feature at Scholastic Clubs and Fairs, Lindsey has been writing a collection of middle school horror books focusing on ghost stories. But her upcoming novel, Royal Heirs Academy, follows four teenagers attending a boarding school. Tensions run high as they are all up to inherit a royal title.
Lindsey began her creative writing career as she was working on her Bachelor’s in Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. Alongside her studies, she penned her first novel which was picked up by Entangled Teen. Aside from writing, Lindsey’s interests also include board games, romantic comedy reads, and anime.
Continue reading along as we discuss everything from Lindsey’s new novel, Royal Heirs Academy, to her methods of research for her creative world-building narratives. Don’t forget to stick around to the end for an exciting announcement!
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Thank you for accepting our interview invitation! Let’s begin…
For those who may be unfamiliar with it, can you give our readers an elevator pitch for Royal Heirs Academy?
Four teens are driven to compete for their country’s throne at a boarding school for the global elite. It’s Princess Diaries meets Succession — for fans of American Royals, Maxton Hall, and Elite — and inspired by the real-life school, UWC Atlantic, that Vanity Fair dubbed as “Hippie Hogwarts.” It’s all the high school drama we know and love, except the stakes…are much, much higher.
The magic system in Kiss of the Royal, where a person can draw strength from Kisses, is one of the most unique I’ve ever read and one I’ve never seen redone. What inspired this magic system when you began building the KOTR world?
It’s also one of the weirdest, amiright? I’ll never forget the reaction of my critique partner when I pitched the concept of this book to her. Her exact words were, “So they’re just like…making out on a battlefield? That’s so weird. Go for it.” As odd as it sounds when you put it like that, the idea was actually incredibly simple. In all the fairytales we loved as kids, it was always the “true love’s kiss” that broke the curse or woke up the princess. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Princess and the Frog — it’s the magic smooch. I just couldn’t help but think of it as a catalyst for a spell. Like a wizard’s wand, it was what a royal needed to unleash their own magic. From there, I started building rules around it and thought…well, what if I took the “true love” out of the equation? Then, the kiss becomes a weapon more than anything else. Even as I revisit this, I am so surprised this book got published. But I’m so glad it did because here I am!
Royal Heirs Academy features four very different protagonists with varying personalities; which character did you have the most fun developing?
I truly loved creating all of them because, as you said, they are so vastly different from one another. But I do have a soft spot for Alaric the most. He is my first POV, the first chapter, and therefore, he holds a special place in my heart. When I started writing that first chapter I just thought, “Oh, I might really have a good book here” because his voice and character just came to me so easily. All four of the heirs have trauma and issues they are dealing with, and really, their circumstances can’t be compared. But let’s just say…I do love broken boys.
Over the last six years, you’ve written both Middle Grade and Young Adult novels. What attracts you to those genres? Are you thinking about diving into adult novels next?
Middle Grade was my first love. I tried to sell several MG adventure stories when I was first getting started as a writer and eventually landed in the horror category, which was actually a great fit. I grew up reading ghost books as a kid and was very familiar with Mary Downing Hahn and Betty Ren Wright — two authors whose books are so similar to mine. As for Young Adult, I love it for the same reasons I love Middle Grade—the hero’s journey. Whether that was discovering the world around them or who they were as people, I fell in love with watching them grow. They became the heroes—thanks to all their trials — who they were meant to be. And yes, I’m actually on submission for my first adult novel. But if it does get published, I will likely use a pen name so as not to confuse my readers.
In Glow of the Fireflies, you were dedicated to depicting an accurate view of the Smoky Mountains and even toured them for research! Has your research process been as “intense” for your other novels, such as in Royal Heirs Academy and Roaring?
Even more so, actually. For Glow of the Fireflies, I was quite familiar with the Appalachian mountain range since I spent much of my childhood in it, and so my research was to make sure I was accurate in its flora. But, over half of my writing process for Roaring was all research. I poured over 1920’s slang glossaries and referenced 1920’s old photographs of Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York, making sure that I wasn’t describing anything that didn’t yet exist in that time period. I even looked up prices for coffee and sandwiches.
Royal Heirs Academy also held a significant amount of research. In my outline, I needed Sadie and Alaric to get in a fight in an International Econ class, so I studied international trade law for a week and had my friend, who majored in Economics, help me write the scene to make sure I got the concepts and theories correct. I also researched medieval castle architecture, technology entrepreneurship, great historical figures, and worked with a sensitivity reader to help me with one character’s disability. All well worth the time and effort.
Speaking of Roaring, a 1920s-inspired fantasy with monsters and mobsters, What made the 1920s the perfect setting for this novel?
My concept for this novel was pretty simple: what if a siren worked in a speakeasy? So it wasn’t that the 1920’s was the ideal setting for this novel, it was more like the 1920’s was part of the whole idea. It couldn’t be any other historical period in my mind. And, of course, as I got deeper into the novel’s plot and world, I found that Prohibition essentially gave birth to the world of organized crime. So, mob bosses using monsters alongside their Tommy Guns? Like you said, it was the perfect setting.
Royal Heirs Academy seems to have really allowed you to further demonstrate your creative talents through designing Almus Terra Academy. What was your favorite part of crafting the school and classroom atmosphere? Were there any challenging details?
Honestly, being a Harry Potter fan from a young age, it was no great chore to create a school in a castle. The trickiest part really was just making sure I had the same descriptions throughout the book when I described them moving throughout the school. Was the dorm up the stairs on the east wing or west? Stuff like that. But I had so much fun learning all the parts of a medieval castle that I couldn’t wait to somehow modernize them into aspects of a school, like turning a chapel into a gym, or describing the dining hall and library, or their state-of-the-art computer labs. This school might be in a castle as old as the Iron Age, but it has many wealthy donors making sure the students have only the best accommodations and supplies available.
I adore stories with competitions and royalty, harkening back to my early reading days, so Royal Heirs Academy is right up my alley! Can you recommend a few other royal-centric stories?
American Royals by Katharine McGee is definitely a comp title that I would recommend, as is Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins. But there are plenty of YA fantasy royal books I would encourage you to pick up, like Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince series or literally anything by Mary E Pearson. But if you want the series that started MY obsession with royals, you’d have to go way back to the Royal Diaries series from Scholastic, where young princesses (like Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Anastasia, Kaiulani, etc.) from around the world tell their stories in a diary format. I have the entire series from when I was a kid, and it’s my most prized possession.
To close, are there any prospective WIPs in your hat that you’d like to hint about?
I guess now is a good time to mention there will be a sequel! My editor and I are working on Royal Heirs Academy 2: Coup D’etat, which is slated for an early 2026 winter release. I’m very excited (and nervous) about it because it’s my first time writing a sequel. Apart from RHA, I’m currently conceptualizing a southern gothic witchy YA, but the stages are too early to give any details. Hopefully—to be continued!
Thank you again, Lindsey, for the lively and enjoyable chat! And to our followers, don’t forget to pick up your copy of Royal Heirs Academy this coming January. It will be the perfect read to cheer us up during the post-holiday slump!
If you are looking for more young adult books to add to your TBR list, check out The Top 10 Most Iconic Young Adult Books Of 2024!
For more suggestions on YA Fantasy, take a look at our shelf A Young Reader’s Escape into Fantasy and Sci-Fi!
