Rebecca Yarros on literary tropes, writing through chronic illness and 'Fourth Wing'

Rebecca Yarros is the author of The Empyrean series, a wildly popular collection of "romantasy" novels. In a conversation with NPR's Emily Kwong at this year's National Book Festival, Yarros said she wanted to plot an enemies-to-lovers story when she began writing Fourth Wing , the first book in this series. In today's episode, Yarros talks about the genre tropes she tries to embrace and avoid in her writing. She also discusses working through a chronic illness, how history and politics shape her stories, and the influence of her husband's military experience on how she approaches themes of violence in her work. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy