Today we have Sonya Bateman, author of Master of None (which I recently reviewed) thanks for stopping by Sonya!

Thanks so much for having me over today, Natasha!

One of the unwritten rules for writing a great story is to always know more about your world and your characters than will ever make it onto the pages of your books. Especially with a series – the more information and history you create, the more interesting and connected you can make your stories.

This also means one of the biggest challenges for an author is to know which developments should go into the books, and which should stay out. Of course, after you’ve spent all that time and effort either researching or making up all this awesome stuff, it’s hard to resist the temptation to put everything in. But sometimes, what you don’t say in a story can be just as intriguing as what you do say.

There are also things the writer knows that have no place in the story – little inspirations or influences that either sneak in, or march right over and shout, “Use me!” These come from the writer’s personal experiences, preferences and interests (and no, that doesn’t mean I like to pull people’s fingernails out with pliers…).

So, here are some behind-the-scenes things you might not know about MASTER OF NONE:

* The opening lines (Just once, I would’ve liked to get my shit together. Even accidentally.) were inspired by a song called “If I Only Had a Brain” by a band called M.C. 900 Foot Jesus.

* Jazz (full name Jasmine) is accidentally named after Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin. Also, there is a princess in the story – but it ain’t Jazz. *G*

* The djinn language is based on Egyptian Arabic (Masri).

* Donatti has a tattoo of an eight-ball on his ankle, which he got while he was doing time in Cuba.

* 3 out of 4 djinn prefer Pepsi to Coke.

* In earlier drafts of the story, Donatti “stole” a dog. The dog was edited out, but he might make a comeback in a later book.

* Djinn clans not mentioned in the first book, which will probably pop up in the series, include fox, jaguar, crocodile, and polar bear.

* Unbeknownst to Ian, there is a small tribe in the Peruvian Amazon who worships him as a god, and has his image graven on their coins.