Welcome to #TheQuickSixInterview with Elle McFadzean!
We’re delighted to welcome debut middle grade author, Elle McFadzean, with her new fantasy fiction for readers aged 8 to 12, The Potion Experiment. Here is a novel that cleverly combines and draws similarities between magic and science, all the while conjuring fun and whimsy with characters who embark on a multi-layered journey of friendship and self-discovery. There’s more than meets the eye with this surprising tale. It’s sure to put a spell on readers from start to finish!
Thanks for taking us through your parallel worlds, Elle! 🙂
About the Author
Elle McFadzean is an author, architecture graduate and fiction worldbuilder living in Melbourne/Naarm. She writes high-concept fiction that sparks the imagination and creates intriguing characters with relatable motivations.Â
Elle’s writing desk is buried under literary journals, design magazines, overgrown indoor plants, sketched plans of fantastical cities, diagrams of complex magic systems, and an eclectic assortment of too many books.
Please find Elle McFadzean at her website: https://ellemcfadzean.com and on Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Goodreads.
The Potion Experiment is available for purchase through leading stores via Elle’s website.
WHO wrote, illustrated and published this book?
Elle McFadzean wrote and self-published the book. Adèle Dunand illustrated the cover and interior artworks. The copyediting was by Kate O’Donnell, the typesetting and book design by Elle McFadzean, ebook conversion by Shaun Jury, and printing by Ingram Spark.
WHAT is it about?
In a sentence:
Ange, a young scientist, swaps places with her magical doppelgänger from a parallel world and they must put aside their differences to uncover how it happened and find a way to swap back.
In more than a sentence:
When thirteen-year-old scientist Ange is whisked from her home to the middle of a forest, she thinks she’s cracked teleportation. Until she hears Eva’s voice in her head, talking about magic and spells and a potion-gone-wrong.
Turns out Ange is stuck in Eva’s body – in a world full of magic, where no one has heard of physics or chemical equations – while Eva is in Ange’s world and a little too keen to start casting spells for the fun of it.
Now Ange needs to figure out how to swap back before they’re found out. But if their constant bickering doesn’t get in the way, Eva’s habit of pranking and Ange’s inability to catch toads just might.
What is your favourite part of this book?
This is the first time I’ve been asked this! It’s got to be when Ange and Eva first meet. There’s a lot of chaos and confusion in this scene, with multiple conversations happening at the same time. I think I managed to convey accurate character reactions while keeping the story pace moving.
WHEN did you begin writing this book?
Way back in 2019 for a University class (Writing for Children). The class only required a chapter or two, but I wanted to keep writing Ange and Eva after the subject wrapped up for the semester. So I did.
When is its release / launch date?
It was released 18 February 2025, and I held a launch at Readings Kids on 20 February 2025.
WHERE did the inspiration for this book come from?
I really wish I could remember! I was coming up with a bunch of ideas for my class and this one stuck. My teacher and the other students were intrigued by it, which was motivation for me at the beginning.
I’d still like to explore some of the other ideas I came up with then but didn’t pursue during class. I have so many ideas for stories, I wish I had time to write them all.
WHY is this book meaningful to you?
This book is my debut; it represents the start of more books to come but will always be meaningful to me for its role in changing my title from ‘writer’ to ‘author’. I self-published, so not only did I write the book, I produced it. I sourced an editor and artist, and taught myself novel typesetting. I had a lot of creative control over this process, which had me more invested in the outcome.
I also care about the characters. They’re flawed, for sure, and that makes me want them to grow and succeed even more.
Why would its message resonate with readers?
I hope my readers can start to see the magic in our scientific world a bit more clearly. Facts and science are important, and I wanted to convey this in a fun way. We engage with complicated fantasy magic systems in our favourite stories because they’re conveyed in a way that is enjoyable and doesn’t feel like learning; why can’t science be shared the same way?
I also hope the story helps readers see how things that appear very different at first are more alike than you think, if you just take the time to look.
HOW do you feel about the illustrations / cover design? How do they convey the feeling or mood you envisioned?
I adore the book cover and illustrations. I wanted the cover to show full-body characters and some of the setting, because this would have appealed to me as a middle-grade reader. It’s also a convention I see quite often in the age group and genre.
The colourful and whimsical artwork suits so well because, despite the ups and downs the characters go through, there is a happy ending. The overall story is fun and playful.
The cover immediately shows the genre. It also has you asking questions before you’ve even started reading: how did the potion vial break; what is the ghost; what happens in the castle in the background?
How have you promoted this book and how can we find it?
I’ve mostly done promotion on Instagram and through word-of-mouth with family and friends. I’m now trying to circulate it to those who don’t know me, to hopefully find readers who love Ange and Eva as much as I do. The best place to find where its sold is on my website: https://ellemcfadzean.com/the-potion-experiment/
OTHER information or experiences you’d like to share?
I studied architecture before writing this book. I love working with speculative worlds as the settings for narratives. Worldbuilding is one of my favourite aspects of writing because it makes the story more vibrant.
Thanks so much and congratulations on such an intriguing story, Elle! 🙂
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