Authors Tagging Authors Blog Hop - Q&A.

Hello Everyone!
Here is my contribution to the ‘Authors Tagging Authors’ blog hop. I was originally tagged/tigged by my favourite historical novelist Judith Arnopp (do check out her books, they are wonderful!) http://www.juditharnoppnovelist.blogspot.co.uk/ back in December 2012, but was tardy in posting to my own blog (apologies, Judith – better late than never?) More recently I was tagged/tigged again by Simon Andrew Stirling, author of ‘The King Arthur Conspiracy’ – a fantastic book. Here’s his blog link: http://simonandrewstirling.blogspot.co.uk/
So I thought I’d better get to it and finally answer these blog hop questions! Hope you enjoy them. And below you’ll find links and a brief intro to the authors I’ve tagged/tigged in my turn. They are all great writers with some brilliant books to share. Why not check them out?

Ok, here we go:

 What is the working title of your next book?

The title of my next book is King’s Artesan, and it is the concluding book in my first trilogy, Artesans of Albia. It goes to my editor in March and will be published in July. The first two books  in the series are King’s Envoy and King’s Champion. After that, Rhemalda will be publishing all three books in my second trilogy, Circle of Conspiracy, in 2014. Should be a fun year!

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have to answer this for the entire first trilogy, as it was actually written as one hugely long story. And I didn’t start out to write a book, all I was trying to do when I began writing was to make a cold and boring winter go a bit quicker! But there are two main reasons why I began writing. The first stems from a children’s TV programme that I used to watch back in the 70s. Called ‘Tarot, Ace of Wands’, it was about a magician who was also a bit of a crime solver. For some reason, a small thought sparked by this programme stuck in my brain for years. When I returned to the UK in 1994, after three years of living in Italy, I had a lot of spare time on my hands. During the winter of 2001, I became increasingly bored with not having a job, and so I decided to write this small idea out. No one was more shocked than I when all these other ideas and extensions of this tiny idea began snowballing into a book. In case you are interested, the initial thought or idea that started the whole thing off was, where would someone born with a special talent or power go to find help with it if no one else around him was gifted? The initial scene that I wrote concerned Taran Elijah’s first meeting with Major Sullyan at the Manor.

What genre does your book fall under?

My Artesans series is Epic Fantasy, which is the genre I am most drawn to. The books themselves are aimed at adults, although I have had readers as young as twelve who have really enjoyed my first two books. The final trilogy in the series gets progressively darker, though, and there are times when it borders on dark fantasy or even horror, so those books are definitely not for children!

 What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

This is quite a hard question in some ways because I am not a film buff and only really know the very famous actors. I would certainly struggle to find someone to play Major Sullyan! But one of my characters, Elias, High King of Albia, was actually modelled on the English actor Sean Bean, who played Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharp, and also Boromir in Lord of the Rings and Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones. They’ll have to hurry up with the film version of my books though because Sean Bean is in his 50s now and King Elias is 33!

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am very fortunate in that my books are published by independent US publishing house Rhemalda Publishing. Like most writers, I went down the route of submitting to agents and UK publishers, and then spread my net to include those in the US as well. I received many encouraging replies from agents and publishers alike, all telling me to keep trying, and that my work was definitely publishable and would find a home. Yet no one ever offered to take me on. In that time I also wrote a non-fiction book, For the Love of Daisy, and that was published with a very small indie publisher, www.canwritewillwrite.com I gathered a wealth of publishing experience through Daisy’s book and came to the reluctant conclusion that I would have to self-publish my Artesans series. Then one day I was on Facebook and saw Rhemalda Publishing www.rhemalda.com mentioned in a post about fantasy books. I did some research and decided to submit, as a final attempt at securing a ‘traditional’ publisher. To my great amazement, they loved my book and offered me a contract! They are an awesome company and I’m very fortunate to be working with them.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the entire first Artesans trilogy in around seven months. It was such a wonderful experience but also a bit scary, because I couldn’t seem to stop writing, yet I had no idea where all these plotlines and characters were coming from. It was an almost physical ache when I couldn’t write, like at weekends when I had other things to do, and I used to get quite tetchy if an idea was knocking and I couldn’t get somewhere where I could write it down!

 What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

I’m not too good at comparing my own work to others’, but I have had reviewers compare me to Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin (yes, really!). I suppose my tales are on an epic scale, as theirs are, so maybe that’s the similarity. As far as writing style goes, I try to write only like myself.

 Who or what inspired you to write the songs associated with this book?

My own love of singing inspired me, I guess. It seemed natural to include references to music in a tale set within a medieval-style world, because music would have been a major form of entertainment. Songs – and one in particular – also help my characters accomplish their tasks and overcome the obstacles placed in their way. This is especially relevant in the final trilogy, Master of Malice, where a very personal song enables a character to connect with dead souls. On a practical level, my husband plays guitar, and he and I met through singing. My brother and his song-writing partner also helped and inspired me with writing and recording the tracks, and we’re having great fun writing songs for the rest of the series. Having music associated with each book is also a great marketing tool and has opened the doors to several radio interviews for me.

 What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

My main female character is quite a charismatic and unusual person. I wanted to create a believable female fantasy lead because I so often found that the females in other books I’ve read have either been there mainly as ‘love- (or lust!) interest, or they’ve been Red Sonja types, totally over-the-top Amazonian male-hating women. I wanted to create a woman who could exist, and compete, in a male-dominated world without sacrificing her femininity and vulnerability. She had to be powerful, yet humble; beautiful, yet approachable; capable of great leadership, yet without arrogance or pig-headedness. Judging by some of my reviewers’ comments, I succeeded, and that really pleases me. There are also some very rounded male characters too, though – I didn’t neglect the men!

Thanks for reading, please don’t hesitate to contact me at cas@caspeace.com if you’d like more information. Or you can visit my website: www.caspeace.com

 Up next on this blog tour is author/illustrator Mikey Brooks. He has published several picture books including Bean’s Dragons and ABC Adventures: Magical Creatures. He’ll be discussing his middle-grade fantasy novel The Dream Keeper. Check him out at www.writtenbymikey.blogspot.com

 Then we have Steven D Jackson, a fellow Rhemalda author whose paranormal thriller Shifter is just brilliant. See his blog: http://thecerberusarmchair.blogspot.co.uk/

You might like to try author Gordon Long’s unique fantasy tale, “A Sword Called … Kitten?” and also his insightful and humorous look at the human race, “Why Are People So Stupid?” He also has a great blog, plus poems and short stories. His website is: http://airbornpress.ca/Home.php and you can find his blog here: http://airbornpress.ca/arewestupid/blogweb/index.php

And you MUST check out Tom Barczak, the author and illustrator of Kindle serial epic, Awakening Evarun, and his debut novel, Veil of the Dragon, Book One of the Prophecy of the Evarun. See his website: http://tombarczak.com/

Last but by no means least we have the hugely talented Candace C. Bowen, another member of the Rhemalda family, who formerly wrote under the name Candace Bowen Early. She has several published novels, all of which are awesome:
Titles available through Seven Realms Publishing:
A Knight of Silence - Vol. I
A Knight of Battle - Vol. II
Jack of Hearts (Available March 2013)
Voodoo Fire (Available Fall 2013)
Available through Rhemalda Publishing:
Spur of the Moment
Wicked Embers (Sequel)
Check out her website for more details: http://www.knightseries.com

Enjoy!!