Interview Friday

I interviewed fantasy author Mary Woldering

1. What genre(s) do you write in and why? Do you write flash fiction, short stories, novellas and/or novels? Graphic novels, anime or comics? If you do multiple genres and/or lengths, which do you prefer? Have you ever written any poetry?

Really I just write. I generally write long several novel series but I’m trying to work on shorter fiction. I write free verse poetry and interweave it in all my fiction. The genre is Historical Fantasy and Urban Fantasy.

2. What writers do you admire? What are you currently reading?

At this point I really don’t have a favorite – or have too many authors I like. Stephen King comes to mind. I’m reading So Sweet by indie author Andi Lawrencovna at the moment

3. How do you pick character names?

They just come to me. Then I look them up in a historical context

4. What kind of support do you get from your family and friends?

Mixed. I think if I was a best seller it would be more. Most find it a rather obsessive retirement hobby and wish my stories sold.

5. What are you working on now?

A revision of my first novel is being edited and I’m writing on the 5^th and final novel in my Children of Stone series, struggling to avoid the Game of Thrones or Hamlet ending I originally envisioned

6. Have you self-published anything? What was your experience like?

Everything is self-published and it is way harder to sell my books than I imagined.

7. Have you sold your work at book fairs or conventions? What kind of experience did you have?

I do better at fairs than online, but the break-even point is often too high for the risk so I don’t go to very many.

8.What's the one piece of advice that has helped you, and where did you get it? What advice would you give a beginning writer?

Write what you feel. Keep writing, even if you think it’s bad or it isn’t selling. Write because you want to.

9.If you had it to do over again, would you have started writing sooner?

Not writing as I started at about age 5. I would have published earlier – perhaps 40 years earlier.

10.What are some review remarks that stick in your head?

Like Game of Thrones in Ancient Egypt. You walk with the characters and see the places.

11.What are the hardest kinds of scenes for you to write? Romantic? Sex? The death of a character? Fight scenes? Others?

Endings of anything. My characters react like characters on a holodeck in Star Trek. They want me to keep writing with them.

12.How much time do you spend on research for your writing?

Until it sounds real and I get the historical parts as close as I can.

13.Your character decides to go a different way than you planned. What do you do?

Usually go with it. They ARE my muses after all. I’m just a chronicler.

14.Have you ever used weather or setting as a character?

Weather in settings and world building but not as an entire character – perhaps a wrath form of some of the demi-gods/gods.

Tuesday Book Review

5-star review for Polar Vortex by Matthew Mather

Another non-stop action adventure from Mather. This was definitely a page turner. As Mitch's efforts to protect his daughter and survive in the Arctic become more and more difficult, he must also decide who to trust. Who was responsible for the crash landing of the flight from Hong Kong to New York? Where exactly we're they? So many questions, several of which are never answered. The sections at the end when assorted people try to explain what happened seemed to be a lot of telling, but didn't detract from the story. Loved this as much as Mather's other novels.

Tuesday Book Review

Five stars for The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

In the second book of the Wheel of Time series, the Horn of Valere is stolen by Fain, along with Mat's dagger, and a hunt is begun. Of course, not only Mat, but Rand and Perrin, even Loial join the hunt. Meanwhile, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne and Min are lured away from Tar Valon and have their own adventure, ending up enslaved in Falme. Tensions run high throughout the novel. We see more about each of the character's abilities and personalities. Terrific read.