Interviews
This is the interview I’ve been waiting three years to do.
We’re writers, words are our lives. But sometimes words aren’t enough to express the emotions that go into a moment when someone you know, love, and has struggled and persevered finally realizes a dream. And now we get to watch our own Therese Walsh walk the earth as a published author. Pick your own words to describe the moment; my list is too long to fit in a blog post.
True story: last summer I took a call from Therese one evening when we should have been feeding our kids. “Elisabeth Weed has agreed to represent me,” she said. And I knew in the marrow of my bones that my next words were going to come true: “Hang on, because this is going to go fast.”
The then-titled Unbounded sold in a couple of days in a preempt to Random House. I think I cried just about as hard as she did when she told me the news.
There is not a time in our long friendship that Therese hasn’t been working on this book. I’m just so, so pleased that it is getting the sort of attention and care from the publisher that it deserves, and that Therese is getting all the accolades she deserves. Do yourselves a favor and immerse yourself in The Last Will of Moira Leahy. It’s astonishing.
But before you do, enjoy part one of my two part interview with Therese Walsh, and get the backstory.
Q: You’ve said that you didn’t grow up always wanting to be a writer. What changed your mind?
TW: Life threw plenty of curveballs my way. I started as a music education major, but I really wanted to perform (sing), so I ended up bailing on my program and rethinking my future. I landed in psychology, thinking I’d finally found a home. When I went to grad school, I learned on day 1 that my program, which was biopsychology, had been cancelled. You get the picture: my future was murky. I transferred into the general psych research program and waited for lightning to strike.
I’d always liked writing but thought of it as one of those untouchable careers—like singing for a living. It was something you might want to do, but how many are successful? This must’ve been a learned response to Art as Career, and I can’t say for certain where it originated.
So there I was at grad school, unsure what I was going to do with my life, and I signed up for a class in magazine article writing. My professor was enthusiastic about my work, very encouraging. When I learned of a job opening at Prevention Magazine as a researcher, I thought maybe this was it—research + the opportunity to write. I jumped, and got the job.
When my daughter was born, I left my staff researcher/writer position and became a freelance health writer. I also started dabbling in picture book concepts for my darling D. I liked it—writing, creating fiction. Once my stories started to veer into picture storybook territory—longer works for an older audience, which are harder to market I might add—I realized I wanted to try my hand at adult fiction.
Q: What was the kernel of an idea that ended […]
Read MoreDebut author Marilyn Brant already has an award winner on her hands, as her novel, According to Jane, won RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart Award in 2007. Now, Marilyn has not only an award for her efforts, she has a book. As I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Marilyn over the last few months, I can tell you that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. Though I haven’t had the opportunity to read her book, which was just released yesterday, October 1st, its high-concept premise promises a fantastic read.
Want to know more about that premise? Me, too. That’s why I’m thrilled Marilyn agreed to an interview with me here at Writer Unboxed.
Interview with Marilyn Brant
Q: What’s the premise of your debut novel, According to Jane?
MB: According to Jane is the story of a modern woman who has the ghost of Jane Austen in her head giving her dating advice. Some of this advice is welcome. Some of it is most seriously not… My heroine, Ellie Barnett, is 15 and in English lit when she picks up her first copy of Pride & Prejudice. The spirit of Jane whispers in her mind that the bad boy she’s had a crush on for ages is just as bad as the villainous Mr. Wickham in the book. Thus, Ellie’s two-decade-long search for her hero or, in Austen lingo, for “her Mr. Darcy,” begins. Meanwhile, Jane is determined to steer her toward better life/dating choices than Ellie seems inclined to follow on her own and, also, to get Ellie to find some common ground with her wild older sister. Neither of these are easy tasks for a long-dead author.
Q: What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them?
MB: One of the biggest challenges for my heroine is her ability/inability to sift through the wisdom of others and listen to her own voice. Of course, that skill doesn’t evolve effortlessly when we’re growing up. We tend to make a lot of mistakes and ignore really good advice because we still need to learn from personal experiences. However, there also must come a time when–after looking at a situation analytically, listening to the wisdom of others and weighing the pros and cons–we need to put our faith in our own intuition…and leap.
Q: What unique challenges did this book pose for you, and how did you overcome them?
Read MoreI adore indie publisher Tin House Books for its committment to finding unboxed writers and publishing authors whose work fits outside the mainstream. So I was delighted to be given the opportunity to interview Tin House’s editor Lee Montgomery. Montgomery was one of two editors who selected essays for Tin House’s The Writer’s Notebook, a collection of essays on the craft of writing fiction by an ecletic group of Tin House authors. I found each of the essays in The Writer’s Notebook inspiring and often laugh-out-loud funny. After reading the essays I found myself inspired to push outside my comfort zone, and as a writer that push is essential for growth.
Please enjoy our interview with Tin House editor Lee Montgomery.
Q: What was the genesis behind THE WRITER’S NOTEBOOK?
Lee Montgomery: The seminars at our summer workshop were so terrific –instructive and inspiring– we wanted a way to share them with the world. We’re techno challenged and a bit old fashioned so we felt the best way for the most people to benefit was to make a book. That way people can dip in and out, rereading the essays over and over, which is what we like to do.
Q: With so many great authors who are guests at your annual craft seminars how did you decide which essays to include in the book?
LM: There were a lot of factors that went into deciding what to include. From a practical standpoint, there were some lectures that did not translate well from lecture into essay form. There was also this question of permissions. Many writers used other texts in their talks. In some instances, lectures analyzed whole stories. The cost of reprinting these was prohibitive. Finally, we needed a certain balance of topics; from philosophy, construction, to revision.
Q: Why did you decide to include a CD with the book?
LM: The CD is an attempt to be au courant and techno savvy, but bottom line is we’ve hosted some excellent panels that are also very instructive and the only way to present panels is in their original format.
Read MoreIt’s not easy juggling two high-powered professions, but Maggie Leffler manages it splendidly. Leffler had been bitten by the writing bug early in life, and like many of us who write, crammed it around a busy life that includes a day job as a practising physican, being a wife, and motherhood. Her highly-regarded debut, THE DIAGNOSIS OF LOVE, told the story of a young doctor questioning her decision to pursue medicine and working through grief issues. Her second novel, THE GOODBYE COUSINS, tells the story of a woman gamely putting together the pieces of her life. Written with warmth and a light touch, Leffler expertly mines the terrain of grief, abandonment issues, and romantic love. Her books are family-centered character studies, with lots of emotions and laughter. The plot resolutions were authentic and lovely. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend the weekend, and I look forward to Dr. Leffler’s next novel.
Please enjoy our interview with Maggie Leffler.
Q: Tell us about your journey to publication.
ML: I finished the first draft of THE DIAGNOSIS OF LOVE just before my graduation from medical school, but it took another six drafts—and a lot of rejections from multiple agents—until I finally got it right. Joining a writers group during my family practice residency really helped me figure out what changes I needed to make in the manuscript. After working on it for seven years, I finally did get an agent (Jodie Rhodes) who was extremely enthusiastic about the book—and she sold it to Bantam Books in two weeks.
Q: As a doctor, novelist and a mom, you’ve had to balance all sorts of crazy schedules. How do you manage it?
Read MoreI’m thrilled to continue WU’s 100th interview today with WU co-mama Kathleen Bolton. Kath had a great opportunity with Working Partners last year to write for a new series, took the opportunity, and won the job. CONFESSIONS OF A FIRST DAUGHTER, a fast-paced YA treat, was released just last week. I loved the book, but as you know I’m biased; here’s what others have had to say:
Fun and breezy. – Kirkus Reviews
I really enjoyed this book and it was easy to get into. …I would definitely recommend this book to anyone ages 15 and older! -By the Book Reviews
If you missed part 1 of my interview with Kath, click HERE, then come back. Today we’ll dish about character development, how a pantser adjusts to working with a storyline, and more!
Part 2: Interview with Kathleen Bolton
Before I get to the first question, let’s post an excerpt from chapter 1. Your protagonist, Morgan Abbott, has just delivered a speech to the entire high school, making it up on the fly after her nemesis–the evil Brittany Whittaker–stole her platform. She wants to become class president, and she was so well prepared–note cards in her pocket, safety pins around her loose-fitting skirt, shorts underneath just in case. Now she’s waiting to see how her hastily stated words were received. And she’s nervous.
It was so quiet, you could hear the air conditioner hum. For one awful second, I thought I might have bored them into a coma. Then Hannah punched the air and started clapping, and a groundswell of applause rose and filled the auditorium. Soon everyone was standing. Well, except for Brittany’s pink witches cabal. They looked like they were about to retch up the toadstools they’d had for lunch. I saw Brittany wrinkle her nose as if she’d stepped in dog poo.
I felt a flush creep up my cheeks. Maybe I had pulled this off after all.
I reclipped the microphone, then picked up my useless notecards and shoved them hard into the waistband of my skirt.
Big mistake.
The notecards went in and the pink I’d used to hold up my skirt popped open, stabbing me in my waist. I clutched my side, trying to hold back a wail of pain, but at the same time I noticed that I’d started peeing notecards. They dribbled to my feet, where I promptly slipped on them. As I went down, I grabbed for the podium, which left my skirt free to puddle around my ankles…and it did just that, while the glass of water on the podium tipped over onto the front of my blouse.
Applause turned to laughter.
“Classic Abbott!” someone yelled.
Great. Leave it to me to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Q: Morgan Abbott is a pretty funny character, as are her cohorts. How well developed were each of these characters when you received your assignment from WP?
KB: I’d received a two or three sentence prompt on the characters. All I knew was that 17-year-old Morgan Abbott was the president’s daughter, she looks just like her, and has a penchant for screw-ups. I took cues for the rest of her character from her milieu: she was in the Drama club, […]
Read MoreWatch for a special post next Monday, as Kath and I dish about WU’s first 100 interviews.
This interview marks the 100th interview given here at Writer Unboxed. I think it’s especially cool that the interview is with one of WU’s founding co-mamas, and one of my best buds, Kathleen Bolton!
Kath’s debut novel, published under the pseudonym Cassidy Calloway for HarperTeen, was released just this week. Confessions of a First Daughter is a funny and fast-paced book that showcases Kath’s love of vivacious language, her sharp wit, and her down-to-earth nature–a few of her many strong suits.
I’m beyond thrilled to interview her here, about her fateful opportunity with Working Partners and HarperTeen, writing in a completely new genre, her process and more. Enjoy!
Part 1: Interview with Kathleen Bolton
Q: What do you tell people, when they ask what Confessions of a First Daughter is about?
KB: I tell them it’s a fun bonbon of a story about the wacky misadventures of the President’s daughter. Morgan Abbott is a quasi-celebrity who has to deal with intrusive press, bad grades, mother-daughter conflict (in a fun twist, her mother is the President of the United States, and Morgan looks just like her), and a crush on her Secret Service agent, who is roughly the same age as she is because he’s a prodigy specifically recruited by the Secret Service for her security detail. It’s the sort of book a YA reader can gobble up quickly. Pure entertainment.
Q: Tell us the story behind the story. How did Confessions come to be?
KB: From Writer Unboxed! I’d interviewed the writing duo known as Erin Hunter of the wildly popular WARRIORS series for YA readers because my daughter was so crazy about it. This led me to Victoria Holmes, an editor for Working Partners LTD and the brains behind WARRIORS. She also had a series of books for girls coming out, historical novels about girls and horses, and I interviewed her for this series. I also talked her into being a contributor for WU for a short amount of time before WARRIORS blew up in the marketplace and her life became insane. She’s a real delight, and it was through her that I learned about the book packaging side of publishing. I placed my name in WP’s writers pool for consideration for upcoming projects, and went about my life.
A year or so later, I’d gotten an e-mail from a different editorial team at WP asking if I’d mind trying out for a YA project. I submitted a sample to them. Fortunately they loved it and I was hired to write the line.
Q: Was it hard for you to set aside your prior wip to work on Confessions? How different was your prior wip to Confessions—genre, content, scene length, grit, etc…? And what, if anything, did you do to ensure you’d be able to revisit your prior wip once the Confessions project was completed?
Read MoreSometimes you don’t see the gold beside you because you’re too busy searching for it elsewhere, assuming it will be hard to find. Such was the case when I opened my eyes to BookBuzzr recently–a service that had been mentioned on Twitter, but that I hadn’t explored. When I did take the time to explore it, I was blown away by what they offer authors.
Curious? I thought you might be, so BookBuzzr’s CEO, Vikram Narayan, and I have a Take Five for you today.
Q: For people who’ve never heard of BookBuzzr, can you explain what the service offers?
VN: BookBuzzr is a free, online book-marketing technology for authors. It consists of three components:
– A BookBuzzr widget of your book which can be shared on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut etc. This widget is also an excellent replacement for your book-cover image on your website or blog.
– An email signature that is created from your book and that can be used in your emails.
– A Twitter marketing feature set which allows authors to accumulate followers and automatically tweet about their books to their respective followers without making it too much like a sales pitch.
The author also gets a free listing on fReado.com – a sister site which hosts books in BookBuzzr format.
Here’s an example of a BookBuzzr book widget:
Q: Oh, that’s my favorite BookBuzzr widget. (Koff.) How did BookBuzzr come to be?
Read MoreLast week, I interviewed Amy MacKinnon about her debut novel, Tethered, which has just been released in paperback. (Missed it? Click HERE, then come back.) This novel, which has been or will be published in ten foreign countries, is not only suspenseful, it’s beautifully written.
Today, Amy and I chat about her way with words, the challenge of revisions (and challenging revisions), writerly advice, and more.
Interview with Amy MacKinnon: Pt 2
Q: Clara believes in the case-closed finality of death, with nothing beyond the last breath, yet she ensures that each of her dead receives great care-especially when it comes to choosing flowers for them. Her attention to the meaning of flowers (“perfect loveliness,” “eternal sorrow,” “longing,” “you are splendid,” “warm remembrance,” “flattery,” “need to be kissed”) not only reveals something about her character, it adds a poignant depth and atmosphere to this story. How did you come to choose this literary device? What did you hope it would do for your novel?
AM: Clara’s life made it difficult for her to bind herself to the living, it was far safer for her to cope with the dead. What better way than through flowers, something we associate with funerals. And truth be told, because it’s such a dark novel, there needed to be some lightness, a spot of hope. The flowers served many roles in that they told us about each of the decedents, true, but even more about Clara herself.
Q: Your character descriptions are beautifully detailed. Here’s just one example:
There’s a hardness to Mike that coarsens the softness of his Irish features. His tall frame carries only lean muscle, each fiber rigid and flexed. His hair is fixed in place and his skin is forever pale. His lips are too full for a man’s and, when he isn’t speaking, usually pressed
closed. There’s a constant furrow about his brow; lines stream from the corners of his eyes as if dried riverbeds. Only his eyes seem bound to this world. An opaque blue, they’re always seeking the story from others, never revealing their own depths.
How do you compose such rich descriptives? Are you a people watcher-sitting in parks and taking copious notes as people catch Frisbees and walk dogs around you?
Read MoreAmy MacKinnon’s debut novel, Tethered–now out in paperback–is a stunning story loaded with voice and a rarely seen attention to detail. It’s also a dark tale of mystery and suspense–about a female undertaker and her relationship with the dead and a past that has snaked its way into her present with crushing force. Here are what some reviewers have had to say:
“[An] hypnotic debut… There’s a quiet, almost stealthy quality to the writing…Clara is an astonishing character, and with language as blunt as the death she sees every day, she expresses herself with devastating simplicity.”
—New York Times Review of Books
“This is a brilliant debut from a gifted author, who has created an unforgettable central character…Amy MacKinnon is definitely a writer to watch.”
—Globe and Mail
I’m thrilled she agreed to an interview with me for WU, to talk about her journey to publication, her process, first lines, voice, a moment of true storytelling magic, and more.
Interview with Amy MacKinnon: Part 1
Q: What do you answer when people ask, “What’s your novel about?”
AM: The literal response is it’s about an undertaker who doesn’t believe in God and a little girl who plays at the funeral parlor because it’s a better alternative to her home life. The truth is that it’s a novel about finding faith in one’s self, in another, and possibly in a higher power.
Q: Would you consider Tethered a literary thriller? How did your publicist and others describe and/or market the novel?
AM: When I queried agents, I described it as literary suspense. My publisher, however, has it classified as a mystery. To me it’s not a true mystery because it’s pretty clear whodunit from the beginning. What I’d love best is if readers described it as a good book.
Q: “I plunge my thumb between the folds of the incision, then hook my forefinger deep into her neck. Unlike most of the bloodlines, which offer perfunctory resistance, the carotid artery doesn’t surrender itself willingly.” First lines are so important, and yours snags and holds fast -what’s happening? Was the opening-the first line, first scene, first chapter-always clear to you?
Read MoreIn Part One of our two-part interview with author Christina Sunley, Christina shared her epic eight-year journey to complete her breathtaking debut novel THE TRICKING OF FREYA. A story about a woman’s journey to uncover the secrets of her past, it is also a love-letter to Iceland, the Icelandic culture, and the immigrants’ experience in North America.
In part two of our interview with Christina, she reveals her writing process, how important place is to the novel, and the fact that writers never stop learning about their craft.
Enjoy Part Two of our two-part interview with Christina Sunely.
Q: Despite its multi-generational arc, the story is pretty lean and stripped, with a minimum of characters. Is that your natural style, or did you hone the story through the multiple revisions?
CS: Yes, there was a lot of honing! At one point there was just a huge amount of historical material, with its own set of characters, set in the various time periods in Iceland’s history. That all got cut out. My natural style seems to be to overgenerate ideas and material and characters, and then just cut cut cut until it’s really tight.
Q:You also traveled to Iceland, which adds a terrific level of authenticity to your narrative. Do you recommend writers experience what they are writing about first-hand?
CS: I have two thoughts on that.
Read MoreDreamy. Mystical. Raw.
Christina Sunley‘s debut novel, THE TRICKING OF FREYA, is one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve read it. Written with power, and with a supple narrative that weaves between the past and present, Sunley’s book blew me away. She’s now on my list of autobuys, and I impatiently wait for her next title.
In THE TRICKING OF FREYA, Sunley delves into the question of identity for immigrants — in this case, from Iceland (how cool is that?) — and takes the reader to a little-known county with one foot in firmly planted in the past while keeping another foot in the modern age. If you want an example of how a writer can evoke place and weave culture without letting it derail the narrative with the dreaded info dump, Sunley’s a master.
Sunley’s book is also an A+ example of how to draw on personal inspiration, which is her own Icelandic heritage, and use it to impart that prized level of authenticity that authors strive to accomplish. I was intrigued by the book because it had a different slant than other women’s fiction books (Iceland), and intrigue turned to admiration when Sunley was able to deliver a raw and often funny account of a woman’s struggle uncovering her past, which is entwined with her Icelandic identity.
Please enjoy part one of our two part interview with Christina Sunley.
Q: It took you eight years to write this book. What was the journey like for you, and how were you able to stay committed to the novel?
CS: On the one hand, it was a really epic, incredible immersion for me into a world I hardly knew when I started. Other times, I felt very frustrated and desperate: would I ever ever finish? Like many writers, I was trying to balance writing on a novel “on the side” with a full time job. I ended up with a computer-related repetitive stress injury that severely limited that time I could spend on the computer for several years. Honestly, though, I never considered giving up. I was just too invested in the world and characters I’d created. My biggest challenge was just finding a way to finish. I kept telling myself that was the goal – even if the book never got published, I would have finished it, I would have gone on this incredible journey into the world of my ancestors, and that alone would make it all worthwhile. I still believe that.
Q: THE TRICKING OF FREYA is a wonderful window into Icelandic culture, folklore and the country’s struggle with modernity set within a coming-of-age narrative. Could you tell us what your inspiration was for the setting, and how place informed your storytelling?
Read MoreIf you missed part 1 of my interview with author Carleen Brice, the remedy is just a click away. Carleen is the author of the highly regarded novel Orange Mint and Honey–which was just optioned by Lifetime TV–and has just released her second novel, Children of the Waters. Read a two-chapter excerpt of her new work HERE.
Today, we’ll talk about inspirations, writerly advice, Carleen’s unboxed White Readers Meet Black Authors blog, and more. Enjoy!
Interview with Carleen Brice: Part 2
Q: I read in the endnotes of your book that several characters were based on real acquaintances and family members. How do you go about using real people to develop characters? Which traits do you keep, which do you release, which do you develop? How closely do you adhere to who that person truly is in real life, or does it depend on what you need for the story?
CB: No character ever stays completely the person their based on. I blend traits from different people, and then, as I said, as I work with them, I learn more about the characters so that they become unique.
Q: Also in the endnotes you said:
Writing a book is much like starting a relationship. At the beginning, it’s all hearts and flowers and you’re madly in love with your story. Your story can do no wrong. Until it does.(For me, this is around page 100.) Then you start to notice what a jerk your story really is secretly thinking you can do better. You may even start cheating and work on another story on the side. Whether you give in to temptation or not, this is the moment you have to ask yourself why you thought your story was worth it in the first place. You remind yourself of why you wanted to tell this story and how important it is to you, and, you hope, how important it’ll be to others. Then you stop winking at other stories and focus on this one. You do this over and over and over until publication do you part.
Love this! How, specifically, do you push through the page-100-wanna-cheat bump to recommit to your story? Re-read notes? Re-read the draft? Envision the ending? Meditate? Eat a lot of chocolate? Or just sit down and do it?
Read MoreCarleen Brice‘s debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was incredibly well received by critics, became a Target Bookmarked Break Out Book, and just this past week was optioned by Lifetime TV for the Lifetime Movie Network. Her second novel, Children of the Waters, has been garnering praise as well:
“compelling and difficult to put down.” – Booklist Online
“Children of the Waters is the latest engaging offering by Carleen Brice, who writes with aplomb about love, mixed race and the importance of family in this late-June release.” AOL Black Voices Book Shelf
“I was exhausted and singing the blues the hour I began Carleen Brice’s new novel, Children of the Waters. Five hours later, I’d finished this fresh, free-rein novel about mothers’ secrets and children’s sorrows and was shouting ‘Hurray!’” – Jacquelyn Mitchard author, The Deep End of the Ocean
I was excited to speak with Carleen after reading Children of the Waters–not only to pick her brain about her fiction but to speak about her initiative, which is pretty well summed up via the name of her blog: White Readers Meet Black Authors at https://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/. Intrigued?
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to author Carleen Brice.
Interview with Carleen Brice: Part 1
Q: How do you respond when people ask, “What’s your book about?”
CB: This one is pretty easy to elevator pitch: It’s about two women, one white and one black, who find out they’re related and are possibly brought together by the spirit of their late grandmother. It’s about race, identity and what really makes a family.
Q: I see Children of the Waters as full-bodied “Issues Fiction,” with authentic discussions about interracial relationships, and similarities and differences that go beyond skin color-including the inner workings of family, the effect of long-buried secrets, and the importance of acceptance and reconciliation. What inspired or motivated you to write this book?
CB: It’s loosely based on a true story. One of my sisters-in-law is biracial and was put up for adoption while her birth sister was kept by the family. When she told me the story, I got goose bumps and every time I told someone else they got goose bumps. Goose bumps. A sign of great material if ever I’ve seen it.
Q: I loved that you tackled race issues face-on-how whites and blacks interact as couples; the repercussions of having bi-racial children; being a bi-racial child; the experience of “shopping while black, driving while black, anything while black….” Partway through the novel, Billie-who is bi-racial-reflects on her treatment of Trish-her white sister; she wanted to shock her, drive home the knowledge of what it meant to be black in America. She was tired of white people knowing little about blacks beyond Martin Luther King Jr. What do you hope readers take from your novel when it comes to race relations? What would you like to evoke, and what sort of conversation do you hope to inspire?
Read MoreBirthing seems to be a bit of a theme for historical author Anna Elliott. In part one of our two-part interview with Elliott, she revealed that she was four months pregnant with her daughter when she dreamed she would write what became the first installment in her Avalon trilogy. Now finishing the second title, which will continue the story of Queen Isolde and her struggles in a post-Arthurian Britain, and hard at work on the third book, Elliott is expecting a second child in a few short weeks! She’s had to juggle motherhood, the demands of pregnancy, and the hard work of writing a novel all at once. So of course I had to ask her how she did it since most women can only handle two out of three (raises hand). The answers are delightful and revealing.
Please enjoy part two of our two-part interview with Anna Elliott.
Q: Since you were taking characters from Arthurian legend (Morgan, Modred, even King Arthur), how did you approach characterizing these icons of literature? Do you have advice for authors who hope to do the same?
AE: I love reading the original Arthur legends and spending time with all the familiar characters: Arthur, Morgan, Modred, Merlin, and all the rest. But when I write, I don’t consciously create characters–they usually simply appear in my mind, fully formed, and its my job to get to know them well enough that they come across as vividly on paper as they do in my imagination. I did use the Arthurian primary sources as a starting point. For example, the following passage from Geoffrey of Monmouth was the basis for my conception of Morgan:
Read More
