Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a YA comic fantasy author, I’ve got four books at the moment; my debut novel Eggs, Butter, Sugar and Disaster and the first three of my Vampires Don’t Belong in Fairytales series, Miss Prince, The Map is the Treasure and Vampires Don’t Belong in Fairyland.
I’ve got another 3 in the works, and other concept I intend to work on, once the others are at a reasonable stage. I also draw a webcomic of the same name that runs alongside my VDBiF series. I’m not the best artist, but I enjoy it and it’s actually a great way to develop characters and worlds without worrying about things like word count or story flow.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last one was Vampires Don’t Belong in Fairyland. It was actually my very first attempt at a book from when I was 19, but I kept stopping after a chapter or two and then scrapping it almost entirely, and re-doing it. This was my fourth complete rewrite of it.
Because it’s been 15 years since I wrote my original notes – which I found just the other day and had a good laugh – I honestly don’t remember what inspired it in the first place. The book continues the theme of the series though, I love to work with tropes, both modern and ancient. Princes are always out rescuing people, but the second they become king, if they try to do anything heroic they usually fail horribly or die. The twinkly, tiny, friendly fairies we know today were mostly invented by the Victorians, before that they were scary and rewarded or punished humans in equal measure, with a view towards us as wide as our own view to the rest of the animal kingdom. What do the fairies think of their saccharine new image? These are the things I like to play with, always.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think it’s unusual, but I can never plan. If I plan too much, I get bored and it stops me from writing. I do have some clear ideas of where I want to go, but I seldom write them down unless it becomes an important plot point or and interesting turn for the story to take, then I just make a little note at the bottom of the manuscript of it.
Other than that, I write where I can, when I can. I recently discovered the Microsoft Word app which I now have on my phone, so I can turn a lot of wasted travelling time into creative productivity. Although previously I would take a pen and paper to write with, I’m not always able to use it if there isn’t the space, and I also loathe typing things up. Copy-pasting what I wrote on the app is so much easier!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve read every single Discworld novel, and I would say you can tell quite easily. I first started reading Terry Pratchett’s books when I was 14 and I always got the new one for my birthday, as they tended to come out around the same time. However, one of my earliest influences was actually Patricia C. Wrede’s The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the first one of which I picked up when I was 11 at a school book fair. It was Wrede who taught me that ‘king’ is just a title, something I’ve only come to realise the past year! She’s still writing and it’s to her writing blog I always direct people for writing advice and where I go myself.
The other series I always mention when asked my favourites is Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy which I have re-read several times and shall again, especially as I just finished The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage.
I’ve also been influenced by stories from other mediums; cartoons, films, and particularly RPGs. I blame my favourite JRPGs growing up for why there’s always a war going on or at least some of bust up.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on book 4 of the Vampires Don’t Belong in Fairytales series, Magic and Other Things in Bottles. I’m just waiting for my latest round of feedback and then it’s into the final set of drafts.
This one closes a four book arc, and then I have book 5 started, but I’m just working on that in my downtime along with a prequel to book 3 I have half a draft for and I’m also working on turning the first one, Miss Prince, into a script. One of my life goals is have my own cartoon and you have to start somewhere.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For years the best method I found was to get out there and talk to readers yourself via book signings and conventions, but now I’m a hybrid author, there are more methods I can try and I had excellent results using a free book promotion on KDP select and using Freebooksy. I had as many downloads in 5 days as I had previously sold in 6 years of working my tail off, so definitely going to try that again! I’m preparing for the next one, which would be why I am looking at yourselves and doing this here interview!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up.
That’s the advice I give to would-be authors too, just don’t give up. Keep writing, keep improving, look at writing blogs, look at how other people are marketing their work, just keep your chin up and keep going. Because the only surefire way to fail is to give up.
Also you should read and review. When you start out, you realise that getting reviews is like pulling teeth, but not only does it help the other authors out, you will learn and grow. I figured out how to fix a problem I was having in one of my manuscripts by reviewing a film that had the same issue.
You should also join whatever authors’ society you have in your country.
I joined the Society of Authors and they have been an invaluable source of information and support, I wish I’d known about and joined them as soon as I became an author. It’s through one of their talks that I learned about you!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Oh gosh. Probably ‘join the Society of Authors’.
If not that, the advice I got about using free giveaways to boost your visibility, again, that is what led me here. But I never would have heard that advice if I didn’t join the Society!
To elaborate, there are a lot of ways to promote a free giveaway on kindle etc, and that is great for getting you a fanbase and getting those all important reviews.
What are you reading now?
I am reading Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the Kings of Britain. It’s part myth, part history. I am highly amused that he dismissed a talking eagle as nonsense but was happy to report that Britain was inhabited by nothing but a few giants until a Trojan named Brutus and his entourage came and drove them out on the advice of the goddess Diana. No Celtic peoples ever lived here you understand, just giants.
It also contains, rather bizarrely, an allegedly historical version of Cap O’ Rushes. If you are not familiar with the tale, a king asks his daughters how much they love him, and the first two give suitably flowery answers and the third says ‘as much as meat loves salt’. He does not like the youngest daughter’s answer, so he throws her out. As you do.
Long story short, she becomes head of the kitchen in the palace of the neighboring king, and when her father is invited to a grand feast she orders everything cooked with no salt.
‘But that will taste bland and horrid,’ the kitchen staff protest.
‘I know,’ says Cap O’ Rushes. ‘Let’s just say I have a point to make and revenge is a dish best served without salt.’
And of course she is brought out to explain herself and her father realises he was an idiot, the end.
In Geoffrey’s history, one of the British kings somewhere down the line ends up with three daughters and he decides to divide up the kingdom between them and find them husbands. He tests them first by asking how much they love him. The results are similar, except the third daughter ends up in France married to a king rather than as a scullery maid.
I find this kind of thing utterly fascinating, that I have found a fairytale reported as history. Makes me wonder what came first! This is one of the reasons I adore reading ancient books and old tales, they are quite the window on the old days that you don’t get by just reading facts and figures about the time.
And yes, people who ask what I am reading do frequently get told a fairytale or two.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As mentioned in an earlier question, one of my life goals is to have my own cartoon or show (I prefer animation as I am an artist, and also my literate dyslexia, which makes it harder for me to recognise faces, predisposes me to connect more easily with distinctive animated characters) and I want to start writing scripts. I’d love to work in television somewhere. Not just on my own work, but on other people’s.
I also really need to get my own website up and running, I’ve got all the info ready to go, all the pages I know I want to add, I just need to get around to actually doing it…
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh gosh, no. See, this is what kindles are FOR, although I grant that a paperback can never run out of batteries.
If I really have to choose, I shall take the His Dark Materials trilogy and one Discworld novel… I shall pick Wyrd Sisters, as that was the first one I ever read.
I do hope you’re also giving me something to write with.
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