Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Waitomo Caves, New Zealand, world famous for caves lit by sparkling glowworms.
I started my writing career as a playwright. I’ve written five plays and had four performed. I have written stripteases, tender break up scenes, poker games and blown up the world. It was the blowing up the world play that didn’t get performed – I wonder why?
One day I sat down to write a new play and the characters became too big for the script. They had an awful lot of backstory and demanded more to say. The play become my first young adult book, The Secret of Sinbad’s Cave, Book I in The Natnat Adventures.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called The Ship of Sight and The Hand of Shadow, Book II in The Natnat Adventures. There are many old shipwreck stories in New Zealand. One story involves an old wreck near Raglan that has been buried by the sand. People say it was last seen during the Great War. The idea of that was enough to spin my imagination.
I’d been doing a lot of reading of alternative history ideas to do with who discovered New Zealand first. The official story states that the Maori arrived in about 1350, but there are many scraps of evidence pointing to another story – Arabian explorers, Celts, the Chinese, and shipwrecked Spaniards.
I spun the tales into an epic adventure in which Nat and her friends have two weeks to return a talisman of the Ancient Celts to the top of the country – but there’s a ruthless villain on their tail who is determined to stop them from reaching their goal.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I developed one when I worked as an adventure cave guide for The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. I would scribble down my ideas underground, leaning on cold rocks, with the glowworms above and the roar of the subterranean river beside me. I guess that’s unusual. The other guides learned that any carefully folded up pieces of paper that I’d stashed in multiple plastic bags were to be treated like gold until I could get them out of the cave safely.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
A huge part of my childhood was reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon books. As a teenager I read anything I could get my hands on, but a book that stands out is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I re-read that while writing The Secret of Sinbad’s Cave and it kicked my story to a whole new level.
I love the ideas and delivery of Ray Bradbury, they’re so very clever. Every time I sit down with Louis de Bernieres I am swept away into beautiful worlds of words. Have you ever heard of a book called The Strange Death of Liberal England? Incredible. Knocked my socks off. What about In Cold Blood – I remember holding that book when I finished it wondering how something so awful could be so delicate. Have I been influenced by a myraid of authors and books? Absolutely. Could I go on and on? Yes.
What are you working on now?
I am working on the third book in The Natnat Adventures, The Lost River. The characters are stranded in Fiordland National Park, a huge swathe of wilderness in the South Island of New Zealand. It’s an incredibly beautiful place, but you have to have your wits about you as the weather can change so quickly.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still figuring that out. Check back with me in a few weeks.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have adventures! Travel the world! Go do things you never expected to do and chat with people you never imagined you might meet. Then you’ll have something fantastic to write about.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I was often busy ignoring all the wonderful advice I received while I charged full steam ahead… apologies to all those who have tried to pass on their gems over the years. One that has nestled in my brain is a comment from my old and fabulous friend Chris. He said, ‘Don’t force anything with yourself.’
What are you reading now?
I’ve just finished Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, and I’m about to pick up Confederacy of Dunces.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish book III in my series. I also have a number of author talks coming up, so I need to craft something awesome for those too.
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?
I would cheat. I would bring Shakespeare’s Complete Works, and a the biggest collection of Faulkner I could get my hands on. Add in Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries… and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. One of them has to be a small book!
Author Websites and Profiles
Brydie Walker Bain Amazon Profile
Brydie Walker Bain Author Profile on Smashwords
Brydie Walker Bain’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile