See my revi
ew of Redheart Jackie's first book in the Leland Dragon Series.
I enjoyed looking at your blog and your website. Thank you for your willingness to be interviewed. I have included a link to your website here.
I will keep this brief but feel free to expound to your hearts content.
1.) Why did you write this book?
WIDE OPEN came from things I love: contemporary fantasy with a strong sense of place, the High Plains, working people in rural America. But it mostly grew out of what most of my stories grow from--a couple of characters in a place with a problem. I want to tell interesting stories about places that most people don't visit or even think much about and I hope WIDE OPEN does that.
2.) Does your story line develop organically or is it a gestalt before you begin?
There are certain things that I know before I start. In the case of WIDE OPEN, those things included the characters of Hallie Michaels and Boyd Davies (or at least solid beginning versions of their characters), the setting and one or two key scenes. I tend to write to those key scenes (which might not even be 'key' to anyone else. To me, they are critical moments of character or setting). My first draft involves a lot of writing to those key scenes. Revisions involves a lot of moving everything around until it finally works.
3.) Would you really want your dogs to talk? (Magic In A Certain Slant of Light)
4.) Do you have a favorite character in the book and if so why?
I don't know that I do have a favorite character. I like Hallie a lot because, unlike me, she is far more about acting than thinking about acting. She sees that something needs to be done and she does it. If there are consequences, she deals with those too. But I also like Boyd because he is so careful and precise in ways that I'm not. He thinks A LOT, but he's strongly driven by his sense of what's right and that's what compels him to act, I think, that need to do the right thing, even if it's hard.
5.) What do you like the most about writing?
There are two phases of writing I like--the first draft, when it's all about the promise and potential of the story and the final revision, when I can see that things are actually going to work and I know, finally, how to make them work.
6.) Where do your new story ideas come from?
My story ideas come from all over, they come from things I'm reading or places I visit or something I see, even a conversation I overhear. There are times when I think I'll never have a good story idea again and then, in one day, I'll have two or three.
7.) Who and what do you enjoy reading?
I like contemporary fantasy. I also like more traditional fantasy, though I've read so much over the years that I've become pretty picky about it. Thanks to a friend, I've recently discovered Lois McMaster Bujold (I know! How could I have missed her all these years?). I love her Miles Vorkosgan books, but I've also recently read (by which I mean listened to as audiobooks) THE CURSE OF CHALION and PALADIN OF SOULS, both of which I liked a lot. I also read a lot of mystery novels.
8.) What advice would you give for the want to be writer?
Read. Write. Be as open as you possibly can be to learning.
Thanks for the interview!Thanks for asking me!
Don't Forget the GiveAway!
Tobias Buckell Has Written“…an intimate techno-thriller…”
—Publishers Weekly
INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK/AUTHOR
ARCTIC RISING is a sci-fi techno thriller that addresses near-future concerns about the melting of the Arctic Ice Cap and the geopolitical tensions that could arise if this were to occur.
The Arctic Ice Cap has all but melted away. Enter the Gaia Corporation. Its two founders have come up with a plan to roll back global warming: thousands of tiny mirrors floating in the air to create a giant sunshade, capable of redirecting heat and cooling the earth’s surface. They plan to terraform the Earth—but in doing so have created a superweapon the likes of which the world has never seen.
Anika Duncan is an airship pilot for the underfunded United Nations Polar Guard. Intent on capturing a smuggled nuclear weapon that has made its way into the Polar Circle, she finds herself caught up in a plot by a cabal of military agencies and corporations who want Gaia stopped. And when Gaia loses control of their superweapon, it will be Anika who has to decide the future of the world. The nuclear weapon she has risked her life to find is the only thing that can stop the sunshade when it falls into the wrong hands.
Tobias Buckell has an incredibly unique story to tell. Born in Grenada, he is the third generation in a family of sailors who lived a life of adventure aboard boats, traveling the Mediterranean and Caribbean. When hurricanes destroyed his family’s boat and forced their move to the states, Buckell found himself in a place quite different from the sea: Ohio—and he’s been there ever since.
In 2002, Buckell won the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Award and was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer the same year. He sold his first novel at twenty-five, the ground-breaking Crystal Rain, which was a Locus bestseller and followed by two novels in the same universe: Ragamuffin—nominated for both the Nebula and Prometheus awards and Sly Mongoose. In 2009, Buckell reached New York Times bestseller status with Halo: The Cole Protocol. In addition to his novels, Tobias’s experiences in the publishing world—and various other topics—are documented on his weblog, which reaches thousands of readers each month.
See my interview with Tobias on March 9th, here!
Starting December 3rdWin a copy of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans a rollicking fantasy. Authored by Robert Louis Smith M.D., MSc by entering at Azure Dwarf on December 3rd or on the Interview with the Author that will be posted at Azure Dwarf on December 6th. The Contest runs from Dec. 3 to Dec. 10 and shipping has been restricted to the U.S. or Canada.
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