Q: In one sentence, tell me something that describes you as a person?
A: Fantasy writer that smells faintly of horse.
Q: How many books have you written? How many of those are published?
A: I have six books published so far. The Witch-Hunter trilogy; Enchena duology; and the first book in the new Northern Witch series. There is a seventh story – Kristen: Witch-Hunter, which was a short story originally written for an anthology, but I've taken it down to rewrite as a full-length novel.
Q: Do you have an upcoming release? If yes, tell me the title and impending release date.
A: The Kristen book is about third in the queue right now. There are two books that will be released later this year: a prequel to the Witch-Hunter trilogy that will probably be called "James"; and the second book of the Northern Witch series, after Winter Trials received such crazy attention. No name yet for that one.
Q: Tell me about how you come up with your titles for your stories. Do you create the title before or after you write the book, and does it ever change from the initial title?
A: Crikey, I hate coming up with titles. I always worry that they're too obvious, or too vague; have they been done before; will it suit my book? Same with the series titles, I'm absolutely terrible.
For the most part, once there's a "temporary" title in place (which usually happens when I'm finishing the first draft), that ends up sticking and doesn't change. The only book that had a different original title was "Winter Trials" - it started as "Winter Enchantments", but another writer thought Trials would give it a broader appeal, and I think she was right!
Speaking of Winter Trials, I didn't choose the series title either – I was doing an author event, and let the attending readers pick the title in a poll!
Q: Out of all your characters in all of your books, who/what (sometimes a setting can also be an important “character”)do you think is the most interesting and why?
A: The most interesting? I can just imagine several characters arguing for that accolade.
Since it is my most recent book, I'll go with a character out of The Oracle (Enchena #2): Prince David.
David started as the golden boy in The Lost Soul. He's captain of the school rugby team; good-looking; smart; popular, but kind. If he'd stayed at home in Leeds, it would be easy to imagine that he would go on to excel at university, or in sport.
His life was suddenly changed when he was dragged (literally) into Enchena. Despite not having a choice in going on this crazy adventure, David steps up and starts to become the hero that the Gardyn rebels are looking for.
((Spoiler))
Until he is killed.
He is brought back to life by King Hrafn, only to be tortured, killed, and brought back again, until he agrees to help the enemy.
Anyone that is brought back to life by Hrafn's magic cannot retain their soul, and so David goes on as an empty shell of the person he used to be.
Free from his previous morals and restraints, David plans to take advantage of this second life, and place within the King's court. He is not above murdering a young prince, and seducing Hrafn's daughter, to secure his place as the new heir.
In The Oracle, David continues to strengthen his hold over the King's army and allies; whilst chipping away at King Hrafn's control. He has trained relentlessly, and has become a fierce warrior in his own right, and now rails against the legendary Captain Losan.
David has only got to discover how to steal Hrafn's powers, so he is no longer tied to him; and then he will become an invincible enemy. His whole potential future is a dark shadow of the hero that he was originally chalked up to be.
Q: If you could “create” your own genre of what you write, what would you call your books?
A: Paranormal Non-Romance
I find it very frustrating when I'm trying to categorise my books for various websites and newsletters. You often find there is a Paranormal Romance, or similar section, which my books don't fit into.
My books all contain paranormal and fantasy elements, but apart from the occasional naturally-developing relationship, I don't do romance. It would be really nice to have a category where the emphasis is on said paranormal or adventure element, rather than doe eyes.
Q: Without quoting your back cover synopsis, tell me about the last book you published.
A: The Oracle (Enchena #2) is a YA epic fantasy. It follows Jemma, who is dragged into the middle of the war-torn land of Enchena.
She has to discover who she is, and what she is capable of, as her visions may be the only thing that stands between the rebel Gardyn, and destruction at the hand of the tyrannical King Hrafn.
Our other heroine, Lady Samantha, returns to the battle with an army at her back. She knows that her future, and the duties she needs to do, won't matter unless she can kill the king. She knows that she is the only one that can stop Hrafn.
Q: Tell me something about yourself that is separate from writing.
A: I have a very horsey history, and have had horse-related jobs for the last fifteen years. This includes working with showjumpers in Ireland; an Olympic eventer in Bristol; top dressage horses in Wales; teaching riding in London and Yorkshire; and now I am now working as a equine nutritionist for a horse feed company.
It is a pretty awesome icebreaker when you introduce yourself to people as a "professional stallion handler".
Q: Who is your favorite Author?
A: My favourite author so far this year would be L.E. Fitzpatrick and her Reachers series.
And the author I can go back and constantly re-read is Lindsay Buroker and her Emperor's Edge series.
Q: What is the last book that you read? (Not counting anything you wrote)
A: I've been reading three books at the moment:
The Missing Heir of Mandralay – a fantasy by Braden Bell;
Under the Bleachers – a contemporary NA romance by K.K. Allen;
Corpus – an historical conspiracy thriller by Rory Clements
Q: When writing, do you have a system or something you plan, or do you just write?
A: I just write, for the most part.
In both the Witch-Hunter and Enchena series, I knew how the stories were going to end; I knew the characters that were going to make it, who would thrive and who would fall.
There were a few key plotlines and twists that were fixed points, I knew they would happen. The rest was left up to whatever my barmy imagination cooked up during the writing process.
I really enjoy that part of the process – sometimes something will occur earlier in the series, and without realising it, it becomes something more important. I always get goosebumps when my characters reveal something that I hadn't planned, but makes things so much more exciting. Like Hunter's dogtags in the Witch-Hunter trilogy; or Jemma and the dragons in The Oracle.
Q: Why do you write?
A: Because I want to create stories and adventures that I enjoy. It's always been that way, jotting down ideas and interactions for my own amusement.
It's only been in the last few years that those stories have become published for other people to enjoy, and be distracted for a few hours.
Q: Do you read your own work a lot? If so, what does it do for you?
A: After working on a book, doing numerous rewrites, taking on editing and beta-reader feedback, reading through again and again until I'm happy to publish... It takes about six months after publishing for me to stomach reading the book again.
Every now and then, I'll think about a certain scene, and I'll pick up and read one of my own books. At this point, I am no longer an author, I don't feel any pride in the book. I am a reader, enjoying a fantasy novel, and if I am lucky will be left with a warm tingly feeling.
Q: What is your favorite type of music? Is there one genre (or song, band etc...) that brings out your creativeness more than others?
A: I like rock, indie and British bands (although, that being said, I really like Rag'n'Bone Man at the moment). I have a huge collection of music, and often just play it off the laptop, or I'll listen to Radio X.
There's no particular song that brings out my creativeness, but I do find that I'll skip through tracks that don't match the mood of the scene I'm writing.
Q: As an author, I find that the hardest thing to write (for me) is the synopsis that will be on the back cover or book’s description. When you write, what is the hardest line to write, the first line, the last line or the synopsis for the book?
A: I completely agree with you, definitely the synopsis.
I tend to find that the first line gets re-written a bunch of times during editing; and the final line is the product of the hundreds of pages that came before it, so it comes out reasonably well.
But trying to compress your entire plot/world/characters in a few brief lines; which must entice new readers, and preferably not contain any spoilers for this book or previous books... it's near impossible!
Q: Any final thoughts that you want to give to your fans or even future authors?
A: If you've read this far through my interview, I'd like to give you a big hug, except that I don’t hug people.
For any readers, I hope you check out my fantasy series, and I'd like to remind you that The Shadow Rises (Witch-Hunter #1) and Winter Trials (Northern Witch #1) are both available permafree from all ebook retailers.
For future authors: I don't like when people feel like they need to call themselves prospective writers. If you are writing, you are a Writer. Own it, you deserve it as much as anyone else.