Continuing from last week's post which explored Artwork as Inspiration (the starting point for Proof of the Old Faith ) I'm sticking with Norse culture. Here is The Weave of the Norns , a poem I wrote a few years ago about these three frightening women. Enjoy! The Norns by Arthur Rackham Weave of the Norns Beneath the threat of utter doom he sought them at their fabled loom. The king searched on until he found them on the morrow’s battleground. The tallest worked the wheel alone; the next, a shuttle made of bone; the shortest bore a silver sword with which she severed each loose cord. What pattern spun these women three, dictating mankind’s victory! “I come to beg you demonstrate a gentle weaving of our fate.” “Then know you this, oh man of peace, we weave the thread and cannot cease.” “Weave us an ending to this war and grant us threads of peace once more.” “What cost would such a wise man pay for us to change our weave this way?” And now he saw the bloody thread, time’s fabr
This fine #IndieApril, we are featuring independent businesses on our blog. These could be indie authors, indie publishers or indie booksellers. The independent community has a lot to offer the literary world, and we would like to show you the startling skills and talents of these indie heroes!
First Indie Hero: Dorothy A Winsor
Author of "The Wind Reader"
Blurb for "The Wind Reader"
Stuck in a city far from home, street kid Doniver fakes
telling fortunes so he can earn a few coins to feed himself and his friends.
Then the divine Powers smile on him when he accidentally delivers a true
prediction for the prince.
Concerned about rumors of treason, the prince demands that
Doniver use his "magic" to prevent harm from coming to the king, and
so Doniver is taken--dragged?--into the castle to be the royal fortune teller.
Now Doniver must decide where the boundaries of honor lie,
as he struggles to work convincing magic, fend off whoever is trying to shut
him up, and stop an assassin, assuming he can even figure out who the would-be
assassin is.
All he wants is to survive long enough to go
home to the Uplands, but it's starting to look as if that might be too much to
ask...
Question Time
Stuck in a city far from home, street kid Doniver fakes
telling fortunes so he can earn a few coins to feed himself and his friends.
Then the divine Powers smile on him when he accidentally delivers a true
prediction for the prince.
Concerned about rumors of treason, the prince demands that
Doniver use his "magic" to prevent harm from coming to the king, and
so Doniver is taken--dragged?--into the castle to be the royal fortune teller.
Now Doniver must decide where the boundaries of honor lie,
as he struggles to work convincing magic, fend off whoever is trying to shut
him up, and stop an assassin, assuming he can even figure out who the would-be
assassin is.
All he wants is to survive long enough to go
home to the Uplands, but it's starting to look as if that might be too much to
ask...
Question Time
1.
“The Wind Reader” has a heap of 5 star reviews
on Amazon. You are praised for your strong moral characteristics that run
through your book (honour, bravery, friendship, loyalty). Which would you say
is the most important characteristic, out of these four?
I had to think a bit before I could choose the most important. Bravery and loyalty are valuable, but you can be brave in committing cruelty or loyal to a person who does harm. Friendship helps us survive the tough times, so it’s nice, but other things can outweigh it. So in the long run, I come down on honour. For me, honour means figuring out what you think is the right thing to do and then doing it, even when it’s hard or unrewarding. I can create good stories from characters’ struggles to live by their own codes of honour, if I make it hard enough for them. You never want to make things too easy for your characters, poor things.
2.
You have also been commended for writing books
that keep the reader engrossed. What advice would you give to other authors on
how to do this? How do you keep your reader engaged?
If I knew and could explain how to make characters engrossing, I could probably make a lot of money! Oh wait. I just accidentally reworded the question, which asked about making books, not characters, engrossing. Maybe my writer backbrain was trying to answer without my realizing it. The theory I write by is that a good story is about the characters. Plot is important and it’s harder to write plot than most people realize. But plot is mostly a vehicle that allows the characters to strut their stuff. The plot happens the way it does because of what the characters do. If the characters reveal themselves to be people we care about, then the book is engrossing. Mind you, this is just my opinion. There are obviously different kinds of books, and they don’t all have to work the same.
3.
“The Wind Reader” is a Young Adult book. Is this
your preferred age group to write for? Do you enjoy reader YA novels?
I do like writing YA. I used to teach university and I find young people interesting. They’re doing so many things for the first time, and those things are often really consequential. They choose careers or mates, for instance, and their choices shape the kind of people they’ll be for years to come. That takes bravery. What’s more, since nobody ever grows up completely, most readers can identify with those struggles if they let themselves.
4.
So, you keep a writing journal for every book
you write. Are you a messy journal keeper, or a neat bullet-journal type? Do
you also write sections of stories by hand, or do you always use the computer?
Ok, that was kind-of two questions. But they were linked!
I am a very messy journal keeper. I scribble whatever I’m thinking about so I don’t forget it. I’ve been admiring neat, bullet journals I see online, but I could never do that.
I draft by hand mostly because it’s slower, which turns out to be about the right speed for me as I think up a story. If I draft on the computer, I get to the end of the sentence before I’ve thought of the next one, and then I’m distractible and decide it’s a good time to read twitter.
It’s important for me to be messy before I have to be neat.
5.
If you were a type font, which one would you be?
Hm. Probably Arial. I prefer simplicity.
6.
What do you use to inspire you when writing?
I’m not sure I believe in inspiration if that means something that comes from outside and works almost like magic. What keeps me writing is habit. I’m like Pavlov’s trained dogs. I write at the same time and the same place, and eventually, my brain learns that at this time and this place, writing is what we do.
7.
So, you have a new book “The Wysman” coming out
in June this year. Good luck, and huge congratulations! Could you tell us a
little bit of what the book is about?
Thank you Dorothy for these brilliant answers!
You can find out about Dorothy by visiting her super website and blog:
Or by visiting her on Twitter:
And you can buy "The Wind Reader" here:
Enjoyed your Q&A. Thanks Clemency and Dorothy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind comment!
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