Author Q & A
How do you plan your work? Do you use maps and pictures, do you type straight onto a computer or do you use written notes?
Lots of people ask me this! I use a combination of ways to plan my work. Research is generally conducted online, and I save inspiring pictures and ideas to Pinterest. I have a few spiral bound notebooks with different sections where I write my research longhand. I write out timelines, social structures and plot sequences in longhand. I draw a lot of diagrams, maps, flowcharts and pictures of how I want things or characters to look. When I am writing, I use my computer when I am in the flow of writing. If I am struggling with writer's block, I write in longhand.
Will we get to know more about some of the characters we first meet in Flammeus in future books in the series?
You will definitely be hearing more about some of the characters in Flammeus in other books!
One of the things which interests me is to show the development of characters over a wide time span and to see which aspects of their character remain the same and which ones change. I also hope to introduce more of their backstories, which may explain how they have come to be the way they are.
Do you know how events will unfold in this series or do you change your mind as you write?
I know my broad plan for all the books in the series, and I know what I would like to achieve by the end of the series, and in each book, to a degree. However, once my characters develop, they do have a way of deciding the path of the story, and sometimes of drawing more attention to themselves than I originally planned!
Where do you find your inspiration?
I take my inspiration from our wonderful world! Both the natural world and the human world are endlessly fascinating to me.
The different ways in which we choose to organise our world, and even the fact that we do choose to organise our world are very interesting to me. I like to explore questions of society, morality and philosophy in my books through the events in my stories
How many books will there be in
The Emberjar series?
There will be seven books altogether in the series. Each book takes place during an 'Age' of Talla's life, taking us from her first age of adulthood, which in Oramia begins at 21, right through to the Age of Wisdom which begins at 70.
Do you have a question for the author? Please use the Contact Me button below, and I will feature some of them and the answers to them.