Hi Diantha.
Your first novel, Prophecy of the Most Beautiful, is the first in the Oracle of Delphi series. Can you tell us a little about the book and where this series is going?
When Prophecy of the Most Beautiful begins, we meet a girl named Chloe Clever whose teenaged life has hit rock bottom. Not only has she spent most of her senior year of high school suspended, but she’s also the town loon as her hallucinations and wacky visions are no secret. But those visions have a purpose. She’s the Oracle of Delphi, the prophesier of the future and the god of Olympus have been waiting centuries to meet her. Why? Because she’s the key to a prophecy that is going to change the heavens of Myth forever and not necessarily for the better.
The Oracle of Delphi Series is going to be exciting and dramatic, to say the least. Readers should plan to feel a whirlwind of emotions as the world they are about to enter is in absolute chaos. I’m excited for the rest of this series and can’t wait to share it all with everyone!
What was your inspiration for this series? What is it about fantasy that draws you in? Were you attracted to this kind of reading as a child?
I love Greek mythology so there was no question in my mind what my first novel would be based around. I love fantasy because for me it’s the one genre that draws you completely out of your own reality and into another one where anything goes...and it does most of the time. As a kid, I loved fantasy and any books that inspired my imagination to get up off of its butt and do the impossible. The impossible made possible, I think that’s why I love fantasy the most.
Did you have to do much research for this series? In that vein, what about your writing process takes the longest for you to construct? The idea? The characters?
I did a CRAZY amount of research for this series and I can’t say that the research process has slowed down much. It’s a constant thing because Greek mythology is a vast subject with many different interpretations and tales to go along with it. Figuring out what myths would work well in this series and how to fit them all together has been the most difficult thing I’ve had to do. But I have to say, I’ve had way too much fun doing it.
You also have an online story rolling out on a separate site. How often do you update and where did you come by the idea to start one? It's almost like fan fiction. For those who aren't familiar with it, you can read it here { http://reaperofbogota.blogspot.com}.
I began writing Reaper of Bogota a few years ago and it just sat on my flash drive until I set up my site earlier this year. I decided to just go ahead and make it an ongoing blog book so that I could finally finish it and it seems that was the right thing to do. I try to update the Reaper of Bogota story once a month, but cannot always adhere to that. I get plenty of flack from a few of my friends who follow it too.
Reaper of Bogota is a about a boy who was turned into a cold-hearted reaper by the devil when his human life ended. It follows his journey as he is given a second chance at life only to find that making a deal with the devil to live again was the worst crime he ever committed. He should have stayed dead.
Do have plans to turn the blog into a published ebook?
No. I think it works well as a blog book and I have other projects that I do plan to publish that could really use my attention right now.
You self publish. Do you find the work involved in self publishing takes away from your creative energies or are you just as involved in the choosing of fonts, cover design and page layout as part of your overall creative process? Do you find it difficult to reach an audience via self publishing? What would you suggest to an up-and-coming writer who might go that route? What are the pitfalls to avoid, for instance? What have you found to be the benefits to self publishing?
Self-publishing is hard freaking work. I had no idea when I got into it how much work it would really be. I mean, there is a level of satisfaction that comes along with being an Indie author as every success is completely yours. However, all the failures (bad editing/formatting, bad reviews, etc) are all yours as well. But my advice is just to come into the Indie world prepared for all of that because it’s going to happen. You’re just one person and even though you might tell yourself this every morning in the mirror, you are not a freaking superhero.
It’s much harder to reach an audience as an Indie especially since so many authors have chosen this route, but I’m not scared of the challenge of standing out and pushing my books to the top of the pile. There have been disappointments but overall I’m happy with the way things are going right now.
Thanks Booked Up!
Thank you so much for stopping by, Diantha. I wish you well in your future releases and look forward to many years of happy reading from you!
0 comments:
Post a Comment