Introducing... Katie W Stewart

It's a fresh week, and I'm raring to go. I've had a plot hole in my next book (Soul Protector #2) that's been bothering me for a while, but in the shower the other day I had an ephiphany and 'pow' - plot hole sorted! Now I just need to crack on and finish writing it. I've decided to try to upload one of those word count thingies to my blog in the hope it will motivate me to write quicker...


This week I'm pleased to throw the spotlight on Katie W Stewart, author of Treespeaker. 

Katie is an Australian author. She lives in country Western Australia with her farmer husband, three children and an assortment of animals. By day, she’s a Library Assistant at a local school; by night, she writes fantasy. Treespeaker was the first book she epublished. She has also recently epublished a children’s novel, “The Dragon Box”, which is aimed primarily at boys aged 8-12. At the moment she is busy completing the sequel to Treespeaker, as well as editing another YA fantasy novel.


Blurb: Saving his people means leaving the forest. Leaving the forest means death.

Jakan, Treespeaker of the Fifth Tribe of Arrakesh, knows from the visions he received at the SpringSpeak, that the stranger who has just arrived in his village is not the innocent, interested visitor he claims to be. As the villagers succumb to the mind-bending sorcery of the man, Jakan becomes more and more desperate to be rid of him. But when he accuses the stranger of an act of sacrilege, events take a sinister turn and it is Jakan himself who is expelled from the forest.

Sent on a journey across the treeless land outside the forest, Jakan finds himself fighting for survival – for his people and himself. Somehow he must find a man he hasn’t seen for twenty years, but as a Treespeaker —bound in spirit to the forest — his life hangs by a tenuous thread which grows ever thinner.

Meanwhile, his son, Dovan, must find the strength to carry out the new role he has been given while his father is away, for who knows if the Treespeaker will ever return?

This is not a book about good versus evil. It is a book about belonging, balance and belief. It's an adult fantasy, but suitable for anyone 12+
Treespeaker is available from Amazon and Smashwords

Q&As

How long have you been writing? I’ve always enjoyed writing and completed my first (woeful) novel when I was sixteen. But I also loved art and put most of my energy into that until 12 years ago when I took a writing course as something to do. I had thought I’d do a course in children’s writing, as picture books seemed the logical thing to go into, but my sister persuaded me to do a general course and I discovered I really enjoyed writing novels, so that’s the direction I took.

What/who inspired you to write? I was brought up in a house full of books. My mother always encouraged us to read and to read widely. I was born in England and attended a small village school. There, too, I was encouraged to read and to write. It was a really happy, non-judgemental school where being creative was not seen as odd, but as something to be nurtured. My imagination was allowed to go wild, something I think should be permitted in every childhood.

Do you have plans for any further books? I’ve completed three and have another two underway, with at least three more in my brain waiting to hit the computer screen. As I said, I’m working on “Song of the Jikhoshi”, the sequel to “Treespeaker” right now and then there’s another YA novel completed, which I’m tentatively calling “The Mark of the Dragon Queen”. I haven’t decided yet, whether to epublish that or to keep trying the traditional route. I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing. I’m always getting new ideas popping into my head and having to put them on the back burner until I have time to write them down.

What is your favorite book and why? I couldn’t possibly name one book as my favourite. I have fallen in love with way too many over my life to choose just one. I love Paulo Coelho’s books for the apparent simplicity which covers so many layers of meaning. I love a lot of Ursula Le Guin’s work, too. She creates worlds that are so different, yet so real. Then there’s Juliet Marillier who uses Celtic Mythology and weaves magic in so subtly that you hardly notice it; you just take it as real. CS Lewis was a brilliant writer, too. The imagination he must have had to produce the Narnia Chronicles amazes me every time I read them. I don’t just read fantasy though. I love John LeCarre and Joanne Harris as well. I’ve probably read every book AJ Cronin ever wrote and as a teenager, I devoured everything by Charles Dickens. “Les Miserables” is a book I’ve read twice and frequently dip into as well.

What piece of advice would you give to a new writer? Read and read widely. There is no way you can get a good grasp of language without absorbing the way other writers use words. There’s no better way of learning to plot a good story than getting involved in someone else’s plot. Get lost in a good book and you’ll find the best way into your own.

Thanks to Katie for taking the time to answer my questions. Have a great week everyone!

Getting to Know Prue Batten...

I'm chuffed to feature Prue Batten today, a fellow indie author who I met on www.kuforum.co.uk. I asked Prue to supply a bio to share with you all, and had to giggle at the response she sent. 

Over to Prue...

The best way to describe myself would be to use a quote written about me by Mark Williams on a recent blog (http://markwilliamsinternational.com/)

Here it is: ‘She lives in Tasmania, has a pet Tasmanian Devil called Gisborne, eats kangaroos’ testicles, has the most ridiculous one-star ever awarded on Amazon, and wrote a novel on Twitter…’

Believe it or not, most of it is true. My husband and I own a farm so we do have lots of kangaroos around, but the testicles? Ugh! As to the Tasmanian Devil? I wish I did have one for a pet, but as recently reported in the Huffington Post, http://huff.to/f3zxSd the poor little things are suffering the ravaging effects of a disease that is bringing them to the edge of extinction. Better the scientists and conservation zoos look after them than me. And I do have a one star rating on Amazon… a woman bought my first book thinking it was an embroidery book despite the blurb and then gave ME a one star despite Her mistake. And yes, myself and 50 others wrote a Jane Austen style novel on Twitter which was mentioned by The Times (UK) no less.

Me in a nutshell!

Prue's latest book, A Thousand Glass Flowers, (a fantasy/paranormal/magical realism novel), is being released at the end of August for Kindle.

Two people… one an extraordinary young woman, the other an embittered immortal man. Both seeking concealed spells that could annihilate Life.

In a quest through a world where Others lace their way in and out of the lives of mortals, this is a story of legend, love, and clashing ideals. A story of murder, regret and revenge… a story that journeys across a world too hauntingly like our own.

A taster for you...

The tall gate blocked out the sunshine as Lalita tilted her head back to stare at it. They named it a door and yet it might as well have been an armoured portcullis. It was the entrance to a fortress, the gate beyond which no full-blooded male could proceed and which they named the Door of a Thousand Promises.

What promises? Promises of sex that an ordinary man might only dream of? Promises of untold wealth and comfort should an odalisque become known by the Sultan? Or promises of heavenly life in the hereafter because one had given up one’s freedom, one’s family and one’s life to serve the Court of the Sultan? 

Or perhaps a thousand promises of a thousand terrible deaths should one enter uninvited.

Q&As

1.  How long have you been writing?

All my life. It has been a creative outlet since I was little. All my life I have thought in words and text. 

2.  What/who inspired you to write? 

No one person or book inspired me to write, it was something I had to do. Like an artist has to put down pencil marks or brushstrokes, so I needed to put down words.

3. Have you ever based characters on people you know, or based events on things that have happened to you?

Never on people I know. Characters often experience something I have experienced. As much as possible, I try and experience what my characters do in order to establish veracity, as long as it’s within the law of course!

4.  Do you have any other books published?

I do. They are all listed on the links below.

5.  Do you have plans for any further books?

Indeed. I am writing a historical fiction based on an alternative view of Guy of Gisborne and entitled Gisborne. And I have a 70,000 word fantasy WIP which takes the stories of the previous generation to the next generation.

6.  What is your favourite book and why?

It’s a series. Dorothy Dunnett’s House of Niccolo (a historical fiction) for its depth, its breadth, its shocks at every turn. It’s what I’d take to a desert island.

7.  What piece of advice would you give to a new writer?

Write and read and never stop. Oh, and never take no for an answer.

Thanks so much Mandy. It’s been wonderful to be a part of your blog.

Links to Prue:

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/nNB7tw

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/m01qxa

www.pruebatten.com

www.mesmered.wordpress.com

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/Pruebatten