This interview is with the charming and vivacious authorRLynn. Our fiery Canadienne who gave us The Descendants Saga, To Die: With Love, Blood Fever, Mood Scale and Selah (and the slaves of Thaddeus).
She's soon to publish The Descendants Saga but she was kind enough to take time out of her busy day to answer some questions for me.
Enjoy!
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1. When you were young, what was your biggest dream and did you ever make it come true?
I wanted to bring peace between the Catholics and Protestants of Ireland. I told everyone when I grow up that that was what I was going to do. Well unfortunately I have not even been able to go to Ireland yet. I have been to 22 different countries except the one I have longed since childhood to go to... *sigh, one day!
2. Who has been the most influential person to you in your life and how?
The most influential person in my life would have to be my mom. She's they type of mom that when I brought a 'C' home on my report card she would freak out and threaten to phone the principal to talk to them. I would be like, "No mom, don't call the principal, I'll try harder, I promise!" And she would say something like, "I have to call and talk to him, obviously the teachers he is hiring are too stupid to see how much of a genius you are!"
Despite her grandiose delusions, it was so encouraging to know that no matter what, I always had someone in my corner who believed in me and supported me.
3. What do you do up there in Canada to keep yourself busy?
Besides work and writing, I love to ski! In the winter we are up on the hill every weekend (In fact in my younger years I used to race competitively.) In the summer we are at a lake water skiing. Really anything I can strap wooden planks to my feet and act reckless while going extreme speeds, well that suits me just fine.
4. You are the proud owner of a beautiful muscle car. What is the make/model, what's under the hood, and how on earth did you end up with that awesome piece of machinery? (Yes, folks, I am a bit of a gear-head. I'm not afraid to admit it, either.)
It is a '72 SS Chevelle, big block V8! I saved up and bought it. It was the very first car I bought! I love cars, well old cars. I love to race them and fix them up. It was never in question for me to drive a ricer (Asian made sports car) or anything European; I needed fast American muscle. But I don't actually own it anymore, I had to sell it. It was a sad day; I cried the entire time. Now I am saving up to buy another one, maybe a '69 this time.
5. What is your favorite song?
Well it changes on a regular basis, but my overall favorite might have to be 'Come What May" as sung on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.
6. When did you first start writing and when did you realize that you were good at it?
I first started writing in May 2010 on Wattpad (seriously), but I did often journal and write poetry. Also, I was one of those weird people who loved getting essays or some form of writing assignment in school. I think I'm a tad narcissistic as I love the sound of my own voice.
7. What do you think is the most important thing for a writer of fantasy and adventure stories to concentrate on; the world they are creating or the characters that inhabit it and why?
Hmm... the most important things are consistency and tone. Consistency of characters, land, objects, etc. And tone, tone sets the platform for the entire plot, world, and characters' personality traits. If a book has well thought out characters and worlds yet lacks tone, the book would feel incomplete; lacking a link to the reader.
8. What is a typical day of writing like for you?
I tend to write late at night. If I am feeling uninspired I will first listen to a good song or watch something interesting. But often I will wake up totally gung-ho and head straight to the computer; not stopping for food or washroom and barely finding time to breathe. I love to tell stories, that is what I am passionate about. As a young child when I had sleepover parties I would tell jokes and make up stories into all hours of the night. The craft of writing came later. Truthfully it is still coming, it is a long learning curve, one I am happy to work at.
9. How did you go about getting The Descendants Saga published? What was the process that took you from amateur writer to publishing a book?
Well, I did send out a couple of query letters to agents but before I got any response I was actually head-hunted by a publisher. So my story is a rather unusual one. But I know of some awesome tools for people interested in publishing their book: webooks.com has a thing called agentinbox where it costs about $4 but they help you customize and send out query letters to agents who are openly seeking manuscripts like yours. They also have a platform where you submit 3 pages of your work and people vote on it and openly critique it; this is very helpful to new authors. It is important to understand that publishers and agents get hundreds of manuscripts, unsolicited, across their desks each month. From those they maybe chose four to read and from those maybe request one full manuscript. I know an agent who says they have turned down amazing books because they needed too much work. So make sure your manuscript is perfect and edited before you send it in!
10. The Descendants Saga has a pretty strong message for young people about relationships and love. Do you feel that the book is targeted at readers young enough to still benefit from the message, and do you feel that the message is compelling enough for older young people to understand and incorporate into their lives?
It is important for everyone, all ages, to know that safe sex does not just mean protecting yourself physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. Kids are getting younger and younger these days, in fact I just had a 12 year old message me wishing she did not have sex with her 18year old boyfriend. The world can be a sick and disturbing place and I hope that after reading the Descendants Saga, people will choose to wait before they engage in an relationship again or for the first time, until they are fulfilled in all ways not just physically!
11. What aspects of your personality do you feel are your biggest assets as a writer and why?
I was hit by a car when I was eight and as a result I have short term memory. This can really suck in remembering key parts of your story, but it also helps in keeping everything fresh and exciting. Each chapter, I try to add some form of pull, which is typically done in adventure books. I also really write from the heart in matters that mean something to me or to my family.
12. You have two works currently in progress on Wattpad. Are you going to keep uploading more for your fans to read, even though you're a soon-to-be published writer, and do you have more ideas for stories to come?
I actually have five stories on the go, and have uploaded one of them on Wattpad, Selah. It is my favorite work so far.
I love the Wattpad forum and how it allows me to engage with readers and gauge their response. It is an invaluable tool that helped mold the Descendants Saga. A tool that I feel helped bring me to where I am. So, yes, I will keep uploading!
13. What book has been the biggest inspiration to you in your life and how?
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. It really is an amazing story if you haven't read it, you should. It is about a boy who gives up so much in order to help those around him. It is a painful and heart breaking read but something I would recommend everyone to do! It impacted me because I have a huge heart for people, but I also have a desire to make money and have nice things. The boy in the book gave up wealth to become an outlaw and teach Africans to read in a time when they were not even allowed to be on the same bus as the whites. It really challenged me on what really is important, getting nice things or doing nice things. Now I see kindness as the ultimate wealth!
14. What book do you think every young woman should read in her life and why that one?
Beauty and the Beast. I know it is a silly kid's book. But in truth, its message is really important to women; that internal beauty is so much more than outward beauty. This is coming from a girl who used to starve herself to be a model. Who I was then was not a good person. I put myself before others and in doing so did not get to appreciate the true simple beauty of the world around me. And trust me, the guys I dated then were nothing compared to the amazing man I married. When I stopped caring so much about what I looked like and started to care about how I acted, well that changed my whole world!
15. How has your life changed since you joined Wattpad and started writing?
Wattpad opened the door to help me find what I wanted to do. I am a jack of all trades and because of that, was so unsettled in "What I wanted to do with my life". But now I know that at least for now I want to write and get better at writing!
16. What advice would you give to new writers out there who really want to get published?
Work hard and ask a lot of questions. Give your book to people who will not say nice things about it and take in what they say. Criticism is the foundation for improvement. The book industry is a tough industry to get into. So grow your craft and work hard to put forth your best work possible. Just because you wrote it doesn't mean it is good enough to be published. But it does mean you can work hard to get it there. Take TDS for example, I have made so many changes it will be almost a different book when it is published! Also don't forget to follow your bliss, if writing makes your soul come alive, then writing is what you were made to do!