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What was the spark that started Ash: Crooked Fates?
In my childhood, I loved the Russian version of the Wizard of Oz and only later in life found out about the American (original one). The story always had holes for me, especially after seeing Wicked, the musical, in London. What if the witch wasn't bad at all? What if she didn't die? What if there weren't 4 witches but...fewer? Plus anyone who knows my Mellie from Cinders knows she's a villain who needs a good(ish) ending. My alternative for her would be the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland and maybe some day I'll write that, in fact I think I will. Ummm... there went another spark, I guess. :) Name one thing you’re proud of having achieved with Ash: Crooked Fates. integrating many POVs (of many characters). Please tell us a little about your writing style. What/who has influenced you?
I like writing snappy, whimsical dialogue, a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour and am particularly partial to animating the inanimate, but my editors and betas have to egg me on to add descriptions (so not a lot of that in my books, leaving quite a few things to the reader's imagination). I'm also more of an action-driven writer than character-driven, I guess, although most of my stories have coming-of-age or character development in them. As for influencers - Douglas Adams' and Jenny Crusie's books embody all that I strive for - whimsical, humorous, snappy dialogue, lively character interactions, twisty, absurd and fun. What was the most interesting/random fact you discovered while researching for Ash: Crooked Fates?
In the original Baum version, the good witches and bad witches never had names (at least not in the versions that I got my paws on). Only in Volkov's version and in Wicked the witches had names, imagine that! Share something about your main character(s) that is super important to you and why that is.
Ash is multigenerational fiction, so there is a YA romance line (which has a long haul romance part) and the adult romance bit (which has pre-history, so that's more like second chances romance). In the adult pair, Mellie is one of the main characters and she is annoying, selfish, unkind, inconsiderate, creative, get-going and she totally drives you up the wall, but she is also very very human. Is there something from your own life or experience that has found its way into Ash: Crooked Fates?
Dementia and syndromes similar to it (like Korsakoff's) - it's one of the social issues I've raised on how to spot them, not just label people crazy or drunk, but you tell me if I succeeded. What’s next for you and your writing?
To Thaw A Heart, my Snow Queen retelling short story comes out on Dec 20th (sign-up for ARCs Is open on my Insta bio page, if anyone is keen to read it & review it before the story comes out), so I'm going back to fairytales for a sec before delving into Kill-Bill style short story for Once Upon A Name and a romantic fantasy full-length book for Realm of Darkness where not one, but several of my characters from Ash make a comeback. What book(s) changed your life?
Bulgakov's Master & Margarita, Douglas Adams' Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy and Jenny Crusie's Bet Me. The first allowed to see the useful side of evil, the second made me laugh and realise 'Hey, absurd humour books are fun!' and the latter made me discover you can write romantic books with humour, relatable real characters AND killer dialogue. Is there a cause that’s important to you?
Understanding humanity - how to remain human, how we get to Mars and other planets, how we survive, how we empathise, why we occasionally seem not so human anymore.
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