Victoria’s life is turned upside down when she discovers a dark family secret at her grandmother’s funeral. Determined to uncover the truth, Victoria finds herself with powers she never knew existed. Faced with dangerous enemies and demonic entities while caught in the middle of an ancient war between the world of light and the world of shadows, Victoria must fight and defeat the evil forces before it’s too late. For fans of witchcraft, magic, demons, and the world of the paranormal.
Today I’ve managed to snag a few minutes to chat with Bettina Melher, the author of ‘In the Dark of the Light (The Light Keepers Trilogy #1)’. Bettina, thanks for setting aside to chat. Firstly, I’d like to ask about one of the main strengths of this book – the characters. How did they evolve?
Elvina — the character in the prologue of the book — came to me a couple of years before I even planned the trilogy. I remember writing the scene on a little piece of paper because I had nothing else with me at the time. Luckily, I kept it and it eventually turned into the beginning of the trilogy.
Did you find during the lead-up or while you were writing process that you kept collecting ideas like the character of Elvina, souvenirs of something that inspired you or perhaps little notes about things that you researched?
Yes. I always research before and during the writing process. I have a Pinterest board (The Light Keepers Trilogy) if anyone is interested in having a look (https://pinterest.com/bettinamelher/the-light-keepers-trilogy/).
I really like that idea of having a Pinterest board of ideas that you can keep flicking back to when you are tapping away at the keyboard. You do type right?
Yes, I type. :)
Since you have a visually wonderful way to keep track of your ideas it must help the writing and in turn the editing process. Is editing a large part of the editing process for you, or do you like to give the bulk of it to another person?
I do several rounds of self-edits and polish the book as much as I can. Then it’s off to my amazing editor. When I get the manuscript back I go over all the changes and final tweaks before it’s published.
As you’ve been through the self-publishing process a couple of times now do you have any tips or thoughts that you think that other authors might be able to benefit from?
Learn as much as you can. Don’t rush to publish your work. Continue to learn and improve your craft. Good things take time. Be kind to yourself.
That’s my favourite advice. Be kind to yourself :). What is your overall top tip for other authors?
Keep writing, keep creating.
You’ve had quite a bit of success with your creations now. Can you take yourself back to what you felt when you received that first review of your published writing?
I was so grateful and happy. It’s the best feeling to know that someone has read and enjoyed your hard work.
Do you think that your hard work has been influenced by your best-loved authors?
I have too many favourite authors… :)
*Laughs* Don’t all writers :)?
But it was Ursula Isbel’s book, “The house of the whispering shadows” (a German book) that made me wonder, for the very first time in my life, what it would be like to write books… I think I was only nine or ten years old when I read it, but I remember being absolutely captivated by her storytelling.
What that storytelling of Ursula’s the best you encountered as a child, or were you drawn to other favourites?
The Goosebumps series.
Goosebumps, a personal childhood favourite of many an author I believe and I find that most of those stories do tend to stick with you :). Talking about stickiness, do you have any quotes from other authors or anyone else in general that have really stuck with you?
“Stop asking permission. You don’t need it. Stop waiting to be chosen. Choose yourself.” – Joanna Penn
And “Your life can change in a moment.” – Anthony Robbins
I really like both of those. I think there’s too much permission seeking at the moment and I think that most people would benefit from choosing themselves instead. And you can’t go wrong with Tony Robbins. Finally as we are approaching the 100th interview at ItsWriteNow.com I’ve noticed that there hasn’t been a great proliferation of crazy things like cat photos or videos included and I think to make this interview more complete we need a few animals questions to round out today’s interview. So, if you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature what new animal would you create?
A mouse and an elephant. What could possibly be cuter than hairy, little elephants?
That sounds really cute. And if you could keep them as pets then it would be even better. I’m totally up for that. Finally, which are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons?
Dragons!
Fire breathing does tend to win votes :). Bettina, thank you very much for setting aside a little bit of time to chat with me today. I appreciate that and I’d to wish you the best of luck with your promotion of In the Dark of Light.
Want to find out more about Bettina? Connect here!