And through their strong desire, an idea emerges…one that has never been done before. The princess of the country is coming of age and what better way to send a message to the king and queen than to kidnap their only daughter?
Will the kidnapping go as planned in the pages of ‘Gold Shadow’? Today, Lauren Perry, author of ‘Gold Shadow’ has set aside a little time to chat with me about the lives of the king, queen, princess and more her novel. Lauren, let’s go back to the beginning of your novel, where did it all start?
The book actually started with Ebony. An idea for her character suddenly came to me while I was at lunch and I decided to make a story around her.
How did the rest of the characters come to life around Ebony?
They just started popping up out of nowhere and they nagged me to include them in the story. Sometimes they would come to me with faces and sometimes they came to me as just a name and a personality.
I love it when characters beg to be included in a book! How did you decide what to do with increasing number of characters? Were any of the events in the characters lives drawn from your own?
One thing I included in this series was diversity. Growing up, I’ve read many books but I wasn’t exposed to stories with a lot of representation. I wanted to change that by including them in my stories.
Diversity is a really interesting aspect to draw upon. Was the representation of diversity the most central concept that you wanted to include in your novel, or was there another theme that you feel holds more importance than diversity?
There are a number of things I’m trying to portray in this book, but I guess one of the most important things I want people to take away from this is the dangers of ignorance and what it means to be human.
I’d love to get into what it means to be human with you today, but we have limited time so I’m going to have to stick to the list of questions I prepared earlier, otherwise, we will be here all day! The next question I have in my pile is about the rewards of writing. What did you personally find the most rewarding aspect of writing your novel?
The most rewarding thing was looking back and seeing how far I’ve improved as an author. This series is a world apart from my previous trilogy.
It doesn’t get much better than improving as an author. What techniques have you developed over the course of this series and the last that you feel has contributed to the improvement in your writing?
I try to write something each day, whether it’s one word or several pages. As long as it is something, I can go to sleep satisfied.
Writing daily is often very important for many of the authors I chat with, and so is planning. Are you a person who likes to put a lot of time into your plots before you write them, or do they appear when you start typing?
It definitely comes to me during the process. If the idea is strong enough, I just start writing. If the book is meant to happen, the ending will present itself.
What do you love about that process of writing that keeps drawing you back?
I write because I love creating worlds and characters. It is a passion of mine, which is why I want to make a living out of it.
And to make a living out of it I’m sure there’s another book on the horizon. What can you tell us about it?
I am working on the second book in the series. There’s a lot going on, so to all those who have read Gold Shadow, I’m letting you know that the second book will be even more exciting than the first!
Yay! The world needs more exciting books and creative ideas. And I’d like to test your creative idea making skills today by tossing you a few crazy quickfire questions. Let’s see how creatively you can answer this one, why is lemon juice made with artificial flavour and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
I never thought about it! My mind is blown right now…I have no idea.
*Laughs* I hope the pressure to be creative so quickly wasn’t too much! Let’s try again with, if you’re in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?
I’m guessing bystanders are going to wonder why their eyes are bugging them.
But you’d be there and gone so fast that they might not even register that their eyes were bugging them. Why isn’t there mouse-flavoured cat food?
That’s a very good question.
Probably without a very interesting answer. Personally, I don’t think many cat owners want to put mouse meat in their shopping trolleys, which is probably why the idea hasn’t taken off. My next question is less creative, what is your zodiac sign?
Capricorn ;)
It’s Capricorn time right about now! Happy Birthday! And with your birthday wish I’d like you to create a monster. What would it look like and what would you call it?
Some spider-like creature named Windsnapper (Which is strange because I’m terrified of spiders. Well, I guess I would get over my fear if I had one as a protector!)
I agree, with a spider-like protector, I think that your spider fears would soon b a thing of the past. Are you left or right-handed?
Right-handed!
Another rightie! What happens when you get scared half to death twice?
I lock myself in my room for the rest of the day.
Good choice! I’ve run out of creative questions today, but before you go can you share your top tips for other authors who are taking the same path towards full-time authorship. What can you share?
Keep writing. Even if you feel discouraged and you feel that your writing isn’t at its best, keep writing anyway. You can always go back and make the changes, but you can’t change anything if you’re not writing in the first place.
You have to write to be a writer :). Lauren, thanks for sharing some snippets of your writing life with us today, and I hope to see your name being mentioned as a shining example of a full-time author soon!
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘Gold Shadow ( ASIN: B077WLJQ9P )‘.
Want to find out more about Lauren Perry? Connect here!