Ask the Author: A.L. Sowards
Answered Questions (5)
A.L. Sowards
Honestly, my favorite fictional couple is always whoever I’m writing about at the time. There’s just something about creating characters and manipulating how they interact that’s hard to beat.
But I don’t think that’s what the question meant. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think I’ll go with Kate Sutton and Christopher Heron from the Perilous Gard. It’s a YA book I first read decades ago, and that long association may have a role to play in them being my favorites. Both are great characters—Kate is strong, curious, and determined. Christopher is haunted by misplaced guilt and has a bit of a martyr complex, but he’s inherently good. I like the initial bickering between them, then how they grow together and support each other through difficult times. I also loved that there were really good reasons why they never talked about how they felt for each other, which made for a great resolution. Bonus—their relationship is wholesome enough for younger readers to watch play out. I wouldn’t call the book a romance. It’s more an adventures story, and I’ve found that my favorite fictional couples are never the ones in straight romances. I like the love story to be an addition to the plot, rather than the main driver.
Other couples worth mentioning: Vin and Elend from the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, Kit and Nat from The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Alan and Kate from Dead Cert by Dick Francis, and Eugenides and the Queen of Attolia from the Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.
But I don’t think that’s what the question meant. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think I’ll go with Kate Sutton and Christopher Heron from the Perilous Gard. It’s a YA book I first read decades ago, and that long association may have a role to play in them being my favorites. Both are great characters—Kate is strong, curious, and determined. Christopher is haunted by misplaced guilt and has a bit of a martyr complex, but he’s inherently good. I like the initial bickering between them, then how they grow together and support each other through difficult times. I also loved that there were really good reasons why they never talked about how they felt for each other, which made for a great resolution. Bonus—their relationship is wholesome enough for younger readers to watch play out. I wouldn’t call the book a romance. It’s more an adventures story, and I’ve found that my favorite fictional couples are never the ones in straight romances. I like the love story to be an addition to the plot, rather than the main driver.
Other couples worth mentioning: Vin and Elend from the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, Kit and Nat from The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Alan and Kate from Dead Cert by Dick Francis, and Eugenides and the Queen of Attolia from the Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.
A.L. Sowards
Thank you for your question, Linda! As of 2016, four of my five books are available as audiobooks: The Spider and the Sparrow, The Rules in Rome, Espionage, and Sworn Enemy. All are read by Jason Tatom, who does a great job with the foreign accents. The books are available as boxed CD sets, or as MP3 downloads on Deseret Book or Seagull Book. (The Spider and the Sparrow is new enough that the CDs aren’t in stock online and the MP3 versions aren’t up yet, but I expect it to be more widely available in the next few weeks.)
I’m sorry your local library doesn’t carry them. Some libraries are very open to patron purchasing requests and some libraries aren’t. Does your library do interlibrary loan?
I’m sorry your local library doesn’t carry them. Some libraries are very open to patron purchasing requests and some libraries aren’t. Does your library do interlibrary loan?
A.L. Sowards
Being able to edit. In life, you can’t change the past. I can’t count the number of times I wish I would have said or done something differently. With writing, I can change a scene or a line around until it’s perfect, even if it takes a few tries (or a few dozen) to get it right.
A.L. Sowards
The idea for The Rules in Rome (February 2015) actually came from another novel. In Night of the Fox, by Jack Higgins, an experienced British agent is paired with a young female agent and sent on a mission to the Channel Islands during WWII. The two fall in love instantly, and eight hours after meeting each other, they’re in bed together. It made me wonder what would happen if a similar scenario played out, but if instead of hopping in bed together, the two agents pretended they weren’t in love. It may sound like my book is kind of a copycat, but it has different types of characters, a different location, and a different plot. Jack Higgin’s premise inspired my book’s concept, but that’s about where it ends. Feel free to read both and tell me what you think!
A.L. Sowards
It depends on why I’m having writer’s block. Sometimes it’s because I need to do more research before I can really do a scene justice. If that’s the case, I do more research. If I’m just not sure what should happen next, I usually skip ahead and write a different part of the story. Writing the book out of order often leads to more revisions, but it helps keep momentum going, and that’s important for getting the first draft down.
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