Andy Livingstone's Blog, page 2
August 14, 2014
New fantasy, new authors, new fellowship
It's a funny, paradoxical thing, being a writer. You sit yourself down hoping to communicate to multitudes, but you do so in solitude. Whether you are alone in a quiet room, trying to find time in a family home or tapping away in the midst of a busy office, in reality it is just you and the screen or piece of paper before you. You have to zone out to get yourself on any sort of a roll... or at least I do. Because that's the other side of it: we all have our own ways of getting into that state where we can just batter it out, that feeling where the flow of words feels natural and easy. In other words, we are even individual at being, in our heads, alone.
But that doesn't mean we are hermits; it doesn't mean we like our own company all of the time. Which is why it has been a surprise and a delight to have come into contact with several of the other authors who have been signed by Harper Voyager through their open call. It started when I was sought out by A.F.E Smith, author of Darkhaven, and soon we had been joined by Bishop O'Connell (The Stolen), Katherine Harbour (Thorn Jack), Nancy Wallace (Among Wolves), Kelley Grant (The Sand Sifters), Ingrid Seymour (Ignite the Shadows), Lexie Dunne (Superheroes Anonymous), Jack Heckel (Once Upon a Rhyme), Sarah Remy (On Stonehill Downs) and Jason W LaPier (Unexpected Rain).
Links to their websites are on, funnily enough, the My Links page, and you really should visit every one of them - each of us is very different in our stories, but united in our storytelling. The websites are our public faces, our writing moments are our most individual of times, and somewhere in between is our wee new-Voyager-authors Facebook group where we swap news, ask and give advice, and generally just support each other. Because it is one of the most exciting things to be signed up by a major publisher, but one of the most daunting and nerve-wracking as well, and having a den for our gang - albeit a virtual one - makes for an invaluable place for us to go.
As writers, we all work alone... but, like our characters, we all need a band of merry men and women around us to keep us going.
But that doesn't mean we are hermits; it doesn't mean we like our own company all of the time. Which is why it has been a surprise and a delight to have come into contact with several of the other authors who have been signed by Harper Voyager through their open call. It started when I was sought out by A.F.E Smith, author of Darkhaven, and soon we had been joined by Bishop O'Connell (The Stolen), Katherine Harbour (Thorn Jack), Nancy Wallace (Among Wolves), Kelley Grant (The Sand Sifters), Ingrid Seymour (Ignite the Shadows), Lexie Dunne (Superheroes Anonymous), Jack Heckel (Once Upon a Rhyme), Sarah Remy (On Stonehill Downs) and Jason W LaPier (Unexpected Rain).
Links to their websites are on, funnily enough, the My Links page, and you really should visit every one of them - each of us is very different in our stories, but united in our storytelling. The websites are our public faces, our writing moments are our most individual of times, and somewhere in between is our wee new-Voyager-authors Facebook group where we swap news, ask and give advice, and generally just support each other. Because it is one of the most exciting things to be signed up by a major publisher, but one of the most daunting and nerve-wracking as well, and having a den for our gang - albeit a virtual one - makes for an invaluable place for us to go.
As writers, we all work alone... but, like our characters, we all need a band of merry men and women around us to keep us going.
June 17, 2014
Hopping to it
I have been invited by fellow Voyager author A.F.E. Smith (whose novel, Darkhaven, is due out in August, by the way) to take part in the WIP Blog Hop.
After researching what exactly a blog hop is (I had misread it at first, missed out the 'l' and thought it might be something to do with a dance in a marshy area or, in certain parts of the UK, in a toilet), I was put right by Google. The same oracle-of-all-things-mystifying-on-the-internet also let me know that WIP (fortunately I didn't mistype this, add an 'h' and end up with a stream of unsavoury pop-ups (ahem) that would have inevitably timed their appearance to appear just as my wife walked into the room) stands for Work in Progress.
Anyway... it appears that I should answer a series of set questions about my forthcoming novel (Hero Born, due out in September, by the way), before suggesting some other authors to take part.
So, here we go.
1. What is the name of your main character? Is he/she fictional or a
historic person?
This is an easy one, as Hero Born (as in the remainder of the trilogy) follows the story of a single character. None of this getting-the-reader-really-into-one-character-and-then-jumping-away-to-another-character-just-when-you-really-want-to-know-what-happens-with-the-first-one nonsense in my book. (Not that this ridiculously-hyphenated approach doesn't work well in other books, he says quickly, thinking of the multitudes of great books where it happens to great effect. It just felt better to write this story this way.)
Or, to answer the first bit of the question another way: Brann.
In a perverse way of answering this, there is actually a second main-ish character whose story runs parallel's to Brann's. However, you only get a glimpse of him in short bursts, like a brief scene watched through a gauze curtain as far as the main story is concerned. The curtain will be pulled back in the second book, but in the meantime you really need to read this book to totally get what I am saying here. Oh, and you don't know his name. Yet.
Brann is definitely fictional. That way, unlike in the case of a historic person, I can answer every question about him that begins with the word "why" with the phrase "because I say so". Much like talking to my children.
2. When and where is the story set?
The story is set in a time roughly equivalent to early mediaeval Europe or just before. Basically, they have glass windows but no firearms.
"Where" is fictional, too. It is in a world similar to ours, just with different geography and populated with civilisations roughly equating to great civilisations of our past, but tweaked and mixed up a bit according to the drifting of my imagination and features that evolved from the story. I grew up with a fascination for ancient history but the combination of a sievelike memory, a scattergun approach to reading about them and (as an adult) a lack of personal time has left me with a smattering of knowledge and a general impression of many ancient civilisations and an in-depth knowledge of none. This, however, has proved a perfect grounding for inventing my own versions, combining some where I feel like it and having fun with it. And it means that, unlike in the case of historical fiction, I can answer every question about a civilisation that begins with the word "why" with the phrase "because I say so".
Brann's people are a sort of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon mix and, over the course of the three books, he encounters civilisations who are Norse-ish, Greco-Roman-ish, Egyptian-ish, Phoenician/Persian-ish and Lambayeque/Chimú-ish. The "-ish" is very important. It means that I took a tiny, vague part of the original truth and just went with it.
4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Again, an easy one to answer. He lives a fairly ordinary teenage boy's life, where the greatest excitement is the annual ball game between the apprentices of his village and the neighbouring town. Fairly early in the story, he is snatched by slavers in a bloody raid and lives in a series of totally alien experiences where all he can do is struggle to survive, in circumstances that escalate from just avoiding death to those with major political consequences, and in cultures and countries he has barely even heard of. All of which does tend to mess up one's life a touch.
There is a bit of fun along the way, though...
5. What is the personal goal of the character?
Staying alive. And getting home. Saving the world just happens along the way. Or so we hope.
6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about
it?
It is called Hero Born. You can read more about it on this website whenever any news is released and, in time, on the Harper Voyager website. You can also follow me on Twitter (@markethaven) or like my page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/andylivingstoneauthor.
7. When can we expect the book to be
published?
Hero Born is due to be published as an e-book in September this year.
Anyway, enough about me. I hereby nominate the following authors to take part in this WIP Web Hop, purely because I want to know more about their books and I would like you to feel the same way:
Sarah Remy
Shannon Knight
Carrie Bailey
Claire Wilson
After researching what exactly a blog hop is (I had misread it at first, missed out the 'l' and thought it might be something to do with a dance in a marshy area or, in certain parts of the UK, in a toilet), I was put right by Google. The same oracle-of-all-things-mystifying-on-the-internet also let me know that WIP (fortunately I didn't mistype this, add an 'h' and end up with a stream of unsavoury pop-ups (ahem) that would have inevitably timed their appearance to appear just as my wife walked into the room) stands for Work in Progress.
Anyway... it appears that I should answer a series of set questions about my forthcoming novel (Hero Born, due out in September, by the way), before suggesting some other authors to take part.
So, here we go.
1. What is the name of your main character? Is he/she fictional or a
historic person?
This is an easy one, as Hero Born (as in the remainder of the trilogy) follows the story of a single character. None of this getting-the-reader-really-into-one-character-and-then-jumping-away-to-another-character-just-when-you-really-want-to-know-what-happens-with-the-first-one nonsense in my book. (Not that this ridiculously-hyphenated approach doesn't work well in other books, he says quickly, thinking of the multitudes of great books where it happens to great effect. It just felt better to write this story this way.)
Or, to answer the first bit of the question another way: Brann.
In a perverse way of answering this, there is actually a second main-ish character whose story runs parallel's to Brann's. However, you only get a glimpse of him in short bursts, like a brief scene watched through a gauze curtain as far as the main story is concerned. The curtain will be pulled back in the second book, but in the meantime you really need to read this book to totally get what I am saying here. Oh, and you don't know his name. Yet.
Brann is definitely fictional. That way, unlike in the case of a historic person, I can answer every question about him that begins with the word "why" with the phrase "because I say so". Much like talking to my children.
2. When and where is the story set?
The story is set in a time roughly equivalent to early mediaeval Europe or just before. Basically, they have glass windows but no firearms.
"Where" is fictional, too. It is in a world similar to ours, just with different geography and populated with civilisations roughly equating to great civilisations of our past, but tweaked and mixed up a bit according to the drifting of my imagination and features that evolved from the story. I grew up with a fascination for ancient history but the combination of a sievelike memory, a scattergun approach to reading about them and (as an adult) a lack of personal time has left me with a smattering of knowledge and a general impression of many ancient civilisations and an in-depth knowledge of none. This, however, has proved a perfect grounding for inventing my own versions, combining some where I feel like it and having fun with it. And it means that, unlike in the case of historical fiction, I can answer every question about a civilisation that begins with the word "why" with the phrase "because I say so".
Brann's people are a sort of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon mix and, over the course of the three books, he encounters civilisations who are Norse-ish, Greco-Roman-ish, Egyptian-ish, Phoenician/Persian-ish and Lambayeque/Chimú-ish. The "-ish" is very important. It means that I took a tiny, vague part of the original truth and just went with it.
4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Again, an easy one to answer. He lives a fairly ordinary teenage boy's life, where the greatest excitement is the annual ball game between the apprentices of his village and the neighbouring town. Fairly early in the story, he is snatched by slavers in a bloody raid and lives in a series of totally alien experiences where all he can do is struggle to survive, in circumstances that escalate from just avoiding death to those with major political consequences, and in cultures and countries he has barely even heard of. All of which does tend to mess up one's life a touch.
There is a bit of fun along the way, though...
5. What is the personal goal of the character?
Staying alive. And getting home. Saving the world just happens along the way. Or so we hope.
6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about
it?
It is called Hero Born. You can read more about it on this website whenever any news is released and, in time, on the Harper Voyager website. You can also follow me on Twitter (@markethaven) or like my page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/andylivingstoneauthor.
7. When can we expect the book to be
published?
Hero Born is due to be published as an e-book in September this year.
Anyway, enough about me. I hereby nominate the following authors to take part in this WIP Web Hop, purely because I want to know more about their books and I would like you to feel the same way:
Sarah Remy
Shannon Knight
Carrie Bailey
Claire Wilson
