INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE CHURCHILL ABOUT THE KING’S FURIES

Yes, this is actually a new blog by me; will wonders never cease?  But the good thing about being in Writer Limbo—between books—is that I actually have time to do some things I enjoy, and one of them is focusing attention upon books I think my readers will like.  The King’s Furies is such a book, with the added bonus that its author, Stephanie Churchill, is a friend as well as a fellow writer, so it is always fun to hang around with her.  Besides, Holly, my spaniel, may not worship Stephanie, but she is overly fond of the ground upon which she walks.

I can enthusiastically recommend The King’s Furies, the final book in Stephanie’s trilogy, The Crowns of Destiny.  Like me, I am sure that readers of the trilogy have come to care about the characters, and I think they will be pleased by the resolution of the series.   Casmir is a very appealing character in his own right, and it is interesting to get his perspective after seeing their world through the eyes of the sisters, Kassia and Irisa.

Before we begin the interview, I want to let readers know that Stephanie is offering a book giveaway and to be eligible, readers need only post a comment on this blog.  The winner will receive free copies of the first two books, The Scribe’s Daughter and The King’s Daughter; they will be in the e-book format and the contest is global, not limited just to American readers.   Now, let me welcome Stephanie Churchill.

SC: Thanks for letting me stop by, Sharon. I really just came to play with Holly, but we may as well chat as long as I’m here.

SKP: Holly would like nothing more than for you to feed her snacks.

SC: Which I have brought aplenty.

SKP: You’re about to publish your third book, The King’s Furies.   How does it feel?

SC: I thought you were going to ask me, “What are you going to do next?” And of course, the only answer to that is “Go to Disney World.” It feels somehow surreal that I’ve slaved away enough to write three books already. It seems like only yesterday you planted the suggestion in my head. Can that have been nearly eight years ago already? It doesn’t seem like we’ve been friends for that long, but we have.

SKP: I’ve told you before that you give me too much credit for that.

SC: Maybe, but sometimes ideas don’t take root except when suggested by people who have a certain amount of clout. Anyone else could have suggested that I try my hand at writing, but I wouldn’t have necessarily considered the suggestion credible. I figured you knew what you were talking about when it came to writing.

SKP:  I can think of at least one book reviewer who’d disagree with you about that, the one who ended her review of Sunne with the immortal words, “God has probably forgiven Richard III and He may in time even forgive the author.”    But let’s talk now about your Crowns of Destiny series. Your first two books were about two sisters. Your third book will be about a different person, Casmir Vitus, King of Agrius. What made you decide to give him his own book?

SC: I wasn’t planning to originally. I had already promised readers that I would write a prequel about Kassia and Irisa’s mother, Naria. I had a decent outline written up for that book, but then a couple of things happened. First, I wasn’t “feeling” the story. I’m not sure how to describe it except to say my heart just wasn’t in it. I had a tough time figuring out how to develop the themes for the book, and I had too many ideas about directions to take the various character involvements. So in part, there was too much I wanted the book to do, and I couldn’t narrow it down. Then, almost simultaneously, reviews were beginning to come in on The King’s Daughter. The most common piece of feedback I received from readers was that they loved Casmir. Looooooved him. It seemed natural to write a book for him. I hope to get back to Naria’s story someday, but I also need to move on to other things.

SKP: Why did people love him so much?  I know why I found him to be such good company, but I am curious about your perspective as his creator.   Tell us about him.

SC: I can’t speak for individual readers, but my guess is that he’s got a nice dose of charm. I admit to being more than a little influenced by some of your male characters when writing him: Llewelyn ap Iorweth, for instance. His combination of cluelessness with Joanna gave me some fodder for Casmir’s relationship with Irisa, and his leadership style of integrity, control, and a bit of restraint helped me figure out Casmir’s kingly style. I also injected some of Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s swagger. Another thing that I would guess readers found appealing was the mystery of his personality. Irisa often commented on Casmir’s seeming two-sided nature. He wears an unreadable court mask in public, but when Irisa was alone with him, she saw a warm, caring man. So for the reader’s benefit, I wanted to explore this a bit in his own book. I hope readers of The King’s Furies will get enough of Casmir’s backstory to understand his two faces a bit better. I also tried to inject some aspects of your favorite king, Henry II. Casmir is a bit of a workaholic, and he doesn’t always care too much for his personal appearance – or at least the extravagance that kings are afforded in their dress. He’s happier just being comfortable.

SKP: Without giving anything away, what is this book about?

SC: From a plot perspective, Casmir and Irisa are now secure on their thrones ruling Agrius. They have a child, and things seem to be perfect. Of course, as an author yourself, you know that authors are never happy when our characters are happy. I had to make their lives difficult, and one step at a time I turned the screws a little bit on their happiness. They made some choices in The King’s Daughter, and the outcomes of those choices aren’t working out so well. Those outcomes get progressively more complicated, and then some of the villains from the last books show up to further complicate things.

The theme of this book is two-fold. I wanted to explore Casmir’s character. What happens when he is tested beyond the point of breaking? What kind of choices will he make, and what does it say about who he is as a man? And secondly, I wanted to explore the marriage relationship after the first few years of marriage. It’s fun to write about new love, but what happens when daily life intrudes and outside forces work to muddy the waters a bit? At a really deep level, I want readers to see how I intentionally chose the title (for each of my books) and how it works to tell the story of what will happen to the main characters.

SKP: Do you have another project you’re working on now? What’s next?

SC: I have something completely different in mind, yes. I’ve already begun to plot the basics of it, but I have a lot of groundwork to cover before I begin the actual writing. This next series will be much more traditionally fantasy in that there will be some dragon-like creatures. Still no magic, because I’m not comfortable writing in that milieu since I don’t really read magic-based fantasy.

SKP: How will the books be different (besides the dragon-like creatures)?

SC: Well, from a story and setting perspective, I’m going to focus much less on creating a setting that feels historical. This time it will be purely fictional. Yes, it will have a vaguely medieval feel, but that’s about as close to feeling historical as I’ll intentionally get. Much of what will be different won’t be apparent to readers because the differences will all be in my process. Hopefully readers will “feel” the difference in the quality of the story, but it won’t be obvious to the casual reader. Oh, and my dragons will have some supernatural powers.

SKP: How could dragons not have some supernatural powers?   But how is your process going to be different?

SC: I’ve been reading and following the blog of Shawn Coyne who developed the Story Grid method. I won’t bore you with all the nitty-gritty details, but this method encourages developing what Coyne calls a “foolscap global story outline” before getting started. Basically, it’s setting up certain major building blocks (inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax, resolution) for each of the major components of the book before beginning to write. I naturally do this in my head anyway and had done it for my first three books on a very informal level, but I’m forcing myself to write down each of the items so they will be thoroughly thought through. The other process difference is that I’m going to write all three books of the trilogy (in first draft form) before I publish the first one.

SKP: That sounds intriguing and a bit mysterious.  So how long will readers have to wait until they can read something new from you?

SC: No idea. It will take as long as it takes. But I think once my in-depth planning is finished, the actual writing will take far less time than my last three books since I’ll have signposts for what I’m going to write. In the meantime, I’m keeping a weekly writing journal for those interested in getting a behind-the-scenes look at my process. It’s on my blog https://www.stephaniechurchillauthor.... and people can subscribe if they want to be updated about new posts. So far readers of this journal have said they love the glimpse of what authors do every day. I guess I take my own process for granted, but not everyone knows what we as authors do!

SKP: Anything else you’d like to add before you go take Holly for a walk?

SC: Yes, I thought I’d leave your readers with a little glimpse of both Casmir’s personality and a taste for what The King’s Furies is about.

From The King’s Furies, chapter 6:

“You are the assassin who finally brought down the slave rebellion’s leader.”

“You make it sound like a bad thing, my king,” Jachamin broke in, a slow smile hinting at the corners of his lips. “But I prefer mercenary if it’s all the same to you.”

“Your tactics were… heavy-handed,” I observed.

His eyes flashed at that, and the freedom I’d reveled in only moments before dissipated, melting away as easily as a sugared wafer on Sybila’s tongue. I moved my gloved hands over my face, partially to brush away the loose strands of hair which had fallen over my left eye, but also to give myself time to think.

“Casmir,” Wimarc broke in, annoyingly comfortable enough to use my familiar name, “Lyseby is a problem. In fact, you have many problems that defy conventional solutions.”

I shot him a hard look. “And you think that hiring an assassin… mercenary,” I corrected myself with a dismissive wave of my hand, “will fix these problems? We have only begun to try conventional solutions. I am not about to condone as common practice the murder of those who would oppose my rule!” I gave each of the men a cold, hard stare.

“Casmir, I only brought you here to hear him out.”

“Yes, because you know the palace walls have ears. You said as much. This was to make the ride and early hour worth my while?”

“Casmir, I…”

“You have mistaken me for another king — my father, or his hound Veris. I am not him, nor will I ever be,” I growled. “You have wasted my time.”

And with that, I made a savage jerk on the reins, wheeling Sevaritza around to leave the two men staring after me.

SKP:   We shall let Casmir have the last word, then, as kings usually do.   Thank you, Stephanie, for stopping by to spoil Holly and share your thoughts on The King’s Furies.  To purchase Stephanie’s books, see the links below.  And again, post a comment here and you’ll be eligible for Stephanie’s book giveway.

July 24, 2019

Links:

Purchase The Scribe’s Daughter: mybook.to/thescribesdaughter

Purchase The King’s Daughter: mybook.to/TheKingsDaughter

Pre-order The King’s Furies: mybook.to/TheKingsFuries

Stephanie’s website: https://www.stephaniechurchillauthor....