Author Interview – R.M. Krogman
Today, I’m chatting with epic fantasy author, R.M Krogman, about her debut book Liberation which is currently on preorder and releases September 5th, 2023.
Helen: Welcome Rebecca, and thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today. Congratulations on the release of your debut novel. Such an accomplishment! Tell us a little about your book.
Rebecca: LIBERATION is the first book of the epic fantasy trilogy “The Keepers of Midgate,” a story of friendship and love, the search for understanding and acceptance, and the heartbreak of loss, set in a world pulsing with magic, violence, and a spreading plague of madness. Dragons, once a common ally, have retreated to the dark recesses of the world, rejected by fickle humanity. As Midgate falls into chaos, only the Keepers and their companions have the power to set the world right.
LIBERATION is above all about freedom—freedom from the bonds of societal expectations, suffocating control, and physical binds. Konan, one of the main characters, is an inmate in the prison mines of the Tahayi Desert. He has little to live for until an innocent woman, Lyra, is tossed into his brutal home. With the help of another ruthless inmate, he tries to protect her and help her escape, but discovers she has far more strength than he could have imagined. Another main character is Prince Reylin, miraculous survivor of a tragic fire that destroyed the royal castle. Although no longer a boy, he chafes against the confines of his Regent Council of lords. As he battles border attacks and tensions with his own lords, a terrifying madness appears, driving people to violence without explanation or cure.
The world of Midgate in a vast and diverse world of powerful elemental magic, sentient dragons, fierce myrpeople and winged warriors, and conflicting cultures. If that sounds interesting to you, you should check out the first book LIBERATION.
Helen: That sounds amazing. I love epic adventures and your characters certainly have plenty to overcome. I’m loving the earthy tones of your cover. What was the idea behind the cover design?
Rebecca: The cover of LIBERATION is a scene from the book that highlights several main characters in the midst of a key moment. I chose it because it not only shows them, but also reveals some of the powerful magic in the world, as well as the presence of war action in the story. I think it’s an important scene in terms of making choices of violence and justice, making and accepting mistakes, enduring hardships, overcoming trauma from the past, and developing new relationships of trust.
Helen: I love asking that question because we always discover more detail in the cover than we did at first glance. What made you write this specifc book?
Rebecca: This epic has been in my head since I was 14, rolling around and making noise. I was slowly going mad and also depressed NOT writing it down. But if you want the long version, here’s the real story. This is actually the Foreword to LIBERATION:
This novel exists because my husband told me to give up.
It’s what I needed to hear.
I have talked about writing this book for over twenty years. The world of Midgate blossomed into existence in early high school, a vast world with its own history, cultures, and peoples. I sketched maps and animals and plants; I jotted notes on color symbolism and languages. I identified industries, located master training halls, and established an apprenticeship structure. I described religions and traditions and superstitions. I modeled wind and ocean currents, then determined climate patterns and resultant major biomes.
I did everything but write.
The story smoldered in my mind. At first, I thought it was about a man wrongfully kept from his crown, who overcame his circumstances and became the savior in a battle of good and evil. Then a girl appeared, and the story transformed. Then another man and woman appeared, shouting that they needed their fair share of attention, and my story exploded to an epic of people overcoming their past and freeing themselves from rigid destiny. Told through multiple points of view, this book is about freedom—freedom from the bonds of societal expectations, suffocating control, and physical binds. The next is about choice, allowing the pain and madness of the world to mold you and drive you, or not. The last is about love, about who we are when we choose others over ourselves or vice versa.
And after hearing about it day after day, year after year, for over a decade straight and still having no book in his hand, my dearly beloved said, “Either start writing, or admit that you’re not going to do it and give up.”
That had exactly the effect it was meant to, and I buckled down to put my thoughts into tangible form. I spent a month documenting the plot and establishing point-of-view characters, then about a year drafting this book and months upon months garnering feedback and revising.
So here we are.
I present to you “Liberation,” the first in series of an epic story about freedom, choice, and love, embedded in a magic-filled world of violence, madness, and loss. I hope you come to love the world of Midgate as much as I do, that your heart breaks and mends with the characters, and that you forget where you are for at least a little while.
Helen: Well done for capturing all those ideas and corralling them into a book. It truly is a major achievment. Congratulations! When did you first realise you had a passion for writing?
Rebecca: My mom had me keep a journal, one page for every year of my life starting in Pre-school. Along with my lists of favorites and horrifyingly embarrassing school pictures, this journal included what I wanted to be when I grew up. I started saying “Author” when I was 5.
I have always loved reading and writing, and I wrote a number of shorter stories and McCaffrey fan fiction when I was younger. I paused during college because LIFE, but realized when I entered the workforce that something essential was missing: a creative outlet through which I could express myself. I started writing again, and it brought me such joy that I know I’ll never stop again.
Helen: Your mum must have known! She started you early capturing your ideas. What made you write high fantasy?
Rebecca: I write high fantasy because I enjoy immersing myself in a different world, one in which magic is tangible and real. I love imagining how different the world could be in terms of technology, foods, peoples, and ecology, but also applying certain laws of nature to make it believable. In addition to the fact that I just want dragons to be real, I think fantasy gives us a way to explore difficult topics without the raw, depressing awfulness of the real world, perhaps topics that we otherwise would have a hard time thinking about. It can also give us hope, showing us what humanity could be, during times when we might otherwise feel hopeless.
Helen: You and me both! I love writing immersive worlds for a reader to escape into. With Liberation about to release, what are you working on next?
Rebecca: My current WIP is SUNDERING, the second book in the epic fantasy trilogy. Whereas LIBERATION is about freedom, SUNDERING is about choice, about allowing the pain and madness of the world to mold you and drive you, or not. SUNDERING continues the saga of “The Keepers of Midgate” as characters join and divide. The madness grows, but it is not the only terror in the world, for the commonplace brutality and senseless hurt inflicted by others continues as it always has. SUNDERING is fully drafted already and now in the midst of a developmental edit. I’ll be looking for ARC readers late this fall, probably around September or October. It will likely be released in early 2024.
At the same time, I am plotting the last book in the trilogy, SCHISM, to ensure that I do wrap everything up with a pretty bow. SCHISM is about love, who we are when we choose others over ourselves or vice versa. The final installment of “The Keepers of Midgate,” SCHISM shows a world divided by the madness and all it wrought: religious extremism, blind hatred and racism, and the pursuit of power at any cost. SCHISM will be drafted next year.
Helen: Plenty to keep you busy then! I always have multiple ideas bubbling, it’s having time to capture them all. When you write, do you listen to music, or do you prefer silence as you work?
Rebecca: I do listen to music because it helps to immerse me not only in the fantasy environment, but in a particular character’s head. I have separate playlists for each POV character, each with a different mood. They are all instrumental, featuring artists like Two Steps from Hell, Trevor Morris, Epic North, Audiomachine, Erik Ekholm, Jeremy Soule, Ramin Djawadi, and Michael Salvatori.
Helen: Thank you so much for joining me today, and congratulations once again on your forthcoming release. Final question. As a newly published author what advice would you give other aspiring writers?
Rebecca: Give yourself grace and patience. Writing is a skill that develops with time, practice, and intentional study. Even if you are naturally a strong writer, you will still have areas that could improve. Give yourself the time to garner feedback, the humility to accept criticism, the grace to forgive yourself for not being perfect, and the patience to soldier onward. I’ve heard the first million words written are considered a writer’s apprenticeship, and I can certainly agree that it takes at least a few hundred thousand to find your own voice and settle into a style. All the while, you should study the craft of storytelling and strive to develop good habits that keep you on track and productive.
About the Author
R.M KrogmanRebecca M. Krogman is an epic and dark adult fantasy author from the central U.S.
Her debut novel LIBERATION is the first volume of a larger story set in Midgate, a medieval-inspired world of magic, mermaids, and wyverns. She has been developing the Keepers of Midgate epic since she was in high school. The main story line has changed little since then, only gaining more clarity and detail as the characters take on a life of their own. The world has grown in its depth of history, culture, and geography, spawning numerous side stories and prequels.
She loves nature, art, and food, which all funnel into her world-building. Her story’s settings span two continents and the sea between, encompassing a diversity of peoples, cultures, and creatures. She is working on a collection of recipes from Midgate, and she loves drawing scenes and characters from the books (although those sketches may never see the light of day).
When she’s not writing about Midgate, she’s penning fairy tale retellings.
Follow Rebecca:
Purchase Liberation via Amazon
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook
As an Amazon Associate I may benefit from purchases made using these links.
If you enjoy fantasy books with a touch of romance then you will love SoulBreather, or my epic fantasy Sentinal series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey.
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