An Interview with Steven McKinnon
Steven McKinnon is a Scottish author best known for his novel Symphony of the Wind, the first book in The Raincatcher’s Ballad series, which made it to the final round in Mark Lawrence’s SPFBO competition in 2018. It’s a criminally under-read novel, epic in scope and with some of the best characters in fantasy. His most recent book, Order of the Shadow Dragon, was published last year and it was great catching up with him to talk about magic, the writing process, and the struggles of being a self-published author.
[GdM] Congratulations on your newest novel, Order of the Shadow Dragon. Can you introduce your book in a sentence or two for our readers?
[SM] Thanks, Emma! Order of the Shadow Dragon is an epic military fantasy concerning the titular order of knights, who are sworn to protect the world from mystical threats.
The Order is on its last legs because magic has long died out—but after a mystical cataclysm decimates a nearby country, the Order’s single adherent suddenly becomes the last defence against dark forces…
[GdM] I’d love to know more about the inspiration for Order of the Shadow Dragon. Were you always planning on setting the story in the same world?
[SM] Yeah, that was always my intention. There are many corners of The Raincatcher’s Ballad world that I still want to explore. I wanted to visit a kingdom that we’d heard about but never seen. Readers don’t need to be familiar with that series to get stuck into this one, though. After the epic madness of the previous trilogy, I wanted to go back to basics and write something shorter, sharper, and more intimate in its scope.
[GdM] How does the writing process work for you? Does it make it easier or harder to set a new series in a world you have already explored previously?
[SM] Easier in the sense that much of the worldbuilding is already in my head, including the general geography of where the locations in OOTSD are in relation to the places we saw in the previous books.
I still need to build up character and plot for any new book, which always starts with a general theme; I don’t think I’ve ever written a book that didn’t massively differentiate from the plan I originally set out… But that’s part of the fun!
[GdM] Can you talk a bit about the role of magic in your novel?
[SM] Magic exists in the background of this and the Raincatcher books, though its slowly bleeding back into the world…
Ignicite (the primary fuel source and a natural barrier to magic) has suddenly dried up, plunging the world into a fuel crisis as well as resulting in a surge of magical energy flowing through the world. Some individuals are sensitive to this energy and can manipulate it in various ways, which causes problems for the Order.
[GdM] Adrian goes through a lot of change during the story and it seemed to me that so much of his character was framed through the trauma of his father’s death. Is that something you wanted to examine in the novel?
[SM] You know, I wasn’t entirely conscious of it, but yeah, I think you’re bang on the money there. My own dad died in 2016 following a stroke, which of course had a profound effect on our family. It was actually his second; prior to that, he was making a fast recovery, so to suffer a second one was a horrible shock.
I had (and still have) recurring dreams about that happening to him and not being able to stop it; it’s a horrible thing and can happen at any time, which makes it all the more terrifying. There’s a tremendous sense of powerlessness that comes with knowing that, and Adrian’s situation absolutely mirrors that feeling.
[GdM] One of the most appealing elements of your writing is the way you manage the dialogue. It’s incredibly funny without edging into caricature and I’ve laughed out loud numerous times. How hard is that to get right? And why is it important to you to include the humour?
[SM] Ah, Emma, that’s wonderful to hear, thank you! Humour is subjective (maybe more so than anything else?), so I go with what comes naturally in the moment. Sometimes I’ll work on making a humorous exchange land better, sometimes it pops out of nowhere, fully formed. Occasionally, in scenes where characters are talking about their situation or making plans, I like to include some jokes to lighten the mood and make it feel less like an infodump.
I think the whole human spectrum of emotions and experience is important to touch on in some way; going back to the question of death and grief above, I was distraught when I left my dad’s room in the hospital but by the time I reached the car park, I was laughing with my brothers. Grief, joy, everything in between—it all comes in ebbs and flows. There’s no such thing as a normal reaction—just a natural one.
In cases like Adrian’s, after witnessing a parent’s death at such a young age, the impact on how they grow and mature will be immeasurable. But even within that framework of trauma, there’s scope to grow, and change, and laugh.
I guess the short answer to your question is, “You can’t have darkness without light,” which is very much the theme of Order of the Shadow Dragon.
[GdM] As a self-published author, what are the greatest challenges you face?
[SM] Finding an audience big enough to sustain a career.
The indie writing community is great, including authors, readers and reviewers. The sheer volume of works being published every day on Amazon means it’s pretty much pay-to-play to get your book in front of readers. The algorithm can help but it’ll only take notice of you if you make a big splash from the outset.
My fantasy books are generally well received, which I’m immensely proud of, but I’ve never made a penny from my writing. Right now, it’s an expensive hobby; it took me a long time to admit that to myself, but numbers don’t lie. (This month, I spent £285 on Facebook ads, which resulted in a return of £90—not a sustainable business model!). I appreciate that the Raincatcher books are hard to market because they don’t fit into any one niche that might be crying out for new books; Shadow Dragon is much easier to identify as a fantasy book just by looking at the cover!
[GdM] The self-serving nature of politicians and how their actions can have horrifying consequences for ordinary people is redolent of contemporary concerns. To what extent did you draw those parallels on purpose?
[SM] I often wonder that if we lived in a utopia, would our fiction still hold a mirror up to everyday issues we face? What would those issues be? Where does the conflict lie if those in power haven’t rigged the game against you?
There’s always going to be good guys and bad guys on every level of society. When I was writing Shadow Dragon, our country was rotating prime ministers faster than the symbols on a slot machine. We went from a botched response to the pandemic and straight into fuel crises, a cost of living catastrophe and wars breaking out elsewhere on the continent. Through all that, our leaders didn’t have the sense to reflect and own their crap, instead pointing the finger at various groups of people in an attempt to shift the blame.
I like holding a mirror up to that. Who knows? Maybe in a future work, a politician might be a good guy!
[GdM] One thing I particularly enjoyed about Order of the Shadow Dragon is how the story dares to be slow at times. A lot happens, but to me, it felt like you really gave the characters space to develop. Was this a deliberate choice?
[SM] Yeah, 100%—for the first time in my fantasy books, I devoted each chapter to a single character’s PoV (with one exception…). I wanted to spend a bit more time in the characters’ heads and—going back to what I said earlier—sit in their evolving emotions and mental state from scene to scene.
[GdM] And finally, can you tell us anything about what comes next? How many books do you plan on writing in the Legacy of Light & Shadow series and do you know the end yet?
[SM] Good question! Book Two is coming soon—it’s called In the Shadow of the Black Flag, and as its name implies, pirates will feature quite prominently. I wanted to release it at the end of this year but it’s been a turbulent few months, so I put it on the back burner for a bit. I’m now looking at an early 2025 release.
I have many stories bouncing around in my head; I think the Legacy of Light & Shadow Books will be longer than a trilogy, though the focus on specific characters and plots may shift as time goes by—the war between light and darkness is a never-ending one, after all…
Thanks, Emma, to you and the GdM team for talking—it’s been a blast!
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