Monday 11 March 2013

Interview with Susan Cartwright, author of Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge.

Here's my interview with Susan Cartwright, author of Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge. Susan is an amazing author and the first two books of her Forsaken Worlds series are amazing, especially Wolf Dawn, which I placed as my second favourite novel of 2012. I hope you guys like my review, please check out my reviews of Susan's books and please, if you like sci-fi, check out Susan Cartwright's novels!



1) Wolf Revenge is the second book in your debut series. What inspired you to write Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge as your first books?

I had them in my mind for years. Dune, Ursila Le Guin and other SF author’s. But Wolf Dawn is a coming of age story, and I perhaps my own childhood and experiences were coming through there.

2) In Ash’s world, I really liked the idea of Icom and the description of planets such as Opan.  I thought the idea of the red coloured sky was brilliant and made Opan a unique planet in the book. As a sci-fi author, what inspires you to come up with these great ideas for your novels?

I have no idea! I just saw the world that way, and then I imagined a scientific reason for it to be that way. As for Icom, well I think that is the way of the future. People will have computers they can access right from their brain. If you had that chance, to have instant computing power and Google on tap wouldn’t you take it? Already they have found that human thought is a wavelength. The brain should be able to understand and use an internal Wi-fi computer. There you are. That is my prediction for what will happen in the next 300 years.

3) Both Wolf Dawn and Wolf Revenge are a mixture of science fiction and romance. I always refer to your novels as sci-fi books, but how do you see your novels and yourself as an author? Do see yourself as a sci-fi writer, a romance writer or a mixture of both?

Ha! Well, that is the problem isn’t it? It is SF, because these things could happen in the future. Who could say they couldn’t? But it is Fantasy, or even paranormal because hey – that kind of stuff doesn’t happen yet. As for romance, I like a little romance and /or sex in a book. Not to the realms of erotic, but honestly, sex and romance is part of life and thus some part of my books. Not unlike eating or sleeping, or any other bodily need. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial or has lost all their hormones! So I guess for a sense of realism, I like to throw a bit of romance and or sex in, why not?

4) In both of your books, there are many different and unique characters such as Ash, Larren and Neopol. Is there any particular character in the two novels that you relate yourself too? If so, who would it be and why? (I hope you don’t compare yourself to Neopol!)

Humm. Well. I guess it would have to be Ash. Let us just say I am familiar with guilt and self-doubt, and Ash is too. As for Neopol!  I used to work in jails as a nurse, and in psych units where the clients had committed capital crimes. Neopol is a combination of some of the people I actually knew. He is a messed up man/ woman. Then there is Larren. Who wouldn’t love Larren? He is an all around normal sort of guy, just trying to do the right thing. I think a lot of people can identify with both Ash and Larren.

5) What novels do you enjoy reading in your spare time?

Oh my gosh. I read them all. Herbert, Lois McMaster Bujoid, David Gemmel, Bernard Cornwell, JK Rowling and Georgette Heyer. I went through a WW2 phase, and pretty well covered the subject from German, Japanese, the US, British, American and even Russian authors. I even like Westerns, so there honestly isn’t much I don’t enjoy as long as it is well written.  

6) Finally, as an author who has just released their second book, what advice would you give to any aspiring authors out there that want to write their own novels?

1. Work out your style. Are you a 1st person or a third person author.

2. If you don’t know your style, find a good author you like, and model your writing style from that. Don’t worry that you will copy them. You will write differently anyway. You are unique! And you have a unique story to tell.  It took me a long time to figure out my style, and I wish I had just copied someone else’s rather than reinventing the wheel as I did. I did it the hard way! I wish someone had given me this simple advice before I wrote my first 100,000 words!

3. Get your point of view POV straight. Don’t go back and forth between POV – lots of new authors mess that one up.

4.I used Online Writers Workshop (OWW) they really are great. You can submit a story and people will review it and you review others. It is fun. The only catch here is in getting really terrible advice! But you have to go with what you KNOW in you heart. If it is good for you, to hell with everyone else’s POV.

5. When I finally finished a manuscript, I paid a real author to go through it. David Bischoff has written 80 different books and he gave me all sort of tips re: keeping the reader on track and such. You can’t beat a professional for good advice.

6. Finally, the only good authors are writing! You have to write and write and write. After your first 200,000 words you will have an idea of what you are doing, that is for sure. No one can really tell you how to do it in the end. It can be hours in the chair, day after day, fighting with your self-doubt and insecurities. But so many times the words just fly out and I find that I am so happy. I LOVE reading, but writing is SOOOOOO much better because you are really living the story as you write it. So the pay back is worth it. But as I say, it is not for the faint hearted. Like any artist someone will dislike what you do. But who cares? I get a kick out of my fan mail. When people really GET what I was trying to say, that is a fun reward for me. That and when I am in the writing zone, and I know my characters and I can hear them speaking. OMG there is such joy in writing then. It makes it all worthwhile.

I hope you enjoyed! I'd like to say a massive thank you to Susan for talking the time to answer my questions! Please check out her novels here.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Book of the Month Competition for your chance to win three FREE copies of  Wish by C. H. Aalberry! To enter, just follow the instructions on this post and for more information click here.

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