I recently received a series of questions from a fan named Erik Britt. Well, I received them second-hand from an anonymous source, who will probably out herself in the comments. I thought it would be fun to answer his questions and give him a public thank you for asking these questions.
1. How does he come up with this stuff?
First, my mind played the ‘Where does he get those wonderful toys?’ line from the first Batman movie. Anyway, a lot of what I write is based on a Dungeons & Dragons game that I played in college. This game created the foundation for Windemere, which has taken on a life of its own over the years.
Many aspects of Legends of Windemere are not from the game such as the romantic storyline, Kira Grasdon, the monster army, and most of the scenes that involve only one or two of the heroes. Those were added in as I wrote along and fine-tuned after years of editing. The game never finished, so there will be more and more non-game stuff as the series progresses.
2. How long did it take him to write this?
I wrote and finished this book in college, so it took me 4 years of gradual work. This was only the first draft and I spent 10 years editing. Not so much by design, but I had nothing else to do with it while waiting for my rejection letters. Undisturbed, I can write a full first draft in 3 months, but only if I do my character bios and outlines beforehand.
3. Did he take classes?
Yes, but my college classes were more about technique and being able to take criticism. I had very little one-on-one work when it came to my novel writing. I went to some writer workshops in my area too, which helped get feedback on my stories. The issue I had was that I was typically the lone fantasy author in the room or the only one striving for a writing career. So, I had to get most of my experience by constant editing and getting feedback from friends. I think I’ve wandered off topic here.
4. I hope he keeps going. Do you think he will? I know sometimes authors burn out. That would suck.
I’ve been plotting ideas and writing stories since I was 15. I’m now 33 and I don’t have any intention of stopping. I figure if I haven’t burnt out yet then it’s not in the cards. Besides, I still have about 39 other series to write after Legends of Windemere. Burning out probably wouldn’t help me with those. 😉
Again, thanks to Erik for asking his questions and taking the time to read and review my book. I hope he enjoys Prodigy of Rainbow Tower and the rest of the series.
Legends of Windemere 
I hope she outs herself in the comments. I wanna throw squirrels….
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I don’t know. She’s a crafty blogger.
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Shady! She sounds shady!
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Does she always talk about herself in the third person?!? lol
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Only when she’s going for the WWE World Championship Title.
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HeeHee!!
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Great questions and really terrific answers. Nicely done! 🙂
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Thanks. I hope this guy enjoys the post.
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Nice! Loved question & answer 4 the most! 🙂
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excellent, really enjoyed this, Charles. I had an idea to write an interview, this might be the prompt I needed as I find it facinating to learn how other writers and artists work, how their mind gets going etc. I might interview myself sometime (that could be fun, Kieran asking questions and Baldy answering them…). It might be a nice project to promote fellow bloggers/writers. Up for it, dear heart? Nothing intrusive, personal stuff can be divulged at the writer’s discretion and all questions can be ignored/omitted from interview at point of posting ~(sent to email for proof reading/editting prior to posting). Just an idea 🙂
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Author interviews are always useful and fun. I do guest blogging myself if you ever want to pick a topic and write one up. I typically ask a question. For example:
You use a lot of various mythologies in your fantasy. Do you have any advice or tricks for authors that want to use established mythologies? Are there dos and donts involved?
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cool and excellent question, i’m going to jot that down and make it my next project, along with a potential interview that I’ll get back to you soon with (probably a couple of days, it took me two days to get back to Bastet, you know how it is with the family and time restraints etc).
How would you like me to contact you with what I come up with? You can send me a tester email to kdavisfanclub@aol.com if you like, I don’t mind my email being out there but I will never give out asnyone else’s.
I have seen this ‘guest blogging’ throughout wordpress whenever I go on a big reading spree, how does that work? Seems a curious and intriguing concept.
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Basically, you write up a blog and e-mail it to me. I post an introduction paragraph with a link to your blog and then your blog post.
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Loved the Q’s and A’s!
And what is this I read? Just 39 more series to write? Oh man…I thought you were doing fifty! 😉
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I merged a few series under one, so it dropped from 50. Though, I could end up doing more at some point. The brain still comes up with new ideas at times.
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Ah well…at least I won’t get bored for the rest of my (sleepless) life 😀
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I have to tell you that reading your answers to the questions was really helpful to me. I was getting kind of down because I hadn’t finished an novel yet and it’s been just under a year. There is still hope for me since you said it took you four…yeah!
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There’s always time for you. Never too late to write a novel.
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I guess I figured since I had been working on for 7 months and hadn’t finished that it was hopeless! Now, I see that it can take longer than that 🙂
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That it does. There are people that take over a decade to finish books.
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My dad kept telling me that, but I thought he was just trying to make me feel better. Or that maybe it was hereditary since he’s been writing his novel for 8 years 🙂
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I can’t believe you did this! I’m kind of lost for words. How many books are going to be in this series? Are there going to be other series that tie into it too? One more week of school and then I get to read the next one. I Still can’t believe this!
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It was fun to answer the questions.
There will be 15 books in Legends of Windemere followed by a book that clears up a supporting character’s storyline. Then I delve into the vampires of Windemere that play a factor in one of the later books of this series.
After that the surviving heroes of Legends of Windemere will make cameos in other series. Most of my series take place in Windemere, so there will be many crossovers. I network a lot of my series with each other.
Hope you really enjoy the second book.
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My professor was the first one to mention this series to me (I see her up there in the comments) but I am surprised I hadn’t heard of it before. I read mostly fantasy. You should be up there on the first page on Amazon.com where people can find you easier. Is there a way to recommend that or does it all have to do with the rank or the publishing?
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It has to do with sales rank. My book came out in late February and spent March and most of April on the Top 100 Epic Fantasy Kindle list. By the end of April, the sales tapered off and I’m just waiting for the sequel to boost it again. Apparently, I’m not allowed to stay on those lists forever just yet.
So, the series is fairly new and has had an amazing debut.
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I’m sorry for so many questions. This is just so cool! Is Luke going to stay the main character throughout all the books or will someone else replace him eventually? I hope I am not bothering you with this.
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Hi Erik. Charles really is great. I’m a fan too. *Cough*
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LC Assignment due tomorrow…just saying
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Hi Miss Martin. I finished it last night. You are my fave professor, you know that right?
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Flattery will get you nowhere in this case but I still appreciate your dishonesty.
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Please share how you pseudonym came to be.
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Which pseudonym?
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Ionia’s-not yours.
Yours is Legend or Superman. Take your pick.
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Hmmm. Can I be Hulk?
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No, that’s Bradley.
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Then I got nothing. Maybe Cyclops from the X-Men. Total boyscout, but the man can pulverize a mountain by looking at it.
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Yeah that sounds good. Hang on. Hasn’t he only got one eye though?
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He has two, but he wears a visor with one opening.
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Me likey!
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I like answering questions. If you don’t get an immediate answer then it just means I’m away from the computer.
Luke is going to be one of the main heroes throughout the series. Others will join him as the story becomes more of an ensemble set of heroes. Still, Luke is always my personal favorite because he was the first one. Also, I played him in a Dungeons & Dragons games for 2 years.
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She is going to give me an F but I forgive her because she’s beautiful. This comment is going to ensure I get an F. It seems like it would be hard to part with a character after being with them for such a long time. I have been playing a character named Byxl in a local rpg enactment group for a couple years and have plans to do something with him as a character in a book later on. I can’t imagine it reading as smoothly as your book does though. When I write I forget that other people don’t know what I know about the characters and have to go back and fill in missed info.
If you don’t mind my asking, why did you decide not to publish this with one of the big publishers? Was it contract issues?
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That’s called editing. Every author does that. If you read my first draft, you’d think I was nuts. 😀
It’s going to be hard to retire Luke, but I’ve accepted that everyone hero needs to have an end to their story. Eventually, they run out of steam and need some closure.
I spent 10 years submitting my book to publishers, but I only got rejection letters. They have limited space and I never made the cut. I was told by a few agents to get a reputation and prove my worth, which led me to this. I will admit that I like have more control over everything. The hardest part is advertising.
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Thank you for answering my questions. I’m sure I will think of more. I guess I better go attend to a certain project now. This was the coolest thing that ever happened to me!
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Good luck on your project.
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Thanks for posting them, as after the feedback I received I felt a bit down! I’ll post it later on in the afternoon! These replies give you hope!
How’s your back?
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My back is doing much better. Thanks for asking.
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Good! You’re welcome!
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