I became a fan of fellow Magic Appreciation Tour novelist Katharina Gerlach after reading her fun 2011 historical fantasy novel, Urchin King. She's just released a new fantasy read called Swordplay and I'm happy to have her tell us a little bit about it. Take it away Katharina!
##
Developing Swordplay
Swordplay sneaked into my life. It started out as a short
idea of a magician examining a sword and entered the world as a short story of
less than 10,000 words. Surprisingly, it was accepted by a small magazine, and
the readers loved it. Some suggested that there was more to the story and that
I should write something longer about the Commissiare Magique (back then, his name was different
from what's in the novel now). Nothing came to mind, so I let the ideas simmer.
I often do that when my Muse (my creative side) refuses to hand me answers
immediately.
Then, one night, I woke up with Moira in my mind. I felt her
desperation when her father left the family, and her determination to join the
Gendarmerie Magique despite her shortcomings in magic-control. I knew I had my
story. Still, it took me another three months of figuring out how all the ideas
my Muse threw at me were connected to each other. When that was done, I settled
down to write. I had planned the novel to come in at 70K words but it ended up
near 90K instead.
That was when I realized something was wrong… not with the
current novel, mind, but with the whole background my Muse had handed me. There
was simply too much for a single novel.
"But I hate series. I hardly ever read them," I
said.
Smug grin from my Muse. She pointed to Wattpad, where I had
shared some of the story with my fans. There, black on white, several of the
readers requested a sequel or two.
"I cannot write a series. I wouldn't know where to
start." I was practically begging, but it was no use. My Muse simply
pointed at the "How to Write a Series" course by Holly Lisle (my
mentor). I gave up. So, here you have it, the first volume of the first ever
series I will write. Volume two and three are currently in the planning stage
and I should start writing late spring or early summer. They'll be somewhat
shorter than the first volume, so I can publish at least one more before the
year is out (yes, writing novels does take that long – plus, I have to
translate them into German too).
About the
Book
CSI with magic but without the
gore
Despite her obvious lack of magical talent, nineteen year old Moira
Bellamie apprentices with the Gendarmerie Magique, the magic police. She puts
all her effort into solving a burglary at the National Museum
where antique weapons have been stolen, to keep the hard won job. Falling for
her partner Druidus wasn't part of the plan. When more and more people are
murdered with one of the stolen weapons, Moira must tame uncontrollable magic,
or the people she cares for will die, her partner first and foremost.
For lovers of Fantasy and
Mystery from 14 years up
other retailers will follow
Paperback in German
or English on Createspace
(Beware: postage), Amazon (no postage) will follow soon and can be found
through the eBook pages
About
Katharina
I’ve been telling and writing stories all my life, but only two year
ago, with the success of eBook publishing, I became an Indie author. I never
looked back. Sure, my manuscripts have found praise with traditional publishers,
but no one had the courage to publish something they couldn’t neatly stuff into
a labeled box.
Well, just like my books, I don’t fit one box. I’m the daughter of a
forester and a studied forester myself. I’m sister to three brothers, and a
mother to three daughters. I’m a tomboy at heart and simultaneously tidy and
chaotic – I can’t be any different with my Muse (the creative part of me)
dragging me in one direction and my Editor (the neat, logical side) pulling in
another.
There are three things in this world I love more than anything: my
family, stories (mine and those of others) and nature. The best thing that can
happen to me is when someone I don’t know leaves a review for one of my books
telling me how much (s)he liked it.
##
Thanks Katharina!
No comments:
Post a Comment