Today the Mieradome Blog Tour is stopping here! Kate Hegarty was kind enough to answer some questions about her debut novel.
Can you tell us about your new novel, Mieradome?
Mieradome is ‘like a twisted Alice in Wonderland’, about a young faerie girl Amavia who is on a search of self-discovery. The book is essentially about good and evil and how that can sometimes over take us. It is also about the duality of our internal natures, the yin & yang. For Mieradome, I had a dream about a girl in a bedroom looking out her window where a bright light zips past her ear and out into the dark of night. That little light ended up disappearing into a large oak tree. The dream made me wonder why that light would go in the tree, what the tree was hiding, and what the little light actually was. So in essence, I just expanded on the small idea I had and built a world around that.
How did you come up with the idea for the novel?
I explain that question at this video on youtube! : )
Mieradome is the first in a series. Can you tell us where the series will take us?
The series will take you all across the kingdoms of Mieradome in search of Amavia, the main character of the story’s, history and destiny. The other characters you meet paint a picture of her, sometimes happy, sometimes a little evil. In the end the book is about how we are defined. Do others define who we really are, or do we define ourselves. Or, perhaps, a bit of both.
Mieradome is your debut novel. How was your route to publication?
I originally sent this manuscript off to agents. They all liked it and said the writing was good, but that it didn’t quite ‘fit their lists at that time’. I knew that it wouldn’t ever find its place if I didn’t find the place for it. I just knew this was a good story that needed to be told and so I jumped into the deep end of the pool and worked very hard to make a great final product for you all to read. It took a lot of research and work; on the part of myself, my sister Shannon of Scotty Girl Designs (who designed the cover), to Shannon LC Cate (who edited the book), to Vania Stoyanova (who created Mieradome’s book trailer & did my author photos). In the end, I think we were very successful!
What was most surprising to you during the writing process? And the publication process?
The surprising part of the publication process was where the story ended! I stopped it originally where Amavia flies out of the bedroom with Ami Dar’ya, and that was the end. I didn’t have any thoughts beyond that. But then after thinking about it, I didn’t like how that ended. There were way too many loose ends. So I started writing and characters like Captain Mielseki, Sasha & Walji Tookie, and Jenie Eiram came from that. I then went back and put them in places at the beginning of the book, so you saw them but probably didn’t notice them too much until later in the book.
Have you always wanted to be an author?
Oh yes! I have always wanted to be an author. It’s my life’s passion. I became interested in being a writer when I was really little. I would tell stories to my gal friends at recess and that was a big success. We even did little plays about the stories I made up. I would tell the story and my friends would each be a character and then dramatically fall on the grass on the track or spin around the money bars.
Tell us about how you write; do you write in a particular place? Do you have any music playing? Do you have any must-haves with you while writing?
I honestly can’t have music playing when I write, especially if it has lyrics, because then I find myself rocking out to the song rather than working on the writing! I do however listen to music to get into a certain mood to help with the writing. I find sombre songs for sad scenes; adventures orchestra numbers for fight scenes. On where I write, generally on my laptop sitting in a comfy chair, beyond that I write freehand on any loose scrap of paper I can find. I have a gazillion chapters and notes on napkins, recycled paper, etc.
You are very widely travelled. Have you found this has had an effect on your writing?
I am very lucky to have travelled as much as I have! The reason we travelled so much was that my mum hated my sister Shannon and I to hang around the house during the summer. So, she decided we all had to get up and go someplace. That’s how it all started. And yes, the travelling does affect my writing. In Turkey we went to this out of the way carpet shop where the craftsmanship is amazing. They do everything by loom and by hand. My parents ended up buying a small one (it was the best they could afford and be able to have room in their luggage to take home.) We had this sweet honey tea that I still remember. It is moments like that that stick out for me and work their way into my story. Travelling is a great way to explore and investigate and get inspired.
Thank you, Kate, for answering my questions! Be sure to check out Kate's website. You can buy Mieradome on Amazon UK and Amazon US.
Can you tell us about your new novel, Mieradome?Mieradome is ‘like a twisted Alice in Wonderland’, about a young faerie girl Amavia who is on a search of self-discovery. The book is essentially about good and evil and how that can sometimes over take us. It is also about the duality of our internal natures, the yin & yang. For Mieradome, I had a dream about a girl in a bedroom looking out her window where a bright light zips past her ear and out into the dark of night. That little light ended up disappearing into a large oak tree. The dream made me wonder why that light would go in the tree, what the tree was hiding, and what the little light actually was. So in essence, I just expanded on the small idea I had and built a world around that.
How did you come up with the idea for the novel?
I explain that question at this video on youtube! : )
Mieradome is the first in a series. Can you tell us where the series will take us?
The series will take you all across the kingdoms of Mieradome in search of Amavia, the main character of the story’s, history and destiny. The other characters you meet paint a picture of her, sometimes happy, sometimes a little evil. In the end the book is about how we are defined. Do others define who we really are, or do we define ourselves. Or, perhaps, a bit of both.
Mieradome is your debut novel. How was your route to publication?
I originally sent this manuscript off to agents. They all liked it and said the writing was good, but that it didn’t quite ‘fit their lists at that time’. I knew that it wouldn’t ever find its place if I didn’t find the place for it. I just knew this was a good story that needed to be told and so I jumped into the deep end of the pool and worked very hard to make a great final product for you all to read. It took a lot of research and work; on the part of myself, my sister Shannon of Scotty Girl Designs (who designed the cover), to Shannon LC Cate (who edited the book), to Vania Stoyanova (who created Mieradome’s book trailer & did my author photos). In the end, I think we were very successful!
What was most surprising to you during the writing process? And the publication process?The surprising part of the publication process was where the story ended! I stopped it originally where Amavia flies out of the bedroom with Ami Dar’ya, and that was the end. I didn’t have any thoughts beyond that. But then after thinking about it, I didn’t like how that ended. There were way too many loose ends. So I started writing and characters like Captain Mielseki, Sasha & Walji Tookie, and Jenie Eiram came from that. I then went back and put them in places at the beginning of the book, so you saw them but probably didn’t notice them too much until later in the book.
Have you always wanted to be an author?
Oh yes! I have always wanted to be an author. It’s my life’s passion. I became interested in being a writer when I was really little. I would tell stories to my gal friends at recess and that was a big success. We even did little plays about the stories I made up. I would tell the story and my friends would each be a character and then dramatically fall on the grass on the track or spin around the money bars.
Tell us about how you write; do you write in a particular place? Do you have any music playing? Do you have any must-haves with you while writing?
I honestly can’t have music playing when I write, especially if it has lyrics, because then I find myself rocking out to the song rather than working on the writing! I do however listen to music to get into a certain mood to help with the writing. I find sombre songs for sad scenes; adventures orchestra numbers for fight scenes. On where I write, generally on my laptop sitting in a comfy chair, beyond that I write freehand on any loose scrap of paper I can find. I have a gazillion chapters and notes on napkins, recycled paper, etc.
You are very widely travelled. Have you found this has had an effect on your writing?
I am very lucky to have travelled as much as I have! The reason we travelled so much was that my mum hated my sister Shannon and I to hang around the house during the summer. So, she decided we all had to get up and go someplace. That’s how it all started. And yes, the travelling does affect my writing. In Turkey we went to this out of the way carpet shop where the craftsmanship is amazing. They do everything by loom and by hand. My parents ended up buying a small one (it was the best they could afford and be able to have room in their luggage to take home.) We had this sweet honey tea that I still remember. It is moments like that that stick out for me and work their way into my story. Travelling is a great way to explore and investigate and get inspired.
Thank you, Kate, for answering my questions! Be sure to check out Kate's website. You can buy Mieradome on Amazon UK and Amazon US.
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