Today I'm interviewing UKYA author Laure Eve whose debut YA novel, Fearsom Dreamer by Laure Eve, is being published by Hot Key Books in the UK on 3rd October 2013. Read on for more:
Fearsom Dreamer by Laure Eve - There is a world where gods you’ve never heard of have wound themselves into hearts, and choice has led its history down a different path.
This is a world where France made a small, downtrodden island called England part of its vast and bloated empire.
There are people here who can cross a thousand miles with their minds. There are rarer people still who can move between continents in the blink of an eye.
These people are dangerous.
And wanted. Desperately wanted.
Apprentice hedgewitch Vela Rue knows that she is destined for more. She knows being whisked off from a dull country life to a city full of mystery and intrigue is meant to be. She knows she has something her government wants, a talent so rare and precious and new that they will do anything to train her in it.
But she doesn’t know that she is being lied to. She doesn’t know that the man teaching her about her talent is becoming obsessed by her, and considered by some to be the most dangerous man alive... from Goodreads.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m a French/British/Cornish hybrid. I heart Gary Oldman, making up worlds, the writing of Stephen King, and the comedy of Eddie Izzard and Terry Pratchett. My favourite ice-cream is Haagen Dazs cookie dough. If you gave me a pot of this, I would declare my love for you. In front of everyone. Fair warning.
Have you always wanted to be an author?
I’ve always wanted desperately to live in other worlds, wander through other places, be other people. Oh, let me count the ways this has manifested – reading, drawing and painting, acting, dance, an obsession with films, and writing.
So yes, I’d say I have.
How did you come up with the idea for Fearsome Dreamer?
A dream. Before you peer at me with a meaningfully raised brow, let me say that as a child, I used to wish that I could live in my dreams instead of real life, because they were so much more interesting. I love, love, love my dreams. Even the horrible ones. So the idea that your dreams could actually be taking you to real places seemed a very natural one to me.
If you could describe Fearsome Dreamer in three words, what would they be?
Passionate dreamy fantasy.
Why will readers like your main character, Vela Rue?
She desires and yearns, and doesn’t understand apathy. She throws herself into situations and emotions and hasn’t yet learned how to hold back. She is utterly convinced she’s special, just like a lot of us thought we were as teens. She makes mistakes. She can be selfish, and ignorant. But she doesn’t want to be. She wants to be better.
What research did you have to do for Fearsome Dreamer? Was there anything you found that surprised you?
Very little research, if I’m honest. I did a little work on imagining an alternative world map so I could be clear, at least in my own head, how different alliances and nations have formed in Fearsome Dreamer’s version of things.
The places in Angle Tar are references to real British places – Rue’s village, Tregenna, is a reference to a place in Cornwall. Parisette is the London of this alternative England.
Everything else is the product of my overactive imagination.
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 write on the tube. I know. But there’s something oddly helpful about writing surrounded by moving and talking and the hum of people. I suppose for the same reason lots of people write in coffee shops.
I also work full time, so the tube commute is one of those times of the day I can squeeze my writing into.
What was most surprising to you during the writing process?
That jolt between thinking that you’ll never make sense of this large mess of crapula you’ve written and that your plot holes are like gaping chasms into the Land of Despair – and then that sudden feeling of ‘OH!’ when everything clicks into place, and you realise your subsconscious has been working quietly alongside you this whole time with a smug little smile on its face.
Also the moments where a character seemingly decides on its own that it’s much more interesting than you previously thought, and demands to have more scenes, and you have this Dr. Frankenstein horror moment of ‘dear god, what have I created? It’s aliiiiive.’
How does it feel to know your book will soon be in the hands of readers?
It feels like this:
Anything else you would like to add?
You know what? I’m excited. Really, really excited. Aside from the gut wrenching terror of inviting people in to critique your brain and your soul by forming them into a book that everyone can read – well, I want people to read it. Otherwise I would have hidden it under the bed and kept it just for me. And I feel lucky.
Thank you, Laure, for such a great interview! I am so intrigued by this book! What is this talent Vela Rue has? And what is happening in this alternate UK/France? So intrigued! You can find Laure on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and on Goodreads.
Great interview! Looks like a great book to read. I can't wait to read this one myself!
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