Currently I have a day job at a major research university as a Program's Manager. While the work is rewarding, my first love is writing. I get so wrapped up in it sometimes that I lose all track of time. Creating characters and a storyline out of your imagination is food for my soul. The characters take on a life of their own and all you can do is hang on for the ride. It's especially thrilling when a minor character demands to be heard. You know that niggling little voice in your head that keeps repeating "What would so-and-so say or do?" In Quest for Nobility Eclair Jortac was one of those characters and as the storyline developed, he ended up being an integral part of it.
How long have you been writing and how did you get to this point in your career?
My love of writing started back when I was in high school [quite a few years ago now]. I had an English teacher who had a knack for teaching that inspired you to write better and better stories. Years later, I tackled my first novel when I was going through a difficult period in my life. It was my way of dealing with everything happening at the time. That manuscript still sits in a dusty drawer somewhere, but at least I can say I wrote a complete novel.
About four years ago, my co-author, David W Small, and I were looking for new books to read. We like the same kinds of books and often swap books back and forth. That day every book either one of us suggested, we had already read, or was too familiar to what we had read recently. We left the bookstore without any purchases which was very unusual for us.
Both Dave and I were frustrated at the lack of anything in the SF/fantasy section that wasn't the usual dragons, elves or magicians. We thought, what the heck, we can write something we want to read and so the partnership was born. It took us two years of writing, editing, more writing and more editing to finally declare Quest for Nobility fit to be read by others. We live on opposite coasts so writing together was a bit challenging. With email, Instant Messenger and Skype, we were able to keep on track with the book.
I have a keen interest in dark fiction. Tell me how you would classify this book and what’s dark about it?
I don't think Quest could be classified as dark fiction, but we have a deliciously evil assassin, Nils that is definitely dark. Nils is a step above your usual assassin because he's also a powerful telekinetic which makes it virtually impossible for any target to escape him. He will find you. Nils doesn't kill swiftly. He relishes the kill, gets a high off the victim's struggles and final death throes. And let's not forget that we have a master manipulator pulling the strings throughout the novel to attain his own selfish goals. Both of these characters would definitely qualify as dark fiction.
Sometimes we have to be ruthless in writing/editing. We cut scenes, eliminate characters or even kill them off. Tell me what was the hardest of these in this book.
At the beginning of Quest we kill off two major characters. These murders drive the story forward and sets the stage for what happens to royal twins, Darius and Dyla Telkur. It's definitely not a happy beginning to the book, but it was absolutely necessary to the storyline.
This blog is called Random Musings, so give me a random quote from the book – something you’re particularly fond of.
I think I'd have to pick something from Nils, a man of few words.
"I have a suspicion all of you will still be a problem, dead or not."
What can we expect from you next?The second book in the same series, The Crystal Façade is now available for sale. This book continues the story of Darius and Dyla Telkur and Eclair Jortac.
We are now concentrating on a new fantasy novel. This one involves an assassin [we do we love these characters], a witch, a noble house and of course, a long lost prophesy. We hope to have this book finished by 2011.
Where can we find you on the internet?
We have our author site which includes all of our writing plus some free samples at:
I blog at http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com
Twitter at http://twitter.com/dlmartin6
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/debra.l.martin
And of course, you can always find me commenting on the Kindleboards and Goodreads.
Any final comments or thoughts?
I want to thank you David for giving me the opportunity to showcase some of our work. Writing a book is definitely hard, but getting the word out to readers is crucial. I appreciate you helping out a fellow author.
Wow, Debra, working with a co-author so far away must be such an interesting challenge! Glad to see that you’ve worked so well together that you’ve put out multiple books!
Thanks for dropping in for the interview and best of luck with the series!!
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