This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria
1- What does it take for a notebook to be great, to be worthy of planning your novel?
I’m one of those writers with a huge stash of unused notebooks. Most of them have something cute or nerdy on the cover, but after years of collecting them, I have quite a range now of every notebook type imaginable. And strangely enough, it’s usually just what I grab first.
2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?
Start with an idea you love. Almost everything else—character, plot, worldbuilding—can be fixed through edits. But you need to start with that gripping idea.
3- What most motivates you to read a new book?
As per the above, it’s usually something enticing in the description that grabs me. Whether that’s an interesting magic system, or a unique character, or even an idea framed in a way I hadn’t thought about it before, I usually choose what to read next based on finding a hook that grabs me and won’t let me go.
4- Which of Jacques de Vaucanson's automatons is your favorite?
I have never heard of these things. Thank you so much for introducing them to me! I’m not going to lie: I kind of like the Digesting Duck.
5- Would you share a picture with us of your book with the dolls you crocheted of your characters?
Absolutely! Here is Karis and Alix with This Golden Flame.
6- How could someone celebrate the magic of friendship this month?
These are weird times, and I know for a lot of us, friends feel farther away than they usually do. So, I would say just connect. You don’t need to organize something big or make a bit deal out of it. Friendships are built in the little times as much as the big times.
7- What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?
My twitter handle is @avictoriantale and I’m going to shout out to @alexandraovery and @ByEllieM !
8- Do you have a favorite #bookstagram image or account/ profile?
There are so many of these that I love. It was a writer’s dream of mine to one day see my book featured in a bookstagram, and I’m just so thankful to all of the bookstagrammers who have picked it up. I will say that I do really enjoy the pictures that fictionfare posts. @fictionfare
9- Are you a Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser, and how did you adopt that style?
I am a hardcore plotter. I adopted it because I tried pantsing and it just didn’t fit me. My first drafts were so rough there wasn’t much salvageable when I tried pantsing. I just couldn’t hold everything that I needed to in my head without an outline.
So nowadays I play to my strengths. I’m a visual person so typically I’ll outline using cue cards so that I can lay them all out and see the overall structure of my novel. Plus, I really like having my pile of highlighters to color code the cards and make them pretty.
10- What does your basic writing schedule look like, and how often do you write?
I don’t necessarily write every day, but when I do I like having a solid chunk of time set aside. I don’t do particularly well when I can only steal ten or so minutes at a time. Rather I like being able to settle down for a long stretch and really dive into it.
11- What is your favorite book by someone else, what's the author's Twitter handle, and what do you love most about that book? #FridayReads book recommendation time!
Author name: Lyla Lee @literarylyla
Title: I’ll Be the One
Love because: This book is just so upbeat and fun and body positive. I love the main character, Skye, so much. She knows who she is and knows what she wants, and she chases her dreams with so much fierceness!
12- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?
More than anything, I hope that they’ll feel the journey alongside the characters. That they’ll empathize when the characters are sad, and celebrate when the characters are happy. That’s all I can ask as an author.
13- What kind of impact do you hope your book will have?
My book is really about finding yourself and finding hope. So I hope that it will show readers that all of us together really can change the world. And that we’re so powerful when we’re true to ourselves.
14- What is your favorite creative non-writing activity to do?
I’m a big crafter, and I’ve gotten into felting and cross-stitching lately, but I will say that my favorite is probably still crochet. I find it very relaxing to do and I love the wide range of projects that you can tackle.
15- In what ways are the main characters in your book diverse? diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks
My book features an #ownvoices aroace main character. It also has an mlm relationship, a nonbinary character who uses they/them pronouns, and a character with a visual impairment.
16- What method do you feel is the best way to get book reviews?
I feel that a lot of my book reviews came thanks to the wonderful team at Inkyard and their amazing efforts. That being said, just getting my book out there on social media and letting people know that ARCs are available on Netgalley seems to have worked.
17- What was the deciding factor in your publication route?
A couple of factors went into this. I knew I wanted an agent, someone who would be there even when I was between projects or between editors. Someone who I knew would always be in my corner. I also love libraries, and it’s my dream to see my book in libraries all over the world, which I think is a bit easier if you go the traditional route.
18- What's the biggest writing goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?
I would love to have a long-term sustainable writing career. It doesn’t have to be flashy or anything. I just want to be able to keep writing and to keep sharing my work.
19- Would you please ask our audience a question to answer in the comments?
What 2021 book release are you really looking forward to?
20- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?
Bio
I am a Canadian prairie girl who writes young adult science fiction and fantasy. When not word-smithing, I like walking my over-excitable dog, drinking far too much tea, and crocheting things I no longer have the space to store.
Blurb
Orphaned and forced to serve her country’s ruling group of scribes, Karis wants nothing more than to find her brother, long ago shipped away. But family bonds don’t matter to the Scriptorium, whose sole focus is unlocking the magic of an ancient automaton army.
In her search for her brother, Karis does the seemingly impossible—she awakens a hidden automaton. Intelligent, with a conscience of his own, Alix has no idea why he was made. Or why his father—their nation’s greatest traitor—once tried to destroy the automatons.
Suddenly, the Scriptorium isn’t just trying to control Karis; it’s hunting her. Together with Alix, Karis must find her brother…and the secret that’s held her country in its power for centuries.
Social Media Links
Twitter: @avictoriantale
Instagram: @avictoriantale
Website: http://avictoriantale.com
This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria
2 comments:
It's so true about starting to write a story based on an idea that you love. That's how I normally do my best writing, when I start with an idea I'm really enthused about. I'll write out the events that are inspired by that idea and then I go back and take care of the other things such as character development, structure and plausibility, etc.
I agree with needing a good idea too. That's something I've come to learn over several novels, and now I think harder about that before I start writing something new. I'm excited for Becky Albertalli’s Kate in Waiting.
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