Tara is yet another talented author that responded to my call for authors to interview. Be sure to visit her website: taraingham.com
What
inspires your writing?
I
find inspiration in a lot of things. Sometimes it starts as a
daydream, or an actual dream. Sometimes I just have a sentence in my
head and the story grows from there. In the case of my Once
I series,
it started with my frustration that so often characters will be
‘shy’, but that personality trait will vanish within a matter of
chapters. So, I wanted to write a character who was shy/socially
awkward and remained that way.
In
the greater scheme I’d say I’m inspired by everything and anything.
Someone can say something and it’ll give me an idea for a scene, my
pets will be playing and inspire a character, I’ll see a picture and
it will inspire the setting. There is no single thing that creates
inspiration, it is simply the world around me, and can come in any
form, at any moment.
What
is your process of developing characters?
I
develop different characters in different ways, depending on who they
are, their importance in the book etc. I’m not sure if you’d have
heard of 2D and 3D characters before, but the basic idea is a 2D
character is a background character, an extra. They might say a few
lines, interact with your main characters from time to time, but all
in all they’re unimportant, so their development is only done on a
surface level – what do they look like? Do they have specific vocal
trends? Where do they reside? You don’t know anything more about
their background and family than what is visible immediately. For
these, I usually create them as I need them, and keep a rough record
of where they are in case I need them again, but little more.
A
3D character is a primary character. Not necessarily a main, but
present, important to a degree. These are the characters that are
developed, the ones with pasts and personalities, the ones who have
nightmares because when they were ten years old they saw an old man
hit by a car. These are the characters who are real.
For my 3D characters I will mostly know the 2D details about them
from the start and build out from there. For my main characters in
particular, I will either figure out what they look like or what they
do for work, and then go, ‘okay, so this is your basics, this is the
story, this is what needs to happen in the story, so who are you?
What made you this way? Why?’
I
ask the questions to figure out the bones of their past, but they
still surprise me sometimes, and usually grow to be more solid the
longer they’re present in the story. That’s how you really learn the
details of a person, by things they say, memories they bring up.
Sometimes, even as the writer, you don’t know things about your
characters until you write it, maybe two or three books into a
series, but the moment you do, you know it’s right. You know that
this thing you didn’t realize about them is indelibly a part of who
they are.
Then
of course, there’s the actual ‘character development’ that occurs in
the course of the story. For that I usually do a bit of research. If
a character goes through a trauma I’ll look at the different ways
people react to certain traumas, what the recovery process is, stuff
like that, but I also consider my individual characters and who they
are as people, whether they’re easily affected by certain things, how
easily influenced they are. I think a lot of successfully developing
your characters in a reactive sense is understanding people and how
different personalities tick. People watching can be great for
figuring that out.
Did
you Start with a story outline or did you make it up as you went
along?
I
am a notorious pantser! Every story I have ever written has had the
barest of bare bones planning to begin with. Hell, the first trilogy
I ever wrote (unpublished) started from a single sentence playing
through my mind. So I usually start with nothing, or near to, and
make it up on the fly, but if I’m writing a series I usually have a
pretty good idea of the plot by book 2, and not just for the second
book, but the entire series. That’s when I actually start outlining
and figuring out key scenes.
That
being said, I write in sequence, so, start to finish. That’s not how
all writers work, so for me I can do that. I’m able to let the story
develop as it wants to because I haven’t written the ending yet, so I
have a lot more flexibility to change the plot and themes as I go
than someone who outlines the entire story from the get-go.
How
much research did you need for your story?
It’s
hard to say, really. I don’t tend to do my research before I start, I
do it on an as-need basis. But given my Once
I books
are set in a mostly urban, real-world setting, I didn’t have to do
too much beyond the foundations. I created my revenants (the primary
species in my novel) entirely based on the role I wanted them to
play, so beyond researching to confirm the word ‘revenant’ actually
fit what I was making, that was all the research I really did for
that. Otherwise it was little things here and there: What kind of car
do police drive in this city? What does the inside of a morgue look
like? What’s the difference between a druid and a magician? Street
map of XYZ town? Nothing too in depth. There is a degree of freedom
in working within a world you know and understand.
All
that being said, for my current work in progress, I am having to
research everything! I’ve moved into a medieval setting for my new
series, and as such there’s all sorts of ancient technologies I don’t
understand, and all sorts of things I never considered, like the
practicality of torches Vs candles. Stuff like that.
What
researching methods did you use?
I
am a google nut. I google everything, cross check my sources with
other sources and take as many notes and screen grabs as I can. When
I can’t find what I need on the internet (yes, that does happen) I
hit up the local library, or check the handful of guides and
encyclopedias I have at home. And if all else fails, I either look
for experts to ask, ask other writers, or I just make it up.
What
were some of your methods for handling worldbuilding?
World
building is HARD. No two ways about it. It is a difficult process, a
raging headache and a pain in the butt. When I’m working in an urban
setting it’s easier because I can refer to real world maps, or google
real world examples of settings, real world cultures and languages.
It certainly makes it less daunting. But when I’m working in a
‘fantasy’ setting, that’s when things get tricky. The first thing I
usually do is sit down and draw a rough map, that way I can figure
out where I
am. I’ll usually just sketch a random shape, put in some boundaries,
close my eyes and jab at a random spot, and that’s where my story
starts. From there, I’ll give each realm etc. a name that I pull out
of thin air that sort of sounds like it matches the rest. After that,
it’s a case of figuring out the needs the story has for the setting.
So I consider what the people are like, what their culture is like
and create an urban structure that reflects that (barbarians in
caves, monarchs in stone castles, warrior clans in small clay huts
etc.). I take a bit of time to figure out which borders are friendly,
which are hostile, how much of the world my characters know about and
have interacted with.
These
sort of things determine how much I develop realms/kingdoms etc.
outside of my primary setting.
I
also consider languages and whether they all speak a single language
or if there are multiple spoken, whether I need to actually create
these languages (which is another raging headache), or whether I can
just glaze over them.
Another
thing I try to figure out is how this world came to be, and what
their beliefs and legends around this are. Oftentimes the history of
the world determines the theology – religious beliefs – and so it’s
pretty important to understand in terms of determining your
characters’ morals etc.
Did
you draw on personal experience?
I
try not to rely too heavily on my personal experience, but for some
things, yes, I did and do. For example, my main character in my Once
I series
has anxiety, is socially awkward, and that is something I know very
well. That is my life experience. I am an awkward person, an
introvert, generally uncomfortable, so it was easier to write those
traits in her if I considered my experience with them. Outside of
that, writing fantasy does make drawing on personal experience a bit
tricky at times, especially when your characters interpersonal
relationships and personal experiences are so vastly different from
your own.
How
did your publish?
In
this instance I accepted a contribution based contract with a
publishing house (not quite self-publishing, not quite traditional
either).
Why
did you do it that way?
I
chose to go the route of a contribution based contract purely because
I am way too busy to self publish. There’s a lot of running around
involved in getting a book ready to publish.
I’m
currently looking for an agent for my new series, so if that pans out
my next series should be traditionally published.
How
long did it take to land representation?
That
depends on if we’re talking from the early days of my first series or
just for my Once
I series.
From my earliest attempts at being published, I’d say about 5-6
years, from the time I started looking at the Once
I series
being published, around 6 months to a year. I wasn’t in any
particular rush, and being a contribution based situation it didn’t
take as long as it could have.
I’ve
only just started looking for reps for my new series this month, so
it will be interesting to see how long it takes actively looking for
a traditional publisher.
Who
did your cover and marketing?
My
cover was created by my publisher, so I’m not exactly sure of the
name of the person who did it.
As
for marketing, my publisher does some, they provide my marketing
materials and share news about my book, but I also do a lot myself.
What
are some of the methods you have used to generate interest in your
book?
I
have a couple of social media pages and I have my website, so in
terms of passively generating interest, I’ve found those useful,
especially since I offer free shorts not included in my books on my
website. Outside of that, I had a book launch, contact a few local
papers and let them know I was publishing, I’m in contact with my
local libraries and they invite me to attend events from time to
time.
The
method I’ve found to be most useful, however, is actually attending
conventions and writers events. These sort of things put you in
contact with people who would never likely have a way to hear of you
or your work, and gives them the opportunity to actually buy your
books on the day. So a lot of my readers have come from events like
that, and because they read and enjoy the books, they tell people
about them, and so on so forth.
Did
you use beta readers? How did you secure them?
I
have a couple of friends who I have beta read for me. I know a lot of
people don’t think having your friends beta read is a good idea, but
in this instance my friends are avid readers and brutally honest in
their feedback, so I can trust them pretty well.
What
was the process you used to develop your magic system and how your
characters use it?
I
basically set out a set of rules for how magic is generated and the
things it can do. I also set out a pretty strict set of rules for how
it can’t be used.
It’s
very easy to just shout ‘magic’ when you’re struggling to come up
with a solution, which is why limitations are important. Also, it
would be pretty ridiculous if your characters seemed to have
limitless abilities and then turned around with ‘oh no, whatever will
we do’ for something the examples of magic seem to have been created
to solve, so yeah. I set up rules about what can and can’t be done,
the reason certain people might have magic while others don’t, and
how it affects the person and whether it can be detected.
How
many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?
I
usually do about 5-7 revisions and edits myself before sending it to
my beta readers, then another 2 or 3 after I get it back from them.
After that I’m usually comfortable submitting and the editors usually
go through another 2 or 3 sets of revisions before we’re all happy to
go ahead.
It
can be hard to give the go ahead, though, because there’s always
going be something missed, something you’re not entirely happy with,
but it’s one of those things where you need to be willing to let go
eventually.
What
aspect of the book writing process did you find the most challenging?
It’s
somewhere between the editing and accepting feedback. I don’t know,
like, writing is hard, don’t get me wrong, but enjoyable. Editing,
well it can be tedious, especially when you’ve read your book a dozen
times and just want to look at something new, but then, I prefer that
to seeing the harsher things some people have to say. There’s always
the ones where you just roll your eyes because their ‘feedback’
demonstrates quite clearly that they haven’t actually read it, but
the ones where they pick out certain things, especially when they’re
things you’re already uneasy about, they’re hard. It takes the edge
off a bit when they behave constructively, balance criticism with
encouragement, but the ones who just spit acid and seem to give
‘feedback’ simply because they want to beat you down, that can be
hard to swallow.
What
are you writing now?
Well,
the third novel in the Once
I series
is currently in production and coming out in 202, but my current WIP
is a sword and sorcery style high fantasy. I’m not really willing to
share too much at this point, but it’s going to be 5 books, bring
across inspiration from one specific character in my Once
I series
(yes, all of my stories are linked in some way or another, even when
they’re on different planets), and it is an entirely different tone
to Once
I.
What
is your advice to other writers?
Keep
on writing! It can be really bloody hard, the learning, the
criticism, the whole bit, You’ll lose confidence in yourself, then
gain in back, think your work is the best then the worst. Remember,
none of that actually matters. If you write for the love of telling
the story, that’s what matters.
Something
I always tell people when they say they want to be a writer is simply
this: It is the duty of the writer to take reality and translate it
into a context that everyone can understand.
So keep on taking reality and translating it for the world to read.