Don't you just love the excitement behind the release of a new book? Today's author is only a couple of months away from the premiere of her book, Spellbound by Fire! Inviting us to share in her excitement, (and inviting us to learn a bit about the book, too), here is the wonderful Lavinia Thompson!!!
LC: Hi Lavinia! I'm so thrilled to have you here today! Can you give us a brief synopsis of your upcoming book, (as well as its genre)?
LT: Spellbound by Fire is the first of a dark fantasy trilogy. It is about a young witch named Janey who, in one day, loses everything she has ever known when she and her aunt Olivia are arrested and tortured by witch hunters, known in the country of Nevermore as the Black Guards. Janey watches as the aunt who raised her is burned alive before her eyes. Following the devastating loss, Janey has to learn to fend for herself. Soon, she is helping rescue tortured witches from the infamous Warbeck prison and learning the truth behind her own past from Jill, an old friend of her aunt’s. Janey discovers the legacy her aunt left in helping create the series of underground tunnels and portals that saves the lives of women and children everyday right under the noses of the Black Guards. Through the agony of torture and bloodshed she is shown the humanity of love and kindness; how it is the key to breaking the cycles of hatred and violence. Even in Billy Eagle, the man she loves, there is a child who never got to grow up, his own innocence shattered after witnessing the death of his mother as a seven year old. They both find themselves stranded, with only each other to count on in spite of their reckless flaws.
LC: Wow...sounds both intense and poignant. So, have you always known that you wanted to be an author? When did you realize that you wanted to write?
LT: I have been writing since I could form words with pen and paper. I don’t remember when exactly I started writing; I just know I have always done it and it has always been as vital to me as breathing. I never knew exactly what I wanted to write; Spellbound used to be the world I escaped into, it was never really something I was serious about developing and publishing until about 2009 when some fellow writer friends encouraged and helped me to do so.
LC: I've said it before, and I'll say it again...fellow writers are FANTASTIC!! So, what, would you say, has been your greatest triumph as an author?
LT: I was told when I was a teenager and dreaming of being a published author that I’d never get anywhere with writing, that it was a waste of time and that I should go into something like nursing because “that’s where the money is.” Spellbound in some aspects is pieces of my childhood, having persevered over domestic violence that was in my own life. I was told by such abuser that my life would amount to nothing. I consider my greatest triumph as an author to be not only getting published, but publishing something that has a timeless message. Writing is my voice that was silenced for a long time. That voice gets to be heard now and to me, that is the best victory of all.
LC: Good for you! That's awesome! It seems that you have a strength which will likely end up being inspirational to many. Alright, just for fun.... If you were stuck on a desert island with one of your characters, who would you want it to be, and why?
LT: Billy Eagle. He is a pirate, so being stuck on a desert island would be nothing to him and he’s a survivor. With him there’s a good chance we’d make it off that island or at least survive for a long time.
LC: Hmm, stuck on a desert island with a pirate? I'm gonna say, "excellent choice!" Alright, while we're talking about exotic islands and whatnot, where is the most exotic or strange place you've ever traveled to?
LT: I’ve never been out of Canada but in 2010 I traveled to Ottawa. It was the first trip I ever made on my own but I so wanted to see the Queen of England for the Canada Day celebration on July 1. So I went to Ottawa on my own. It was the greatest experience of my life. It was a brief trip, but I discovered a bit about myself there. I met a couple of British girls there and we hung out for the day. It was so much fun!
LC: That sounds like a total blast! If you've read any of the Authorpalooza interviews so far, you know that I have a couple of movie questions. First of all, what is your favorite movie of all time, and why?
LT: The Pirates of the Caribbean series…the first one is still my favourite. I’m a huge Johnny Depp fan. Pirates and witches always fascinated me too; they’re the outcasts of society. Pirates just ran rampant and did whatever they wanted but with a strange code of ethics. They had their own world, their own laws and their own way of doing things. I’ve always been an outcast too so I guess I relate to them in that way. And who can resist Captain Jack Sparrow, really?
LC: Hello? Right! How can you not love Captain Jack? (You'd soooo fit in at my house. We turn the whole front of the house into a pirate ship on Halloween and play the "Pirates" soundtracks! I'm hoping to have the "candy canon" up and running this year, so we can shoot treats off the balcony.) Okay, flick question #2.... If a big-shot Hollywood producer offered to turn Spellbound by Fire into a motion picture, who would you want to play the lead roles?
LT: I’d love it if Johnny Depp played Billy. (Not hinting or anything, Johnny…) As for Janey, I’m not really sure.
LT: I’d love it if Johnny Depp played Billy. (Not hinting or anything, Johnny…) As for Janey, I’m not really sure.
LC: *pause* Oo! Sorry...it's just the way you put that...It made me wonder if Johnny Depp actually reads my blog. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that he must! (Feel free to leave comments, Mr. J.C. Depp!) :o) Anyway, back to the interview. Do you have any strange habits or rituals when you write?
LT: I am a nocturnal writer. I can stay up all hours of the night and write. I always have a bag of Doritos beside me to snack on and a pot of coffee on. Music is vital when I write. I have a playlist on my laptop’s music player just for Spellbound. Making a music playlist is one of the first things I do when I start a book. I’ll have my headphones on and the rest of the world is gone. When I lived at home my mother would burst into my room (normally during a torture scene) just because she knew she would startle me when I was lost in writing.
LC: Eek! Thanks for the heart attack, mom! So what do you like to do when you're not writing?
LT: I love going to the beach and spending time with my fiancé. He’s a musician/songwriter, so having another creative mind around is brilliant. We bounce ideas off each other all the time and he has given me some awesome ideas for the Spellbound series. I work to pay the bills, cleaning hotel rooms. I love to read as well.
LC: Well, Lavinia, we've reached the end of the interview. I hope you'll come back in a few months, (when your publisher will let you do a little giveaway, buah ha ha), and let us know how things are going with your release. Last, but not least, why don't you take a second and SELL IT! Tell us why we would LOVE Spellbound!
LT: Spellbound is not just a dark fantasy. It explores the depths of violence against women and children in society and how the cycles of such violence can impact generations to come. Spellbound by Fire is told from Janey’s perspective, the female point of view so to speak. Spellbound by the Sword, the sequel is told from Billy’s perspective, putting a male point of view on the issue. I believe fully in this series and what it has to say about society. Writers rip their hearts out and let them bleed when they write. I did that while sweeping out every dark, dust-covered corner of my own childhood to indulge in this series. My own life is intertwined throughout all the books. You could say it’s the voice of a child who finally learned how to speak out for herself and others going through the same thing she did.
I am a 22 year-old hippie who is just discovering what life really is. I have spent the last two years of my life in college for what has been the best experience of my life, but the real fun of life is about to begin. Working on the college newspaper was an adventure, with no moment ever being a dull one. I mean, come on, who else but a journalist could spend a day in the same court room as a murderer, try to catch an interview with a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and hug the Stanley Cup?
However, journalism is not where my heart is. My heart is entrenched in novel writing and I am ditching my journalism diploma and career to pursue being a full-time novelist and moving out to the west coast with my dog and fiance. It’s the beginning of a journey that I have always dreamed of. For this dream I left a journalism career that was in its beginning stages and I skipped out on a Communications degree after getting accepted into university. It means I might be going back to my old housekeeping jobs until writing gets me somewhere but I’m crazy enough to be convinced it’ll work. It helps that my fiance is just as crazy a dreamer as I.
I have been writing since I could put a pencil to paper it seems. My first writings were short stories rewriting fairy tales in ways I envisioned them to play out. Poetry was something that intrigued me in junior high school. An interest in Shakespeare came in high school when I attended an outreach school in grades 11 and 12. I was permitted to study on my own and got to drift around with different areas on top of the curriculum already in place. Shakespeare and forensics became the two main things I studied there. It was through Shakespeare’s MacBeth and an essay assignment that I got interested in the witch hunts and trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, igniting the idea for the Spellbound series.
Hi Lavinia! Hi Carroll!
ReplyDeleteLavinia, its nice to learn more about you and how you came to write Spellbound. You hang in there! Good thing you are stubborn, most people your age would give up. Guess being a Taurus helps too. We can be persistent. This is a characteristic an author has to have. Congrats on your book coming out in November and good luck on sales. See you on our blog soon. :)