I am lucky enough to be participating in the
Mother's Curse blog tour. The following is an interview with author Thaddeus Nowak. The interview was provided by
Novel Publicity. My personal review of
Mother's Curse will be posted on my blog this week. I really enjoyed the novel and it's sequel,
Daughter's Justice. If you're looking for something new to read, I hope you'll take advantage of the $.99 price tag on both of these e-books.
1. Stephenie surely defies stereotypes. Born a princess, but a
tomboy. Cursed as a witch, but a likable relatable character all the
same. How did you go about creating her character?
Stephenie was born in my imagination many years ago. It was during a
time I was struggling with another story. To help “get my creative
juices flowing,” I started to write random scenes with random
characters. One scene I wrote was about a young girl who was alone in a
public house where a conflict broke out, and she had to fight her way
out.
Well, I kind of fell in love with the character and had to find out
who she was, where she was going, and why she was alone in the world.
In making that discovery, I crafted the current story arch that is the
Heirs of Cothel Series.
It took some time to work out her past and what her life would be like
growing up as a witch and how the damaged relationship she has with her
mother would affect her. Based on those factors, her break from what
would be typical for a princess seemed natural.
Which then led me to think of the girls I had grown up with and the
women I know today; many of them are tomboys and are not afraid of
getting dirty and running about the woods. So it just seemed natural
that Stephenie would be that way as well: a strong young lady who has
her own motivations and agenda, but is compassionate and can sympathize
with others, even if she cannot fix all of their problems.
As a bit of trivia, many aspects of that original scene are in
Mother’s Curse.
2. Did you face any special challenges writing a female lead character, given that you are a male author?
Yes and no. I grew up surrounded by girls. My family had the only
boys in the neighborhood for many years, so all my friends were female
and that does give me something to draw from.
When writing Stephenie, I try to get into her head and see the world
through her eyes. Occasionally, I need to refocus and make sure she
would really react in a particular way. The good thing is I have had
her in my head for so long that I usually have a pretty good idea of
what to write for her. My bigger challenges come with some of the other
female characters and making sure I am true to them.
3. The tension between Stephenie and Sergeant Henton is one of my
favorite parts of the book. How did you develop their relationship using
such subtlety and not hitting us over the head with cliché romantic
dialogue?
I am glad the subtlety of their relationship is being noticed. I had
one reader tell me they were worried that I might fall into one of the
overused traps they see in so many YA novels. Once they realized I had
not done that, they were ecstatic.
I can say this approach in the story is very much me. I am something
of a romantic, but I don’t care for most of the stories dubbed as
“romance”. Do people act in stupid ways when they are trying to attract
other people? Of course, but too many stories seem to force stupid
decisions upon the characters to ratchet up the tension. Too many
times, that is done through obvious misunderstandings that could be
resolved with half a minute of conversation that the characters work
very hard to avoid.
My goal is to never have a character deliberately sabotage their
relationships for stupid reasons (at least not a character I respect).
If things work or don’t work, I want there to be more substance to the
reasons. I want the investment in the relationship to be greater, and
so the emotions stronger. Perhaps I’ve watched too many classic movies,
but there is something very powerful about what is never said aloud
between people.
4. The Kingdom of Cothel is at war. Could you tell us more about
the front lines Stephenie is so desperately trying to escape to?
At the opening of
Mother’s Curse, Cothel, and most of the
other countries to the west, are fighting against an invading army that
sailed in from the Endless Sea. These invaders have many witches and
warlocks in their ranks and are overwhelming the holy warriors and
soldiers of the people who live around the Sea of Tet. These Senzar
invaders have killed royal families and left countries without rulers.
Stephenie’s father was quick to join the battle because his oldest
daughter was married to the crown prince of Esland and one of the first
to be killed.
The Senzar spent most of their focus driving toward a prominent
mountain range in the middle of the land between the Sea of Tet and the
Endless Sea to the west. Their main forces have yet to cross over
Cothel’s boarders. However, they are on the doorstep of the country and
Cothel’s forces are low on supplies and reinforcements. Stephenie’s
desperation is to reach her father and brother, the King and Crown
Prince, because she fears her mother is plotting something that could
put them and the people of Cothel at risk.
5. Although firmly rooted in the fantasy genre, Mother’s Curse and Daughter’s Justice
remain quick-paced engaging reads not mired in the details of exotic
lands or creatures. Why did you decide to depart from the genre with
regards to this important aspect of storytelling?
While some fantasy novels feature lengthy descriptions and details about the various inhabitants, to me
Mother’s Curse,
Daughter’s Justice,
and the subsequent books that will be in the series, are foremost about
the main characters: Stephenie, Henton, and Kas. The backdrop of the
world, while important, really is a backdrop and I have tried to embrace
the idea of less being more.
I am proud of the world I have created, but I am also willing to let
the nuances soak in over time as they become relevant to the story. For
those who like to find out more about the lands Stephenie has to
explore and the history I have created for those lands, I try to put
some extra information up on my website. I’ve been adding to it slowly,
but have had requests for more information and will work to increase
the frequency of the postings.
6. Which authors, film makers, and other sorts of storytellers serve as your primary influences in crafting this book series?
This is a good question. In all my reading, I cannot recall
consciously thinking I would like to expand on a specific idea in my own
stories. I am certain all the things I have read have had significant
subconscious influences. I grew up with a mixture of the classics
(Isaac Asimov, Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, and Arthur C. Clarke) and
contemporary writers such as Joel Rosenberg, Barbara Hambly, Jane
Lindskold, and Kate Forsyth. There are, of course, many more I did not
list.
From TV and movies, I would tend to pull more influences from the
scifi realm. For conscious influences, I would say I really liked the
whit and humor of
Farscape and how the characters got along. The only thing I can say I remember the actual spark of the idea was from the movie
High Spirits.
That movie lent me the idea that over many years ghosts would fall into
a trance and continually relive an aspect of their lives, no longer
aware of the world around them until something disturbed their
environment.
7. How did you write the interactions between Stephenie and her
mother without wanting to strangle the latter? And how did you craft
such a formidable villain despite her maternal relation to our loveable
hero?
Well, first off, I love my own mother, so no parental issues there. I
do know she got a few questions when other people first saw the title
and read
Mother’s Curse, but having been an early reviewer of the story, she’s also a strong supporter.
For Stephenie and her mother, I wanted the interaction between the
two of them to be very toxic and antagonistic. Years of mutual hate
meant they knew how to push each other’s buttons and get under the other
person’s skin.
Some of it I think I may have pulled from my experiences working in
sales and dealing with difficult customers, but mostly it came from the
number of years I worked in what was effectively the advanced support
team of a crisis management center. Our job was to help people recover
large computer systems that were in real trouble. It was high pressure
work and not everyone could handle the customers who were themselves
under incredible stress. A big part of the role was simply human
psychology, empathizing with the customer and helping to make sure they
knew you had their best interests at heart. It was really more managing
the people than actually working to repair and troubleshoot the
databases.
A natural side effect of learning how to help reassure people in a
crisis is an insight into how one could hurt people. Hopefully, I’ve
managed to put those years of experience to good use in making
believable villains.
8. Have any experiences, personal quirks, or people you know worked themselves into your writing? If so, how and where?
Well, not so much in
Mother’s Curse or
Daughter’s Justice.
There is a lot of me in the characters, especially when it comes to the
pragmatic nature of several of them, but I did not really draw from any
other people. As a kid, I spent a fair amount of time gaming with my
friends and that has lent me the ability to quickly imagine another
person, craft some personality traits, and put on a different hat to
play that part.
However, the next book, tentatively titled
Daughter’s Revenge,
will feature someone close to me in the pages. I’ve had numerous
requests to include a character for our horse, Dollar (original show
name was Silver Dollar due to a white mark on his withers about the size
of a silver dollar). So, in book three, look for Stephenie and others
to spend some time on horseback, and Dollar to be along for the journey.
9. When not writing, what do you like to do with your free time? Tell us something whacky and cool!
Free time? I don’t quite understand the question.
I have had to narrow down my list of hobbies and “want-to-dos”
considerably over the years. There is just not enough time in the day.
However, the primary activities I keep up with include:
Hiking. Though we lack any mountains to make it challenging, I try
to spend time on a couple local trails. It is excellent time for
working out specific plot details in my head. This year I have two
different vacations planned, both of them involve a week of hiking with
my wife. One will be in North Carolina, and the other will be on the
west coast.
I often mix photography in with the hiking. My wife and I are
generally landscape photographers who want trees and mountains in almost
every shot, though I do like shooting soft water. I’ll definitely post
a few shots of my vacations online after each of those trips.
I also try to keep fit at the gym, but that unfortunately slips from
time to time. However, I need to get back into proper condition to hike
15+ miles a day in the mountains with about 35 pounds of gear (cameras,
lenses, and a tripod gets heavy).
And of course, I read a lot of novels when I can. Though lately that
has also been hit and miss. I always feel guilty reading something
else when I can be working on my own novels. But sometimes I just have
to take a day or so of solid reading and knock out a book simply for the
joy of it.
10. What’s next for the Heirs of Cothel Series, and when can we expect book three?
Book 3 is tentatively titled
Daughter’s Revenge. I will let
the title imply what it will. As I have already alluded to, Stephenie
and others will be going on another road trip, this time using horses.
She will learn more about herself and continue to grow as a person.
There will be a couple of new characters introduced, but aside from
that, I don’t want to give too much away.
Regarding the release date, the first two books have released in the
first quarter of the year. I am am aiming to move that up some, but a
lot of things have to come together with the proper timing to make that
happen. I will definitely keep everyone posted about when to expect
book 3 on my website as things get closer.
As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the
Mother’s Curse and
Daughter’s Justice eBook
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Mother’s Curse is a coming of age story
about the youngest Princess of Cothel and her efforts to save her father
and brother from her mother’s schemes, while at the same time, coming
to terms with what it means to be a witch.
Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.
Daughter’s Justice continues Stephenie’s
journey of discovery, where she must overcome national opposition to her
being a witch as well as lead her friends and protectors on a mission
to stabilize her countries finances.
Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.
Thaddeus Nowak is a writer of fantasy novels who enjoys hiking, photography, and the outdoors.
Visit Ted on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.
