Meet the Grimbold Authors, Interview 2 with the talented Joanne Hall.
Meet the Grimbold Authors, Interview 2 with the talented Joanne Hall
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Meet the Grimbold Authors, Interview 2 with the talented Joanne Hall
Art of Forgetting
Hi Joanne Hall and Welcome. Would you like to begin by telling the readers something about yourself?
Hello, thanks for having me! I’m a fantasy writer living in Bristol, England, teetering down the long slope towards forty. I like reading, music and gaming, and I’m mum to a beautiful white-and-black greyhound. I run the Bristol Fantasy and SF society Facebook page, and for the last six years I’vebeen the chair of BristolCon.
What are your books about and what inspired you to write them?
I always wanted to write fantasy – it’s been my favourite genre since I was little and I grew up reading fantasy books and watching fantasy films. I was lucky enough to grow up in the 80’s, which was kind of a golden age for fantasy films. I like to write something that takes me right out of the real world and into magical realms, but I also like to write about people and the troubles they go through.
How long did it take for each book and how many times did you go through it before it was finally done?
It varies, but usually about 12-18 months from start to finish of a book, and I normally write 6-8 full drafts. I write the first draft out from start to finish, and then I go back to the beginning and go through it again and again and again until it reaches the stage where I think if I fiddle with it any more I’ll mess it up. Then I know it’s ready to go to Kristell Ink, where Sammy tells me all the ways I can improve it!
Where do your settings come from? Are they taken from real places, made up entirely, or aconglomerate of the two?
A mix of the two. Sometimes I’ll see a picture of a real-world place and that will inspire me, but I like to take places and put my own twist on them, or mix them together. Northpoint in The Art of Forgetting : Rider is based on Marazion in Cornwall, which is one of my favourite places, but the town is nothing like the town in the book, and the political divisions in the book were inspired by 1970’s Belfast as much as anything else. So it’s a real mixed bag. Living in Bristol is great because there are parts of the old pre-war city tuck right alongside modern office blocks, and you can walk along a modern alley and find yourself suddenly transported into the past. I like weird bits of architecture like that.
Who is your favorite character and why?
Oooh, that’s like trying to choose between my children! I do have a very soft spot for Rhodri, but Ifall in love with all my heroes and heroines. And a good baddie is always tremendous fun to write –Allorise Carey from Spark and Carousel was brilliant to write because she was such a terrible, extreme character who did such awful things with no moral qualms whatsoever. When you have a character like that who will do anything it’s fun just to see what shocking things they get up to!I know my favorite is Rhodri, who is a bi character.
I am wondering if it is more difficult to write a bi character than a straight or gay one.
Not really *smiles* When I started writing The Art of Forgetting I didn’t consciously know that Rhodi was going to be bisexual; his sexuality emerged as the story progressed. It made sense to me that in the hyper-male environment he was thrust into with a lot of other teenage boys that there would be some sexual experimentation going on, and it was obvious that some of the characters would not be straight – it wouldn’t be realistic otherwise. Aside from make sure that I told his and Astan’s stories honestly and fairly and didn’t write anything crashingly insensitive; that was the only part I was wary over, and I hope I did them justice. But as to whether it’s more difficult to write a bisexual character– no. As Ursula Le Guin says, “love is love.”
Are you an outliner or a pantzer when it comes to start a book? If the latter, do the ideas come to you in one big lump, or are they piecemeal?
I am a huge pantzer – I usually have some idea how the story ends and a couple of plot points in the middle, but that’s it and I never write them down. Obviously there are as many ways of writing as there are writers, and what works for me may not work for you, or indeed anyone else, but I find that if I over-plan it takes the fun out of writing. I like the journey, the adventure of finding my way into, and through, the story, and the surprises that can get thrown up along the way. Sometime that leads me down a blind alley, but that’s part of the fun!
Finally, where can the books be purchased and what are your plans for the next ones?
To answer the second part of the question first, my next book, the aforementioned Spark andCarousel is released at the end of September this year. It’s a stand-alone set in the same world as The Art of Forgetting, but you don’t have to have read any of my other books to enjoy it (though you should, you know?). The story follows Spark, a mage-apprentice on the run after the death of his master, who finds himself the target of rival criminal gangs in the city of Cape Carey. It’s a lot of fun!
As for where the books can be purchased, both volumes of The Art of Forgetting are available fromAmazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble etc… and in paperback from Forbidden Planet. They can also be ordered through your local independent bookshop.
Thank you Joanne Hall.
Here is my review of The Art of Forgetting on Amazon. It is a fascinating read.
on July 1, 2013
Jo Hall’s book truly breaks the boundaries. So many fantasy novels are pat deliveries of what has already gone before. Hall takes the genre to the next level with her skillful handling of characters who are not quite what one would expect, but are beyond delightful because of this.
The hero, Rhodri, starts out in deprived circumstances because he looks different from other villages and he has total memory recall. As a found child, he is raised by suspicious guardians, who do little to nurture him. When a chance comes to leave his village, he jumps on it and begins a whole new chapter of his life.
What follows is Rhodri striving to find links to the past he remembers in vivid detail. The truth isn’t always how it is presented and he must adjust to this as well as his growing experiences. Without giving spoilers, this is a very character driven book that excels in to life in this world and Rhodri’s take on his surroundings.
I found Rhodri to be a compelling character and I was very disappointed when I came to the end of the book. I was so wrapped up in it that I read it straight through in one day. What I will take away from the reading experience is how much I enjoyed seeing Rhodri grow over the course of the story. I am very much looking forward to the next book so I may learn what happened next. This was an immensely enjoyable read and I can’t recommend it enough.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Now where is the next in the series? I want it now.
Sex from the male perspective.
My friend Ellen has written a hilarious post on this.
Meet the Grimbold Authors.
There is something wonderful happening soon but we are not going to tell you what it is just yet. In the meantime enjoy a chance to meet some of my very talented colleagues.
Here is the first, Ellen Crosháin, author of Cruelty.
Hi Ellen Crosháin and Welcome. Would you like to begin by telling the readers something about yourself?
Hi, thanks for having me. Well, I’m from Northern Ireland originally but I now live in Cardiff, in South Wales with my husband and six guinea pigs. I teach English in a high school just outside the city but I am currently on maternity leave as I wait for our first baby to arrive. I’m a ferocious reader, there’s very little I don’t read or enjoy, but I’m knee-deep in Irish mythology at the moment as I write the follow up to ‘Cruelty.’
What is your book about and what inspired you to write it?
‘Cruelty’ is about Eliza MacTir, a magically Barren woman from a magical family. It is set in Ireland, in the countryside just outside of Dublin. Eliza, fed up of being ignored for her lack of power, leaves home by faking her own death. She is almost free when she is caught by the Cruel, the Family’s assassin and spy. A traffic accident leads them to being in hospital for a few days and Cornelius begins to see a different side to Eliza, as well as beginning to understand why she ran away. To escape the Cruel’s punishment, she makes a deal with him, sealed with her lost virginity. That act of sex wakes Eliza’s magic and she quickly discovers that her power is a new and strange one. Between them, Eliza and Cornelius set up an old enemy of the Family as her kidnapper so that she can return home and slot back into Family life. That is easier said than done. Her Family begin to notice that she’s different, and so too does the source of their power, the dark Fae-god Faroust who lives under their house. After the annual, horrific ritual which renews the magic, Faroust discovers that Eliza has been sleeping with Cornelius and blackmails her into being his concubine. While in his home, Eliza slowly unravels the terrible truth about their god and their magic, a truth she cannot ignore. (Insert dramatic music of your choice).
My inspiration for it was a song by the incredible Amanda Palmer called ‘It runs in the family’ about traits and problems that pass down through generations. It really struck a chord with me and ‘Cruelty’ was conceived.
How long did it take to write and how many times did you go through it before it was finally done?
Initially, it was a short story but I couldn’t leave it alone and it blossomed into something else. It took 18 months to write, 6 months to marinate (that is a really important step for me, it gives you distance to edit critically) another year to edit before I sent it to Kristell-Ink and just over a year, including working with the editor, to get it ready for publishing. As a whole, I went through the manuscript 5 times but some sections were read, re-read and edited at least a dozen times. And there are still a few things I’d like to change. Neil Gaiman said it best ‘it’s never perfect.’
Where do your settings come from? Are they taken from real places, made up entirely, or a conglomerate of the two?
My settings give you an idea of a place. Eliza lives in an Anglo-Irish Georgian house. There are lots of Georgian type houses in Ireland, left over from days of the plantations, so it’s entirely possible that this large estate could exist somewhere in Co. Dublin. It is a little bit of a fantasy though. The Otherworlds which I hint at come from Irish mythology. There are endless possibilities with the Celtic Otherworlds so it gave me free reign to do what I liked with the ones you catch glimpses of.
Who is your favorite character and why? Mine is the Cruel. Actually I was rather sorry for him.
I also love Cornelius. Eliza comes in and turns his whole world, his whole reason for existence, on its head and all he can do is hang on for the ride. He’s never quite sure if he can trust Eliza (for that matter neither am I!) and yet he can’t let her go. He is utterly devoted to her, but he doesn’t tolerate any nonsense either. If she goes too far, he reigns her back in, often sharply. He’s a good balance for her but he does have to cope with the fact that their god is sleeping with the woman he loves and that she is in real danger the entire time she’s with him. He puts up with a lot but he’s not weak or a pushover. I really enjoyed writing him.
Did you like your bad guy, or were you gleeful about his ultimate punishment?
I like Faroust. He started off as an absolute bastard, pure evil through and through, but as I was writing him he wouldn’t stay in that box. I wanted him to be evil, a Fae creature who was having an awful joke at the expense of the stupid mortals who worshipped him but he was funny, passionate and compassionate, and had a bit of a tragic backstory. I found myself empathising with him, and so does Eliza. His whole existence is taking care of the Family and at one point, they turn from him. Faroust, stranded in the mortal world because of his bond to them, just snaps at their betrayal. That said, nothing excuses what he was doing to the Family for a thousand years. Nothing. He thoroughly deserves his comeuppance. It is a fitting punishment for his cruelty.
Are you an outliner or a pantzer when it comes to start a book? If the latter, do the ideas come to you in one big lump, or are they piecemeal?
Outlining doesn’t work for me; because I handwrite everything, things sort of just develop on their own. I usually decide how things are going to end (though that’s never set in stone either) and work up to that. Things reveal themselves to me as I am writing and I am usually surprised by the choices my characters make.
Finally, where can the book be purchased and what are your plans for the next ones?
Amazon is the best place to get ‘Cruelty’. I am currently writing the sequel. It’s set twenty five years later and it’s going to be a lot more heavily involved with the Otherworlds, the Fae, the Sidhé (high lords and ladies of Fae) and Queens of Faerie. Some old favourite characters are going to resurface, but there’s lots of new ones to meet too.
Links for sale UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1909845655
US: http://www.amazon.com/Cruelty-Ellen-Crosh-in/dp/1909845655 
And here is my review of Cruelty from Amazon.
on February 28, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
That being said, I loved it. This is a story that starts off strong and builds up momentum from there. Eliza is the only member of an Irish Fae family born without a shred of magic and as such she is treated like a cripple they are ashamed to have around, all except for one, the ‘Hound’, another fae treated almost as bad as Eliza. Unable to bear the shame she feels she brings to the family, she runs away to spare them from her flaws, and so the Cruelty begins.
The story has vibrant, intense emotions as well as heartbreaking and thrilling love scenes. As Eliza’s sexuality comes alive, so does her need to survive at all costs. Layer upon layer of intrigue and misdirection are gradually unravelled until a stunning ending. I am not really sure what I liked the most, the characters or the highly original story. Of the characters my favorite is the ‘Cruel’ as he handled himself well in various circumstances. Even the bad guy is well drawn and sympathetic to a certain degree.
I hope there is a sequel or prequel to this as I would get it in a heartbeat. This is a must buy!
Bright new shiny idea.
Light faded in the Dwarril glade, but not from an absence of sun, no, this was the end of existence. The gold and brown leaves rustled overhead, unseen, but sound was the last sense to leave a body. Soon, so soon she would sink into to dark loam to become part of the earth again. As it was once, so shall it be again, only this was the last time for there was no more to learn.
The children of the lesser upstart god called on her to repent, knowing her end was at hand so with her last strength she had summoned up the Dwarril glade. Something she knew would horrify them if they had seen, but they had not, for she could still be one with nature and blend herself with the trees.
Repent; why should she, who had done no wrong think of repenting? Let them clamour about their own shortfallings to their upstart, in fear and trembling of an afterlife that seemed without merit to her. No, let the deep dark gather her to itself to end all thought and feeling until the end of times when the planet should crack asunder and all of the Alysh would fly free to wander the cosmos on clouds of fire and power until they once more found a virgin planet to seed with life.
Slowly, so slowly the black loam parted and she sank amid the earth smells and the skitterings of insects. The damp closed in around her like a wet embrace in a storm and all light vanished. Repent? Her final breath came out in a laugh. The last Alysh was freeeeeee…
How to make a mobile A/C unit.
1) Take one ball cap, one zip lock bag and one tray of ice cubes.
2) Put ice in bag and seal tight. Put bag in hat.
3) Place hat with baggy inside on heat. Ignore funny looks. Remember, they are hot and you are not.
How to build a poor man’s air conditioning unit.
1) Take one flat sided bowl and fill with ice cubes.
2) Position floor standing fan and bowl so the air is blown over the ice cubes. The evaporating water will give air just a tad colder to spread over one room.
3) Sit in that room with the door closed to avoid melting.
Hot, hot, hot.
VBC sunbathing with his toys.
It is sizzling hot outside even at just before 7.am and yet the VBC, seen above, has insisted on going for his stroll in the backyard. It is totally fenced-in, but he has all his toes intact so he has a harness and long leash. Right now he is invisible in my daylilies as he stalks the feathered nuisances. He will have to come in soon before he overheats, but for now he can play.
However, there are other creatures out there that do not have the luxury of getting out of the heat. For them, the life-saver is finding water. It takes less than a minute to fill a birdbath or put water in a bowl on the ground. One minute of time means nothing to a person but could mean life to a creature outside in the heat. Take a minute to make a difference.
Melting.
First, it is delightful to see the rainbow stripes on the top of my word press page. Love is a feeling shared between two people. It is not a pick and choose thing, it is what it is. Marriage between two people totally committed in a loving relationship should be available to all. People do not get to choose who they are attracted to so neither should the law of the land restrict them from making a loving commitment. Way to go USA! Oh and I am a straight woman in a straight relationship who happens to have gay friends and I am not going to get divorced any time soon in a fit of pique because my gay friends can now marry if they wish, or disappear in a cloud of smoke and cinders. (Betcha the bigoted pastor doesn’t follow through.). In fact, I should rather like to dance at their wedding if I am so invited.
Now thanks has to go to British Colombia, who has sent us a heatwave straight from the deepest furnaces of hell. A resident of one of the coldest Provinces of Canada bitching about the heat? Hell, yeah! I don’t have A/C because our summers aren’t long enough. I currently have my drapes, lined with heat resistant lining, pulled closed to make some sort of attempt to keep the inside of my home at a reasonable temperature. Reasonable is below thirty. We have now been driven indoors from out deck after our midday baroque. The fans have also slowed down, which is indicative to a drop in voltage, so I hope there is not a bad storm on its way to us. So here we sit in the semi gloom and we are feeling totally ungrateful to BC.
Oh and my little cat is in a heap in my basement, trying to find a cool spot. What would you do if you were wearing a very thick fur coat?
Free story!
FREE!!! For June 12th and 13th Forever and a Day is free to download. What is it about? Spooky story of the paranormal. See trailer.
Amazon link and it is on all of them. http://amzn.to/1BaSok3
