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My husband calls me the Hobbitbotherer. It was coined by my husband John when I was going through a very Lord of the Rings phase. Reading the books, watching the films (over and over again!) and finding out what other films the actors were in! We had always thought of one day going to New Zealand and having seen some of the wonderful scenery in the films, it made us want to visit even more and we decided to go for it after all. Our trip is what inspired the book, New Zealand with a Hobbit Botherer, a funny romp through the wonderful land of Aotera (Land of the Long White Cloud) while poor John had to put up with me wanting to trek to all the film locations!
I read lots of different genres, so I guess that sometimes translates into my writing. I never sit down and write a book by deciding on the genre first. Normally it's the characters who appear in my mind first, although not usually named until much later! I love the history of names and usually try and find names that suit them, rather than just pick a name out of the air. Ideas come from everywhere and I have so many ideas going around in my head that if I didn't write them down I'd go mad.
I love books and I love reading, our house is overflowing with books so I've been trying to read more ebooks than paper ones recently. I don't care what method it is, I love a good story whether it's on a computer screen or on a dead tree.
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I started writing The Chosen for National Novel Writing Month a few years ago. In my mind I wanted to write a fairy tale for adults set in a fantasy setting. Severin, the prince, came to me rather easily. I could picture what he looked like, what sort of person he was and how he would react to things around him. I had the prince, now all I needed was a princess for him to rescue.
But there was a problem, I couldn't picture this princess no matter how hard I tried. What was wrong? Why couldn't I picture this character? As usual, it was my characters who saved me. Severin was insistent that he wasn't interested in princesses, to rescue or otherwise. Now, if it was princes, that was another matter! In all my character developement, I'd failed to realise the fact that my prince was gay!
Well, that certainly put another spin on things and over the next few days, another character came to me: Havyn, who'd been a slave all his life and was certainly in need of rescue. Severin nodded wholeheartedly, for Havyn was a very handsome slave.
Of course, there wouldn't have been much conflict if all they did was meet and fall in love. But of course, even in a fantasy world being a gay prince wasn't easy. The kingdom needed heirs, that was Severin's duty, not to love where he wished. And as for Havyn, he was apprenticed to an old-fashioned wizard after his rescue. A wizard who was of the opinion that remaining chaste was the only way for a wizard to keep his powers. Not to mention the fact that Severin's father bethrothed him to a princess without his knowledge and his future bride has disappeared...
I loved writing this story, I felt so strongly about all of my characters, even the not so nice ones. When I finished it was as if the friends who had been visiting me had gone home. But they weren't gone, for I could read about them anytime I wanted. Yes, I do read and re-read my own work, for I write the stories I want to read too.
I hope my readers will find some friends between the pages as well.
Take care,
Annette
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