We’ve talked to Evelyn Ink, author of the young adult fantasy Ill-fated.
Q: For those not familiar with Ill Fated, can you tell us a bit about it?
Ill-fated is a young adult fantasy– that honestly, mostly adults are reading. Leila Edgewick has no path to choose, but the one set before her. It is a coming of age story in the worst of circumstances – growing up is about making choices, but for Leila, they’ve already been made. The odds are stacked against her and her fate seems sealed.
It is a quest that takes her to the deepest, darkest edges of her world – a world where magic meets machine, sorcery and science work against her, and where those with the sharpest blade, the keenest mind, or the deepest pocket rule.
With only her wits and training, Leila has little chance of survival, but when her path crosses that of “Sam” – a mind-locked boy with a head full of black damage, her luck begins to change. Fate ties them together and as Leila’s quest unravels, the pieces of Sam’s past fall into place. When his true identity is finally revealed, Leila must face up to a bloody family secret that could undermine her quest and tear her destiny to pieces.
Q: Leila is portrayed as very mature in many ways given her young age. Can you tell us a bit about your thoughts behind her character when you created it?
Leila has been in training for her quest almost since birth, pretty much from the moment it became apparent her mother was to have no other children. She acts mature because she has never had a childhood. She has always been treated as an adult and expectations have always been high. She’s had no playmates growing, and the only person close to her in age is the stable boy Lucan, whom of course, it would be improper for her to befriend. Although little of this is explained outright, I attempt to give hints of Leila’s upbringing throughout the story – a mother who wishes to indulge her, but is not allowed, a father who is severe, because his greatest wish is that she might survive, and a life thus far split between a seemingly cruel trainer and a dull lecturer – leaving Leila with little of the child inside. Her destiny has been set, her coarse laid out for her.
Q: What goals might you have set for yourself when writing Ill Fated and how do you feel about the result?
My primary goal was to create a story someone of any age might enjoy. A fantasy book, not just for fantasy readers, but adventure in a world just touched with magic. I was thinking Princess Bride meets Stardust when I started: magic, adventure, witty dialogue, and a dash of steampunk.
My writing goal was to create a book with rich imagery, invented words, and a well-crafted world without stopping up the pace of the plot. There is nothing I dislike more than having the action come to a screeching halt while the author proceeds to give you the exact definition of the word he or she just used or the name and history of the sword about to be plunged into an evil villain’s chest. Ugh. My goal was seamless storytelling– a world interwoven into the plot and action– without taking center stage. This quote by TM’s review on amazon particularly pleased me, “This freedom to let the reader imagine the world at his or her own pace was very liberating.”
Overall, I’m pretty happy with everything but the editing; I am a truly abysmal proofreader. I will write and rewrite something until it sounds just exactly the way I want, but never catch that I’ve got then instead of than. I tend to read what I think I’ve written, rather than what is there (However, I’ve put out several editions, so the book is getting better and better).
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the road to publishing your books?
With my first series Sticks, Stones, and Dragon Bones I tried really hard to get a traditional publisher, I had one brush and thought I had got lucky (first book and everything) but nothing came of it (this is after being dragged along for over a year). I was writing Ill-fated during all of this and by the time I finished, I was really just sick of the whole affair. My brother read Ill-fated (he’s a huge fantasy fan) and was the one to suggest I should indie-author the book through amazon. So I did, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I do hope to be traditionally published someday, maybe this book or maybe another, but overall the experience has been a good one and is definitely helping me improve my writing.
Q: You’re using some old and forgotten words in your writing. What do you find so fascinating with old words and can you give us some examples?
Some words are just more magical than others. Some words sound like what they are, and some can create an immediate mental image even if you’ve never heard the word before. Ugsome and sluberdugullion are two of my favorite examples. I don’t see how anyone could hear those words and not instantly understand their meaning. Sooterkins too, it just sounds like what it is – a word you would use just like darling or sweetie, probably more often used on children.
I generally choose the word that sounds the most interesting, turnkey instead of guard, dragoon instead of soldier. Sometimes I’ll adjust the words to fit my meaning, combine them with other words, or change how they’re used. I use an epistemological dictionary quite often, so I can go back and find older, richer words to replace the ones I don’t like the sound of. I also steal a lot. Earth-dolven I took straight out of Lord of the Rings, no apologies – All authors are thieves and liars, ask the Troll King and only steal from the best!
Q: What’s next?
I have just finished writing Silver Tongue. It is a companion book to Ill-fated, so same world, but different characters (should be out sometime this January). I’ve had a lot of fans demanding and expecting a sequel to Ill-fated, and although that will likely come along, this book it not it. Things you can expect: more skyships, the short return of Captain Erastacus Oren, an ancient Grendel mystery, and mines that may evoke the imagery of Moria.
If you can’t wait for that, check out my children’s trilogy, Sticks, Stones, and Dragon Bones, of which I just put out the final book a few months ago!
Q: I’m sure people will be relieved to know there will be a sequel at some point. Do you already have plans for many books in the same world that will tie into each other in some way or do you go one book at a time and take it from there? I’d imagine that with two books already written it might be tempting to build more on the foundation that’s already there.
I go one book at a time. I didn’t necessary have plans to write a sequel to Ill-fated though I was always open to the idea and clearly left plenty of unclipped tendrils to work with. That said, I wasn’t unsatisfied with the ending; Leila escapes her fate and is finally free to do as she pleases. I certainly understand how this ending is a little too open for most readers, and like them, have grown attached to my characters and think the adventure should be continued.
And yes, with the world already built, I was shocked just how fast I wrote Silver Tongue and came up with a plot sequel for Ill-fated. I had plans for a sci-fi and a post-epidemic, but both of those books are now on the back burner.
As to more books in Leila’s world … I have no idea. I don’t have a lot of control over what I write or when, for example the holiday spirit really got me this year because I inexplicably started writing a children’s Christmas book. Just poof… it was in my head – a new angle on Christmas and I felt I should go with it, set my Silver Tongue editing to the side and started writing. I’m about a third of the way through the book – first time I’ve written in first person, and so far it’s been pretty amusing thinking like an eight year old.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about Sticks, Stones and Dragon Bones?
Sticks, Stones, and Dragon Bones is for a much younger audience than Ill-fated – written for about ages 9 to 12. A mother’s strange past draws two sisters to unlock a door to another world, causing their older sister to be kidnapped by the beast within. Bean – a hypochondriac of a scientific nature and her older sister Paige – a rather mordant, but aspiring writer, take with them their feisty twin sisters Hayde and Dorrit (of whose only ambition is to grow up and be pirates) and all four set off to retrieve their eldest sister from this unknown world. Vikings, pirates, a floating city, and an oracle with bad teeth (not to mention her disturbing prophecy) are all in book one!
This series has a lot of hyperbole and outlandish adventure, but enough humor to be enjoyed by adults as well as children. I think it was C. S Lewis who said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest” and I agree.
Q: What in your experience has been the best way of marketing your book?
To be honest I don’t understand the erratic rhythm that is my book sales at all! I do giveaways, blog, advertise sales on various sights, am on goodreads and facebook – all that social media stuff, but my sales seem to ebb and flow with a total disregard to whatever I am doing or am not doing. It is truly inexplicable.
Right now I’m on KDP Select, so I can only sell my books through amazon. I have mixed feelings about this, but the giveaways do seem to generate reviews and a short boost of sales. So … why not?
Q. How did you start writing? Was there a particular book or moment in your life that spurned you on?
That’s a hard one. I read so much as a child it’s difficult to think of any particular book. Oddly, I didn’t read much fantasy besides the Narnia books, then Tolkien later on.
As to the writing, I always knew I would write though I spent little enough time actually doing it. I wrote some short stories and a lot of beginnings to longer ones, but other than that, nothing to speak of. I didn’t have a TV growing up however and my family always lived in the country, so I think my creative storytelling side may have simply flourished through imaginative play and frequent visits to the library.
Somehow I always knew I would write; it was inevitable. The stories were already in my head, I carried them everywhere I went, I just never bothered to start writing them down until I was an adult. Makes me wonder how many I lost…
Q: What kind of books do you read, any favorite authors? Any inspiration that you’ve drawn from other authors (besides the uncommon words)?
As far as world building goes I’ve taken inspiration from The Foundling’s Tale Series (D.M. Cornish), Game of Thrones, and The Hobbit. It might not show up in my books, but I also very much enjoy absurdist humor like Terry Pratchett’s books and Douglass Adam’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
That said, 90% of the time I’m reading either a classic or a children’s book. Currently it’s Son’s and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence while re-reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I whip through about three or more children’s books for every adult book I read. People tend to find this odd, but somehow a balance between the two works best for me.
Q: What do you do when you’re not writing, any hobbies?
I spend a lot of time painting and drawing, working primarily in mixed media, ink, and acrylics. I did a series of small ink drawings as chapter headings for Sticks, Stones, and Dragon Bones, but would very much like to turn the series into a graphic novel. I also have a few ideas for combining my painting and storytelling to create one or more picture books.
Q: From what I read you are very careful not to reveal too much about the person behind the books and I assume Evelyn Ink is a pseudonym. Why have you chosen this degree of anonymity?
It is true that when I tell people I write under a pen name the first thing they assume is that I am writing naughty romances or something – Ha! My books are squeaky clean. Next they assume I have something to hide, but the truth is, I just really dislike social media. It isn’t fun for me. Prior to inventing Evelyn Ink I wasn’t on facebook or any social media sights and certainly did not have a blog (even now I still refused to get on twitter – the last bastion of my crumbling fortress).
I just really hate all of it, it feels like the hugest waste of my time imaginable, and the only way to make it bearable was to create Evelyn Ink. I decided on a pseudonym as soon as I realized I was going to have to self-publish (as social media is pretty much the only way to get yourself out there and read– if you are an indie-author). I took a page from Lemony Snicket while inventing my on-line presence and treated it all much the same way I would a character in a book, and truthfully the whole thing has been much more tolerable (if not amusing at times). Evelyn is completely clueless she’s a bad editor, has no idea The Society of Eloquent English writes threatening letters to her blog (which is handled by Edwin Riddle in her absence), and to make it fun, I hide little truths about myself in Evelyn’s absurd life.
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Interview by Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2014
