Author Interview: Preston North

Born from the ashes of the most fierce and powerful entity in all of Trivaesia, Darla was sent to grow up in the outside world with no knowledge of where she came from. When she finds herself wielding new power, she must decide which part of her will rule her heart—the evil from which she was born or the good by which she was raised.

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1.  If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why? James Dashner—not just because I love his writing style, but he is actually an old family friend. I actually wrote this guy his VERY FIRST fan letter way back when he wrote his VERY FIRST book in the Jimmy Fincher series, A Door in the Woods. True story. Most people have never even heard of Jimmy Fincher, but I loved it as a kid.

2.  What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write? Writing is super sporadic for me. I find that my best writing tends to happen first thing in the morning or at about midnight. And I either have to write with my laptop on my bed or propped up on some surface where I can type standing. Makes me feel less lethargic. Weird, I know.

3.  What is the hardest part of the writing for you? Staying focused on one project. I swear, I am the most attention deficit writer out there. I will have excellent momentum on a story, and then I start thinking about another story and can’t get back on track. My productivity derails from there.

4.  When and why did you first start writing? I started writing when I was eleven. I was such a book nut and it seemed like the natural thing to do. Of course I never finished a story until the one I started when I was sixteen. Two year later, when I was eighteen, I had completed a 100,000-word fantasy novel that I called The Mark of Mekken. It definitely isn’t the most polished piece of literature (it’s quite terrible, really), but it still has a special place in my heart because it proved I could do something that I never really thought was possible.

5.  How did you come up with the idea for your book? BLÜD AND MAGICK was first born in my head when I was at work doing manual labor as a landscaper. I conceived the idea as an “anti-Harry-Potter.” Whereas Harry Potter inadvertently defeats a dark lord and becomes an instant celebrity, the idea for my protagonist, Darla Summer, was the opposite—a baby girl who is born from the ashes of a dark lord and becomes an automatic outcast.

6.  Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now? I am a huge reader, although every time I read, I admittedly feel guilty that I’m not writing instead. Right now, however, I’m reading Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. A very trusted friend of mine said the series escalates to something even better than Harry Potter. I don’t know how that could possibly be true, but I’m giving it a shot.

7.  Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers? Being a writer seems like a never-ending cycle of writing, editing, and submitting manuscripts for the inevitable rejection letter. My advice is to never stop doing one of those three things. Never. Life as a writer is almost like standing on the down escalator. If you aren’t constantly moving up it, you will inevitably move down.