Title- QUICKBANE, Part One
Series- The Vale Chronicles
By- Chelsea Starling
Genre- YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy
BLURB
Jesobel Vine wants nothing more than to be a typical Pyxie teenager.She wants to ride her
beloved horse, Firefly, shoot her bow, and fall in love with her dreamy best friend, Glyn. But
Jesobel is marked not only as the future Royal Starkeeper of Pyxis, but as the Heart of
Azimuth—the one to lead her people back to their lost realm—a burden too dangerous for
daydreams. As Jesobel struggles to accept her destiny, reluctantly studying mystic magic, she
becomes doubtful she will ever be worthy to rule. And when her fiery temper enrages the
daemon-possessed Starkeeper of Equuleus with a hex-gone-wrong—igniting an orphic
war—Jesobel must find a way to alter the global disaster foretold by a celestial legend.
WE ARE GIVING AWAY 2 ECOPIES OF THIS NOVEL
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INTERVIEW
What inspired you to
write this book?
The Vale Chronicles has been organically developing in my mind
since childhood. I think it’s safe to say that my childhood friends, Jay &
Guerin (sadly, they both left this world too soon) had everything to do with
inspiring me to write this series. Quickbane, the first book in the series, was
inspired by a vivid dream I had when I was fifteen, about a girl locked in a
dungeon with a bunch of other girls beneath a huge castle on an impossibly tall
cliff. She had to find a way to rescue everyone. In that dream, a boy with
magic eyes came out of the sea to help her. I used many elements from that
dream while writing Quickbane, but I gave Jesobel the magic eyes.
Can you give us an
interesting fact about your book that isn't in the blurb?
Glyn, Jesobel’s love interest, always has a bar of soap in his
pocket, because his mother is a soapmaker, and she can’t resist shoving a bar
in his pocket every single day. He usually whittles them into animals and gives
them away to Pyxie kids. Otherwise, whoah amounts of soap!
How did you choose your
title?
I had several title options for this book, and it was through
an online vote that Quickbane was chosen - people liked that it was original
and intriguing. Quickbane is a type of magical tree whose destiny is
intricately woven with Jesobel’s, and in fact, these trees support the entire
magical system on Vale. Quickbane is also a holiday which marks the transition
from Spring to Summer, much like Beltane. This holiday also happens to be
Jesobel’s birthday. Pretty significant to the story!
Tell us about the cover
and how it came to be.
OMG. Now here’s a story that probably deserves its own blog
post at some point, with pictures. This book has had no less than a zillion
cover designs. A ton of them were designed by me, one was designed by an artist
who wasn’t happy with the outcome, which made me feel weird about using it, (I
loved it, for the record) and the final version is by Yu Cheng Hong, whose work
blows my mind to smithereens. I love my cover art so much, and I feel so
grateful to have this artist in my corner for this series. I designed the
typogoraphy, background color and layout, using a crop of the painting Yu Cheng
made for me.
Did you self publish or
publish traditionally and why?
As of today, I am an indie published author. I spent many years
researching traditional publishing, and have had opportunities to go that
route, but by the time I had a polished, publishable story ready, the industry
had changed so much that I decided to just go for it on my own. Having just
published my first story in June, I can’t say yet whether I regret this
decision, but I can say that the indie publishing community is unbelievably
welcoming and supportive. I’ve met some extraordinary authors, bloggers and
readers by choosing to publish as an indie!
What do you consider the
most important part of a good story?
This is such a weird question, because different people will
give different answers. Someone who only likes reading romance is going to say
romance is the most important part of a good story. Fantasy readers want to be
swept away into a well-imagined land and have grand adventures. Mystery readers
are going to say that without a murder to solve, there’s no mystery, therefore
no good story. Bottom line, I guess, is that a good story should entertain its
reader, by taking the reader on an emotional journey, with plenty of unexpected
twists and turns, but with enough of what the reader expects to keep it
familiar and relatable.
What is your writing
process?
I generally write in silence, and I like to have Aussie
licorice and herbal tea on hand when I’m feeling peckish. I write best when I
have a solid chunk of time to work - at least four or five hours. I prefer to
write propped up in bed all cozy with my laptop, Mark Twain style.
How long have you been
writing?
If keeping a journal counts, I guess I’ve been writing since I
was in second or third grade.
How did you get started
writing?
The first time I ever wrote any sort of cohesive story was when
the first Vale Chronicles book began to appear to me in dreams. I started
writing it on a napkin on an airplane on my way to Atlanta. I couldn’t stop. It
took me four years to finish that first crappy draft, and then another four
years before I decided to give writing an earnest attempt. In 2010 I took an
online writing class, which led to more classes, and I guess about two years
ago I realized that this wasn’t just a hobby for me, but an obsession, and a
thing that wasn’t going to go away. I still struggle to put writing first in my
life, sometimes it feels like a guilty pleasure. But I love it. And I’m not
going to stop.
Are you a plotter or a
pantser?
I’m more of a hybrid. I started out as a pantser, but this got
me into a lot of trouble where plot was concerned. I’d develop my setting and
characters and they’d be doing cool stuff in awesome places, but there was a
clear lack of plot. I am always paying attention to ways I can strengthen my
plot, and ramp up tension, and I’ve learned that it takes planning to do this
well. These are skills that I will always strive to strengthen for the rest of
my writing career.
What part of the writing
process is the hardest for you?
Battling procrastination. Carving out time to write without
feeling guilty about it.
What tips can you give
on how to get through writer’s block?
I don’t believe in writer’s block. I think all “blocks” to
writing could be labeled “procrastination.” Writers are famous for inventing
the most elaborate ways to procrastinate, including the invention of “writers
block.” The reason people procrastinate can usually be traced to an emotional
or psychological issue that is rarely related to the actual story or the
writing process. My biggest block is wrestling with this ridiculous voice in my
head that tells me I don’t deserve to be a writer, since it’s not paying the
bills yet. And that maybe I’m not good enough, or that nobody will want to read
my stories. I think you could even go so far as to say that procrastination is
really fear, at its root. Fear of success? Fear of failure? I don’t even know.
But it’s there, and it’s ugly. My only way around it is to address the fear by
punching it in the face and writing anyways. Sometimes the courage to do this
takes a few days. Sometimes a few weeks. In the mean time, I read as much as I
can. Preferably books that both inspire me, and make me feel 100% certain that I
should just quit, because I’ll never be that good. Somehow, the inspiration
always sticks, and the quitting doesn’t. So to make a short story long: Read a
lot. Keep writing anyway, even if you’re afraid it will suck.
What kind of music do
you like to listen to while you write?
I usually write in silence. If I do remember to put some music
on, it will be something ethereal, like Native American flute music, or Celtic
music or gypsy jazz guitar. Or something a little strange like the Cocteau
Twins or Enya or trippy Tibetan bowls or something. I like mood-evoking music.
Sometimes movie soundtracks are nice to write to, especially if I’m working on
a dramatic scene.
Who is your favorite
author?
Tolkein, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman. Maggie
Steifvater. I don’t know. A whole bunch more. Those are just a few off the top
of my head. That’s like asking me my favorite band or my favorite meal. I don’t
have one. Variety is the spice of life, and I change my mind as often as I
change my mood!
Who is your favorite
character from a book?
Hm. I supposed I’d have to say Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s sidekick
in the Lord of the Rings. He’s courageous, loyal and true, totally determined
to ensure that Frodo carries out his quest and gets that damned ring to Mordor.
He gives moral support when necessary, physical support when necessary, and is
willing to sacrifice his life for the love of his friend. I think I love Sam so
much because I don’t have a Sam in my life. I think everyone needs a Sam.
What is your favorite
book?
As a reader of many books in many genres, this is a tough
question to answer. Different books leave an imprint on me relating to the time
in my life when I first read them, much like certain songs often do. Here’s a
random sampling of some of my favorite books in no particular order: The
Hobbit, LOTR trilogy, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, Frances Hodgsen
Burnette’s Secret Garden and A Little Princess, The Count of Monte Cristo,
Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater. The Bridge to Terabithia. Neil Gaiman’s
Stardust & Neverwhere. There are just countless others, depending on my
mood. I loved Ender’s Game. Wool by Hugh Howey. Halo, by Frankie Rose. Ask me
again tomorrow and you’ll get a totally different list.
Read anything good
lately?
Recently enjoyed the first Outlander book immensely. Neck deep
into the second one, and finding it less engaging. I’m usually reading four or
five books at once, including some non-fiction. Current non-fiction book is
Drawing out the Dragons by James Owen. Highly recommend to anyone feeling like
their destiny is out of reach. Inspiring stuff.
What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
Read, dance, make awesome things out of leather, play with my
kids, watch movies, travel, cook. Be sparkly.
What advice would you
give an author just starting out?
Write as often as possible, for as long as possible. Take
classes if you feel that the process of writing mystifies you. I recommend
Jordan Rosenfeld. When you finish a draft of a novel, know that you’ve only
just begun. Strive to make your story the best it can possibly be. This will
not be the case with a first draft. Hire an editor. Revise like crazy. Edit
some more.
I would also say that writing is a marathon, not a sprint.
People get into the business of writing hoping for overnight success, and it’s
just so rare and so unlikely to happen, but people are still disheartened when
they aren’t selling a billion copies in their first year as an indie author. If
you’re choosing this road, you have to be tough, you have to be determined. You
have to realize that you’ll be squeezing your writing time between your day job
for quite some time before the books will pay the bills.
Deciding to be an author is not a career path for people who
aren’t ready to work their butts off, putting in long hours for no pay. If
you’re hoping for a quick road to financial success, you’d have better luck
weaving baskets from the back hair of rabid badgers and selling them on Etsy.
But for all the crazy amount of work involved, writing is also absolutely the
most rewarding career choice you’ll ever make, so never give up if it’s what
your heart yearns to do.
Have you had anything
else published?
Not unless you count an article I wrote when I was eighteen for
a small medical newspaper based in San Diego. It was about the local Humane
Society. I saw the Little Mermaid in theaters that year no less than twelve
times.
What's your next
project?
I have several upcoming projects! Quickbane Part Two & Part
Three, a time travel novel I’m co-writing with Christina Mercer, and a Dragon
Anthology with a group of kick ass authors. I also have the next nine Vale
Chronicles books (with new characters) outlined, and it’s anybody’s guess which
one will come next!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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This book sounds very interesting.
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