Magic May continues here on my blog with two interviews with fantasy authors each week. Don’t miss out on the fun!
This week I’ve invited Dani Collins, author of The Healer, a medieval fantasy that crosses a Highlander romance with a political thriller, to be my guest star. Thanks for joining me,
Dani!
Hi Audra, thanks for inviting me!
Who is your favorite fantasy villain of all time, and why?
Am I allowed to make it a fairly recent one? I loved Seneca Crane of the
Hunger Games. I also love Snape, even though he’s not the real villain of the HPS. (Shan’t name the one who is!)
I think I just love seeing really refined, sarcastic, flawed men being subtly
cruel in a very disciplined way. I don’t like truly crazy, or those who
physically bind and torture, and I don’t like the odds to be stacked too high.
I like it to be a real contest for the protagonist, preferring when the villain is the embodiment of what the hero/heroine could have become and they overcome that dark reflection of themselves.
If Peter Jackson were to make a movie out of your novel, what would you hate to see him change about it?
If he added some small CGI humanoid, I’d lose my mind. The sweeping landscapes and the stunning alpha males fresh from the fight I will take, in spades please.
When you write, are you more of a planner or a pantser?
I’m a planner. I’ve learned this is a more productive process for me, less backtracking to fix bad decisions. (Which isn’t to say I don’t explore sometimes, when genius arrives to carry me away, but I always second-guess that
and try to see how it changes my plan and whether it will really work.)
Tell us what your fantasy novel is about, in 25 words or less.
Vaun frees a slave he thinks is Kerf, like him, but Athadia is Alvian, one of the dying race of healers his people fear—and she senses he is one too. 31, sorry!
THIS or THAT
Elves or dwarves?
LOTR Elves? SUCH a crush on Legolas. Dobby type elves? See above. Don’t care for them.
Mead or mulled wine?
Gonna go with wine, since I don’t like really syrupy drinks and mead always struck me as such, but I’m willing to be proved wrong.
Medieval or modern setting?
Medieval. It’s so much simpler to write conflict and narrative if people are unable to pick up the cellphone and solve an issue in three lines of conversation.
Xanth or Middle-earth?
LOVE Xanth. I still laugh whenever I think of A Spell for Chameleon, imagining Mr. Anthony getting to know his wife in their first year of marriage and going, “You know…” That must have been his inspiration, don’t you think?
Rowling or Riordan?
Rowling, because when the first Harry Potter books were gaining traction, I was a skeptic and thought it was just The Next Fad that people were getting behind without any real substance to back it up. Then I happened to be on the
beach and a mom next to us began reading the first book aloud to her kids. I was hooked before Harry got out of the cupboard and wound up reading it to my own kids.
Where can we learn more about your books?
You can visit my website to read more about The Healer. It’s available through Champagne Books,
Amazon , US, Amazon CA, Kobo, or ARe.
Or contact me through Facebook or Twitter. I love hearing from readers.
Thanks Audra!
This week I’ve invited Dani Collins, author of The Healer, a medieval fantasy that crosses a Highlander romance with a political thriller, to be my guest star. Thanks for joining me,
Dani!
Hi Audra, thanks for inviting me!
Who is your favorite fantasy villain of all time, and why?
Am I allowed to make it a fairly recent one? I loved Seneca Crane of the
Hunger Games. I also love Snape, even though he’s not the real villain of the HPS. (Shan’t name the one who is!)
I think I just love seeing really refined, sarcastic, flawed men being subtly
cruel in a very disciplined way. I don’t like truly crazy, or those who
physically bind and torture, and I don’t like the odds to be stacked too high.
I like it to be a real contest for the protagonist, preferring when the villain is the embodiment of what the hero/heroine could have become and they overcome that dark reflection of themselves.
If Peter Jackson were to make a movie out of your novel, what would you hate to see him change about it?
If he added some small CGI humanoid, I’d lose my mind. The sweeping landscapes and the stunning alpha males fresh from the fight I will take, in spades please.
When you write, are you more of a planner or a pantser?
I’m a planner. I’ve learned this is a more productive process for me, less backtracking to fix bad decisions. (Which isn’t to say I don’t explore sometimes, when genius arrives to carry me away, but I always second-guess that
and try to see how it changes my plan and whether it will really work.)
Tell us what your fantasy novel is about, in 25 words or less.
Vaun frees a slave he thinks is Kerf, like him, but Athadia is Alvian, one of the dying race of healers his people fear—and she senses he is one too. 31, sorry!
THIS or THAT
Elves or dwarves?
LOTR Elves? SUCH a crush on Legolas. Dobby type elves? See above. Don’t care for them.
Mead or mulled wine?
Gonna go with wine, since I don’t like really syrupy drinks and mead always struck me as such, but I’m willing to be proved wrong.
Medieval or modern setting?
Medieval. It’s so much simpler to write conflict and narrative if people are unable to pick up the cellphone and solve an issue in three lines of conversation.
Xanth or Middle-earth?
LOVE Xanth. I still laugh whenever I think of A Spell for Chameleon, imagining Mr. Anthony getting to know his wife in their first year of marriage and going, “You know…” That must have been his inspiration, don’t you think?
Rowling or Riordan?
Rowling, because when the first Harry Potter books were gaining traction, I was a skeptic and thought it was just The Next Fad that people were getting behind without any real substance to back it up. Then I happened to be on the
beach and a mom next to us began reading the first book aloud to her kids. I was hooked before Harry got out of the cupboard and wound up reading it to my own kids.
Where can we learn more about your books?
You can visit my website to read more about The Healer. It’s available through Champagne Books,
Amazon , US, Amazon CA, Kobo, or ARe.
Or contact me through Facebook or Twitter. I love hearing from readers.
Thanks Audra!
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