Thank you for this interview! I’d like to know more about you as a person first. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Thank you for having me, Ember!
There are things to do other than writing? Haha, I do use most of my free time for either working on a book, promotion, or learning writing craft. When I’m not doing any of that, I love gaming- I’m a huge Pokémon fan and I’ve played World of Warcraft for a long time. I enjoy anything fantasy related, like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. I spend time with my church too, I play bass guitar there and we have a great time!
When did you start writing?
I started seriously at the end of 2014, but I have bits and pieces of stories from when I was at school. I can’t remember ever not having my head full of adventures. I have way more pictures I drew as a kid than pieces of writing because that was the best way I knew how to express what I was creating at the time.
As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?
Just deciding to do it. Instead of thinking ‘I’d like to write a book’ I changed it to ‘I am going to write a book.’ That flick of a switch inside made a dream into reality, instead of sitting down and doing something when I felt like writing, I made a plan and stuck to it. There were a lot of harder things and more significant milestones but they wouldn’t have happened without that initial choice to pursue what I wanted to do.
If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?
I would go to a quiet little house in the Lake District in the north-west of England. It has the most beautiful scenery, mountains all around and waterfalls everywhere. I’ve never lived there, but every time I visit I feel like I’m going home. I could happily cosy up and write there forever, looking at that landscape and listening to the rain.
If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?
I would write, of course 😉 I wish every day came with an extra four hours of writing time!
Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?
As a fantasy author, I don’t really write about real places. I’ve got a few interesting worlds lined up to set future stories in, but all of them are my own creations and are liable to change by the time I get to writing about them. I would dread trying to set a story somewhere real, I’m so unobservant! I drift through life with my mind so set on places that don’t exist that I wouldn’t even be able to describe my home town very well.
Most of my ideas are for worlds that are medieval-style but I think it will be nice to write a modern fantasy at some point, though that would still be in a setting from my imagination.
Back to your present book, Heirs of Power, how did you publish it?
I self-published using Amazon’s KDP service for the Ebook and Createspace for paperbacks. I just want to say thank you to the many, many people that helped to make it possible, I couldn’t have done it without you all!
In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?
Does traveling in my head count? I think to create a believable fantasy world you do have to take time constructing it, not just think about characters and plot, otherwise you end up with a bland setting. When readers think back on it they mix up places or events if there isn’t something that makes an impression on them about the surroundings.
Why was writing Heirs of Power so important to you?
It’s my debut novel! I think that no matter how many books I write, it will always have a special place in my heart. I have a lot of ideas and I plan on working through them, but I fell in love with the characters for this series instantly and there was no way I wasn’t going to share them with other people. Asher is very pushy, he wants me to get his story down so people will love him as much as he loves himself…
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?
My best ideas come when I’m not thinking about them, sometimes when I’m asleep I have amazing dreams and have to quickly write them down as soon as I wake up. Other times I know exactly what I’m writing and then suddenly BOOM and I’m like ‘it would be so cool if I did this instead!’
I don’t know exactly why this is, I’m grateful though, my work would be really boring if I had to try and come up with stuff on purpose.
What are you currently working on? Do you have any new projects released in the coming months? If so, tell us about them.
At the moment, I’m writing the next book of The Constellation Saga, it’s called The Mage-Lord’s Legacy. I’m about three-quarters of the way through my first draft and I think it should be ready for release at the end of the year, it keeps getting bigger though thanks to all these pesky random ideas!
Now it’s time for my favorite part. This? Or That?
Q: Winter or Summer? *
These are the only two seasons I’m happy with, I’m such an arachnophobe that I spend the entirety of Autumn and Spring on edge because they are in my house!!! In Winter, they are gone, in Summer they stay outside, therefore I am content. A lot of my life is spent making sure I don’t go near any spiders. They freak me out so badly!
Q: Bath or Shower? *
Shower for sure, it’s so much faster and more convenient. Also, I have pretty long hair so it’s better for rinsing out the shampoo. When I was younger I used to read in the bath a lot though, it really annoyed my parents, haha.
Q: Coffee or Soda? *
I think this question is broken… Tea is life!
Q: Sausage or Bacon? *
Has anyone ever picked sausage? Bacon is so good, I even had bacon chocolate once and it’s much better than what you are thinking right now.
Q: Rock or Country music? *
Rock! Give me some powerful vocals and a chunky bass riff and I’m a happy lady.
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Twitter- https://twitter.com/KayMacLeodBooks
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/KayMacLeodFantasy/
Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15975307.Kay_MacLeod”>Goodreads
Amazon link to your book or author’s page.
UK- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kay-MacLeod/e/B01MDSNQ0A/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1486248511&sr=8-1
US- https://www.amazon.com/Kay-MacLeod/e/B01MDSNQ0A/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
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Website- http://kaymacleodbooks.com/
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