Welcome to Meet The Author! Today Mandy Ward has stopped by to give us a little insight into her life and her books. So let’s get started.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
When did you start writing?
I started telling stories as a child - I'd tell them to myself to put myself to sleep. I went through the usual teenage poetry phase, but instead of writing soppy, drippy teenage angst, I wrote about prostitutes, adulterers and Haggis...
My real writing started at University where I wrote short stories to try and avoid the reports, essays and projects my course insisted on. However, I didn't start getting published until 2004 or so...I think! It's a bit hazy.
What projects have been published?
In Print format, I have three children's rhyming stories, "Pika the Phluph and the Gribblebid Tough," "The Grungegogglers Mess" and "Father Christmas and Quinza the Linzer." These stories are produced in collaboration with my children (they helped with creating the characters and world) and my friend, Maria K., who illustrates the books.
In Electronic format, I have a collection of short stories called, "The Necklace of Harmony," a novella called, "The Tower and The Eye: A Beginning" and a novel called, "The Angel's Crown" from a series called, "The Secret of Arking Down." I'm planning on releasing these e-books in Print format this year.
Tell us about "The Angel's Crown" from "The Secret of Arking Down" series.
It is a combination of things. In one aspect, it's a growing up story, where the main character, Jenni, discovers who she is, both to herself and to other people. It's an adventure in more than one sense, because, not only does Jenni have to grow up quite quickly, she also has to find a particular object to stop the world of her birth being destroyed, so she does a lot of travelling.
How did you select the title of your novel?
As the book evolved in the first draft, I found myself with a lot more world than I had story for - an occupational hazard in my genre!
Several other stories suggested themselves, each taking a different character from the first book as their main character and needing a different object to fix a problem. The objects became the titles of the books, so "The Angel's Crown" is basically the object that Jennie is looking for.
What was your inspiration?
Initially, I was inspired by a particular house in my village, but as the story grew, I found myself bringing in various things that were clearly inspired by books that I have read. For example, what happens to Aderyn Archington after he dies is inspired by "The Ship Books" by Anne McCaffrey.
Science Fiction fans may well be able to see where other things I have used came from; I watch a lot of Dr. Who, Star Trek, SG1 and Firefly, so it is inevitable that ideas have crept across subconsciously.
That's the beauty of ideas and inspiration though; they don't lie dormant in whatever place they started. A receptive mind seeing them will always pick up on a great idea and adjust it to their own need, be that need a real scientific experiment or a way to get a character from one place to another quickly.
What are you currently working on?
One of my New Year's Resolutions is to finish the most important WIP's first, so I am alternating between "The Secret of Arking Down" series books and "The Tower and the Eye" series.
What are you reading at the moment?
I love Fantasy and I'm being seduced (enthusiastically) into reading Steampunk. I've read the whole of Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" series and Raven Dane's "Cyrus Darien and the Technochromicon." I just finished "Dark Running" by M. Cid D'Angelo.
Repeat
And finally, can you tell us some fun facts about yourself, such as crossed skydiving off my bucket list.
I haven't actually managed to cross anything off my bucket list yet...Fun Facts huh? Hmmm...I know - I have a lot of names!
I'm known as Barn owl to a lot of the girls in my village. I am one of the Leaders at a local Brownie Guide Pack and that's my Leader Name. It's also one of my favourite birds, hence, why I picked it.
I also help with the Girl Guide Unit, but there, they just call me by my first name, although that can get confusing because one of the other leaders has the same name!
To several people from various websites, I'm known as the Tiger Princess; I am also Kira Morgana for Fantasy / Children's books and A.E. Churchyard for Dark Fantasy / Science Fiction; makes me easier to find!
I am called "The Ed" on Welcome to Wherever; my webzine and I have various names to various members of my family, most of which are embarrassing.
Where can we find out more about you, and where can we purchase
your books?
I’m all over the place – it’s one of
the reasons I chose to use the pen names that I have!
To find my books:
Kira Morgana’s Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B004UKPFQA
Literary Underground: http://litunderground.com/KiraMorgana.html
My Bio
Mandy thought she was a Teacher, until
Life pointed out to her that she is actually a writer. As her Cats, Kids and
Partner approved, she decided to agree with Life.
Currently she is working under the pen
names of "Kira Morgana" on
a five book Fantasy Novella Series, as well as a number of other projects,
including a Children’s Rhyming Story Series in collaboration with Maria K; and as “A.E. Churchyard” on Science Fiction and
Horror.
As If that wasn’t enough, she spends
a week or two a month putting together “Welcome to Wherever” and volunteers at
a local Guide Troop.
She does all this from a body in South
Wales, UK. Where her mind is, she hasn’t yet worked out…
Other Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/kira_m_author
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