Ask the Author: J. Carter Merwin
Answered Questions (8)
J. Carter Merwin
I would definitely move to Middle Earth, since I know the landscape, lock stock and baggage but what I would do there I have no idea, maybe a tavern maid at the Prancing Pony. But I belong in my own world of Earden, I made it, it's mine, the places and peoples...the undiscovered territories...There I think I would be a bum...just wandering around, trying to remain unseen, stealing pies out of window sills, watching everything, and since the stories go in chronological order, I'd love to start from the moment Aolwynd opens the gate and lets Boru and his soldiers into her courtyard.
J. Carter Merwin
My favorite couple (at the moment) is Masters Alan Devers and Fructus Bell. Between the two of them they seem to be running the Guardian's Palace, Alan is a kind of Master of Household and Fructus is head cook of the palace kitchens. Writing their back story and using them to watch the action and discover what's going on has been a lot of fun. It just goes to show you that the characters you create take on a life of their own, these two have definitely jumped in to the story with both feet, The fact that it is a gay couple appealed to me very much, as I have consistently tried to show constant, loving couples, no matter the preference of gender, even villains have had their hearts broken! When I imagine what they look like, and all authors do (although we may try not to influence the reader), I see John Rhys-Davies as the burley and good-hearted Bell and Ian McKellen as the imperious Devers.
J. Carter Merwin
'The Seer' is the fourth novel in the Earden series. I don't know if there will be a fifth but there's definitely going to be a prequel called 'The Good Woman' based on a character from the first book, Lauro.
J. Carter Merwin
I don't have any trouble, I write when ever an idea comes to mind, somewhat like Agatha Christie, she had little note books and scraps all over her house. My purse is full and the legal pad follows me around. Last year my dryer broke down and I wrote a lot of the Fledgling sitting quite happily amidst the noise of the local laundromat.
J. Carter Merwin
I'm currently writing the fourth novel in the Earden series, tentatively called 'The Seer'. It's named after Aolwynd's girl child Brilliana who has the unfortunate fate of being possessed by spirits and occasionally blurting out portends of the future, but being a child, she can't do much about it. It's moving along quite slowly as everything starts to mesh in the third book. So many of the circumstances (war,treachery,betrayal,love and death) and the important players in this world (Aolwynd,Boru,Faolan,Rute,Tanner and Kora et al) have come together and their lives must be woven into the pattern of events. It's not like the first book which I felt I was 'spirit writing'. Zoom! Zoom! No, these two are going slowly along.
J. Carter Merwin
Definitely disappearing into your own world, you create it, all the characters and places are real to you in a very special private way that in some senses is much more alive than the ordinary world you live in. You can travel there in an instant and you can stay there, happily for hours. People don't understand, or they do on some level, that's okay, but it's yours, you own it. Like a god, you can slip from one skin to another, seeing your world through the eyes of every one of your characters, human, animal, ghost...
J. Carter Merwin
Don't take yourself too seriously when you're writing. That's what stops me fastest. I stare at the page and try to think of the best worr to describe what I'm trying to say. Killer! Just scribble away as fast as you're thoughts come. The first book came out chronologically, one scene after another, amazing really, but when I look back, The Swan and Arrow was drafted maybe a dozen times, bits and pieces re=arranged, re-phrased. There's plenty of work to be done to polish after you get the words down on paper for the first time.
J. Carter Merwin
I had writer's block for about ten years, coinciding with my son's illness, everything took precedence to that besides the fact that my husband's painting career was and is something that takes a lot of time. I got so my creative spark just faded into the background. Like Maslow's scale of human necessities, my writing just didn't seem to be that important. Then two years ago this November a couple of things happened that shot me out of the water: ( pardon me, I just saw a whale video this morning!) I discovered Tumblr.com and my husband started pumping vitamins into me! B12 is something everybody should be taking, I'm not kidding, especially women. My energy level came back big time and I carved out time for myself. As for Tumblr, it just fascinated me, the role players, the fan fiction writers, the artists...all sharing their stuff, for the joy of it. I thought, I can write a story on Tumblr just for me and my followers, no pressure, no self-criticism, no goal other than having fun and just letting it flow. So that's how I met Aolwynd, and the pirates, Arius and the Wild Folk, Boru and his Guardians, Brilliana the Seer, Jermaine the drunken princess, the realm of Earden all this came pouring out. Two years later I'm on the fourth novel and polishing the third for publication!
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