Ask the Author: Jeff Minerd
Answered Questions (4)
Jeff Minerd
Thanks for your question Laura!
I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in fifth grade. After that, I read those books every summer until I was well into my teens. I’ve got Tolkien in my soul, and there are a lot of allusions to Tolkien in The Sailweaver’s Son, although my world and characters and storylines are very different.
I also loved Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy as a kid, and I think the word of Etherium owes something to the world of Earthsea, although Etherium is a sky world, not a water world.
As far as modern fantasy writers, I love Jacquelyn Carey and her Kushiel’s Legacy trilogies. Now, Jacquelyn Carey is a VERY mature writer and not suitable for kids in the least. But she is the best fantasy writer I have come across in a long time. The way she uses language, tells a story, and reveals character has definitely influenced me.
I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in fifth grade. After that, I read those books every summer until I was well into my teens. I’ve got Tolkien in my soul, and there are a lot of allusions to Tolkien in The Sailweaver’s Son, although my world and characters and storylines are very different.
I also loved Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy as a kid, and I think the word of Etherium owes something to the world of Earthsea, although Etherium is a sky world, not a water world.
As far as modern fantasy writers, I love Jacquelyn Carey and her Kushiel’s Legacy trilogies. Now, Jacquelyn Carey is a VERY mature writer and not suitable for kids in the least. But she is the best fantasy writer I have come across in a long time. The way she uses language, tells a story, and reveals character has definitely influenced me.
Jeff Minerd
If you want to increase your chances of success with literary agents and publishers, write something trendy and imitative of books that have already been successful. That's what they're seeking. If you want to experience continual rejection and to toil away in obscurity for years, write something original. :)
Jeff Minerd
The Sailweaver's Son started with a dream. I dreamt that my son Noah and I were writing a story together. We were taking turns at writing it, and the writing wasn’t going well. We were struggling. The story wasn’t coming together. (I think this may have partly been an anxiety dream about my relationship with my son.) Anyway, when I woke up I couldn’t remember the story we had tried to write, but one vivid image stayed in my head—three kids sailing a sailboat through the sky.
The image persisted, and lying there in bed I started to think about the kind of fantasy world in which you could sail a boat through the sky. Soon, the world of Etherium came to me, and then the story. It was as if it downloaded itself into my head that night. Not all the details but the broad strokes—the characters, the creatures, the main plot points, key scenes. I never had an experience like that before. A short time later, I sat down and wrote the first scene, and the book progressed from there.
The image persisted, and lying there in bed I started to think about the kind of fantasy world in which you could sail a boat through the sky. Soon, the world of Etherium came to me, and then the story. It was as if it downloaded itself into my head that night. Not all the details but the broad strokes—the characters, the creatures, the main plot points, key scenes. I never had an experience like that before. A short time later, I sat down and wrote the first scene, and the book progressed from there.
Jeff Minerd
I’m working on book two of my series, titled The Wizard’s Daughter. The story takes the characters from my first book on a new adventure. You’ll get to know them better and see more of the world of Etherium. Like all the books in my planned series, this will be a stand-alone story. You won’t have to have read The Sailweaver’s Son to enjoy The Wizard’s Daughter. But it wouldn’t hurt.
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