Ask the Author: A.G. Rivett
Answered Questions (5)
A.G. Rivett
Beware exclamation marks!
A.G. Rivett
This would have to be either the world of JRR Tolkein's 'The Lord of the Rings' or CS Lewis' Narnia. I would be very quiet and grow vegetables.
A.G. Rivett
We are privileged in living in a very green and pleasant part of Wales. I get much of my inspiration from the natural world. This may be just walking, turning over some aspect of plot, or I might see something - it need not be dramatic - that I can write into the story. For example, an early draft of The Seaborne had chapter one beginning directly with Fengoelan, Targud and Dermot bringing their boat with its strange cargo in to shore. But one day I climbed Pen Coed y Foel, the hill opposite where we live, and watched these two ravens, more-or-less on the same level as I was, soaring back and forth on the up-currents. I came home and wrote in an entirely new beginning, with the raven from the sky watching the boat making landfall.
A.G. Rivett
After several false starts, the third book of the trilogy, The Shareg, is now under way. (If you don't know what a shareg is, I suggest you read The Seaborne. And if that's not a plug, I don't know what is!)
I hope to have a first draft finished by the end of the year, and then Gillian and I will go to work on it, until we've polished it up as well as we both can.
I hope to have a first draft finished by the end of the year, and then Gillian and I will go to work on it, until we've polished it up as well as we both can.
A.G. Rivett
It was while I was writing The Seaborne that I realised that I couldn't leave the story with Dhion and Shinane together at last. The story had to work right through, from entry into alternative world, back to return to our reality. I'd set hares running - particularly the place of women in this alternative society, and how their imagined spirituality will work facing opposition. It required the other two books of the trilogy, and straight away I saw where they would be going.
I work by imagining myself into a situation. How would I respond? How have I experienced other people responding? Then the characters begin to take on a life of their own, with their own style of language, what they would and would not do. And when they come alive, the story lives.
I work by imagining myself into a situation. How would I respond? How have I experienced other people responding? Then the characters begin to take on a life of their own, with their own style of language, what they would and would not do. And when they come alive, the story lives.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more