My first author interview. This interiew is with Quinton R. Wall, author of Seed o Hope, the start of a series based on the Talent Tree.
1.Tell us about yourself.
Well the first answer is pretty obvious; My name is Quinton Wall, and I tell stories. I am a fantasy writer, with my debut book The Seed of Hope, out in stores next month.I am originally from Melbourne, Australia, but now live in the central coast of California where I spend countless hours hunched over my laptop in my local starbucks trying to get all my ideas out, and into story. I guess you could say I have the writing bug, and love what I do.
2.When did you start writing?
I have written in some shape or another all my life. As a teenager I filled notebook after notebook of stories, and maps, and puzzles for my weekly game of Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. As I grew older I moved into technical marketing where I wrote whitepapers, articles, and actively blogged on my IT sites. As for my novel writing career, this was something I had often thought about, but never really took too seriously until I finished reading Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. I loved the first book, and put it down once I was finished thinking to myself, “If a 16 year old kid can write a book like this, what is stopping me?” In someway I had surpressed the creative side of me; what with work, and a young family, but Paolini’s book, unleashed a torrent I had been holding back for a long time. The first result of that is The Seed Of Hope, which I started writing in April 2006, and finished a little over a year later.
3. Who would you consider to be your writing mentors?
Mentors is a hard one, influencers is probably more accurate. My first entry to the fantasy genre was Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, followed by a slew of others with Robert Jordan being the standout in traditional fantasy influences. Philip Pullman and JK Rowlings are my major influences in the world of Young Adult writers, with Mitch Albom being a heavy influence for future books I have planned. Mitch Albom has the incredible ability to paint a vivid story, and do it in half the amount of words that other writers do.
4.What inspired you to write The Seed of Hope?
As I mentioned previously I was inspired to write primarily after reading Eragon, and finding my reawakening so to speak. This was also about the same time I was doing a lot of traveling for work, and I was listening to audiobooks for hours each day. I think I listened to the entire Harry Potter series in a period of a few weeks. During the past few years I had also been making up little stories to tell my, now 7 year old, daughter as she fell asleep each night. Somewhere along the way we started making up stories together. It was then that I decided I wanted my first book to be something where I could weave the ideas my daughter and I conceived, and make a great story out of it.
5.How did you come up with the idea for The Seed of Hope?
Everybody always asks the ‘where do you get your ideas from’ question, and honestly for the most part, I really don’t know. They come from somewhere in the dark recess of my imagination I suspect. But with The Seed of Hope, a lot of the primary ideas came from the stories my daughter and I made up (the Bag of Brakka was 100% her idea, including the name), and the scenery near my home in Central California with its rugged coast line, abundant wildlife, and incredible vistas.
6. What were the inspirations behind each of the six main children?
I think the characters all have some parts of friends, and family peppered with personal experiences, and a lot of creative license thrown into the mix. Many of the characters, Gideon in particular, really grew throughout the many revisions of the manuscript: almost to the stage where he rivals Charlie as the primary protagonist. Gideon and Charlie really come from the opposite spectrum of family life, and a lot of the conflict throughout the novel is born from these difference. Throw a few other opinionated kids, and a bunch of magic, and who knows what could happen.
7.What other books are you currently working on?
I am currently hard at work finishing the first draft of book 2 of the Talent Tree series , currently titled Of Worldly Deeds, and will then roll straight into the final book. After that I have a standalone book, tentatively titled 9 lives, another fantasy trilogy called Magus Emporium, and finally I have a few ideas/notes about a prequal series set back in the Talent Tree universe where we follow the Seekers, and their motivations.Every day I sketch out a few more ideas --- its just a matter of prioritizing them, and working through them. 9 lives is the one book however, that is just begging me to be written.
8.What are some of your favorites? (Author, food, color, book)
I have so many favorite books/authors but Robert Jordan is the stand out for fantasy, with Mitch Albom, your more ‘mainstream fiction’. In terms of other favorites well Thai is my favorite food, Microphone Fiend by Eric B. and Rakim is my favorite song, and Imogen Heap is my favorite musician/artist. My favorite sport is running. I’ve completed 2 marathon’s and will likely do more, as soon as I can work out how to type, and run at the same time.
9.Any other fun facts about you?
Hmm fun facts, what witty comment can I add here. Not much, I’m pretty normal, aside from the idea knocking away inside my head waiting to be let out, and written down.Thanks for the opportunity to let me tell you more about me and The Seed of Hope. Don’t forget to check out HYPERLINK "
http://quintonwall.com"
http://quintonwall.com for all the latest information, and take advantage of the special pre-order discount through Amazon.com ( HYPERLINK "
http://bit.ly/theseedofhope"
http://bit.ly/theseedofhope). My book is officially released next month (August 2009) so you still have some time.
And that is all folks! Great interview. Thank you Quinton for your time and great answers!
Signing off from Swift Current, Saskatchewan,
Tony Peters
