Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
I am from southern Alberta, Canada, and have lived here most of my life. I was married for awhile and lived further north but moved back here with my two kids when we split. I have two teens, a son and daughter, who I am immensely proud of. We also have a cat and dog who are both black and white. We call them twins-of-different-species because they have a lot of the same markings, which is both weird and funny. We often refer to them as Moo-cat and Moo-dog for fun.
When I’m not writing or thinking about writing novels, I work as a corporate writer and developmental editor, so I’m surrounded by words all day long! Before the pandemic, I had been working at an optical clinic while going to school online to become an editor. It was my way of becoming a better writer while giving myself a new career that I would love. I was laid off when Covid-19 struck, and thankfully, within a couple of months, managed to land two jobs right up my alley with incredible teams of people to work alongside. I am very blessed.
For fun, I love to dive into MMORPGs to immerse myself into their storytelling experience. People often tell me I’m hilarious and quick-witted, but what do they know?
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “A Single Spark”?
My biggest challenge was discovering that I wasn’t a phenomenal writer in my first book (which will never see the light of day). Or my second…or third books. It turned out that growing as a writer was discovering the plethora of new writer mistakes I was making, like show, don’t tell, and adding directional movements that screamed, “I’m a new writer and don’t know what I’m doing!” One honest reviewer pointed this out in her Amazon review, and that was a bit of a wake-up call. I reworked my first book and just recently published a second edition because I knew that if I wanted to really be a great writer, I had to do better. I didn’t want my readers getting turned off the whole series because the first book was amateurish. It’s a process, and I am always trying to hone my craft.
The other challenge I had was plotting out the Rise of the Phoenix series as a whole. I wanted to lay a lot of the groundwork in the first novel so that I could set up events later in the series. Some of the interactions that might seem innocuous will actually provide a clue to something important later in the series, which I took great delight in hiding in the books. I tend to be a planner, but also try to let the story carry me in whatever direction it wants to go, which can make plotting out the whole series tough when I don’t fully know where it will go.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
I have been a huge Tolkien fan since I finally read The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was 20. In my 30s, a friend introduced me to the Wheel of Time series which I fell in love with. Later, the Game of Thrones series really sparked the ideas of warring Houses, family drama, and the delicate balance of power and how easily it can shift. I love a good suspense book, regardless of genre, though the fantasy worlds are the ones I could really see myself living in.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
I love going anywhere into the Rocky Mountains. When I was growing up, we spent a lot of our summers camping and hiking in the mountains, so I have a lot of great memories. There is nothing like the crisp air or the alpine scent to relax and inspire me! I actually used many of my favorite spots in the Rockies as the inspirations behind some of the landscapes in the world of Isirion, like the Scarlet Ridge and Grennich.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘The Twisting Flame’?
The Twisting Flame is the second book in the series, and it’s one of the most painful parts of Carys’s story. If A Single Spark was laying the groundwork for the family dynamics and the current balance of power, The Twisting Flame is where Carys hits rock bottom. A Single Spark is the “before” picture, where we explore what Carys’s life was like, and The Twisting Flame is the grueling transition from who she was to who she becomes later in the Rise of the Phoenix series. I love seeing characters grow and change, and I knew getting Carys to grow would be a challenge because she’s stubborn! Seeing her hitting the lowest of lows and coming out on the other side a new person was really exciting, and I can’t wait to see her continue to grow.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘A Single Spark’?
It took me about 3 years to write it. I could have written faster, but I had two young kids at the time, and so I took a breaks from writing just to take care of the family. I dove back into it in the midst of separating from my husband, moving to a new city, and trying to adjust to being a single mom. Starting my life over drove me to finish it like a madwoman to prove something to myself, but in retrospect, I wish I had taken more time with it. I wanted to show my kids that they could do anything they set their minds to if they committed themselves to it.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
My books are self-published through BookBaby and can be purchased directly from them, but also from Amazon Kindle, iBook, Barnes and Noble, and most other online bookstores.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Twisting Flame’?
I had a lot of fun thinking about covers! The mask on the front of The Twisting Flame might feel like it doesn’t fit with the pain and the transition that Carys experiences, but really, the theme of the book is about unmasking the truth about the characters and history of their world. People use masks to hide who they are all the time, whether it’s a criminal using a physical mask to hide their identity, or psychological mask that someone who is deeply insecure might wear like emotional armor. Getting a glimpse of what’s under the mask isn’t always pretty, as Carys discovers, but symbolically, often the prettier the mask, the worse the face underneath.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
For myself, sometimes I set my WIP aside and write something completely different to change up my pattern of thinking. Sometimes I read one of the books in my to-be-read pile, or watch a movie that might give me a new perspective on a topic, or spark some idea that I can use in my stories. Sometimes and idea pops up in a way I didn’t expect and takes a story in a completely new direction.
For the reader, I try to keep things fresh by writing something unexpected, or giving them something interesting to think about. I like to keep them guessing or trying to figure out a clue that might provide insight into what they think will happen.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A long time ago, I read a piece of writing advice that really stuck with me: “Write each character as though they believe the whole story is all about them.” Since I write from Carys’s viewpoint, it can be really helpful to step out of her head and put myself in whomever else is in the scene to think about how they would approach this scenario if they thought the book was about them. Getting into their head to see things has often changed the course of the scene when they don’t react the way I initially thought they would! Every character has a life of their own, and I would hate to miss out on their perspective.
Tayvia Pierce on Amazon
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