Please welcome this week’s guest to the Showcase.
Born in 1995, Tallinn, Estonia. On a frosty winter day. A spark of joy in the midst of the darkest season.
I was a second daughter to my mom and for the longest time I thought I was second in everything. Up until high school, when my commitment to learning and good grades finally made me feel like I might’ve been first in something. There were always two things I was passionate about: writing and architecture. My mother was the one to say: “you can’t make a career out of writing” so I had my education in architecture. For three years I pushed myself through university – that was incredibly interesting, but absolutely stressful! During my third year I met my boyfriend in an online computer game. A Dutch guy, miles and miles away! I had one more year left to study, but my heart was pulling me to the Netherlands, so I followed it. I might write fantasy, but he is my magic.
Throughout my childhood I’ve owned a turtle, cat and a rabbit, but all I’ve really wanted was a dog!
The turtle was a very first pet that me and my sister received as a gift from out mother. I believe she wanted to teach us a little bit of responsibility. Kilps didn’t want to eat anything at first and I pretended to be sick, so I could stay home to take care of him. By the end of the day he had warmed up to me enough to munch salad leaves from my hands.
The cat was quite normal, however the rabbit was a rescue from the zoo. I had a pleasure to work at the Tallinn zoo one summer, in the children petting zoo area. There was a bunny there, very mean to all the other residents of the cage and it was decided that he would soon become a meal to one of the zoo’s lions. I couldn’t have that happen! So one day I simply walked home with our new pet, surprising the whole family.
I have called myself a writer (in my head) since high school. I didn’t dare to say it out loud for the longest of times. I had little to show for it. Some short stories that were left unfinished, a few poems, a few tries at starting a book that ended after inspiration ran out the door and were forgotten soon after. Even now, after having published my first book, I still sometimes feel like I’m trying to deceive people by saying I’m a writer. I suppose I hold that title in high regards.
My first book was published on 7th November, 2020. Before that I wrote a little bit of fan fiction and short stories that never got finished. My inspiration and commitment to Through Hell & Highwater came from a friend of mine who loves writing as much as I do. I read one of her books and came to a realization that there is no reason to stall the inevitable. We came up with this fantasy world together and figured out the mayor plot points with each others help. We would have written the whole book together with her too, but she managed to get really busy at that time. I was already hooked, though, and for once had to finish the story. Sophie, you keep on being an inspiration for me!
We worked together on the characters with Sophie. We wanted to write a story from many different perspectives and show something of every magical species taking classes in Volo Noscere university. She came up with Finley, Archer and Alfie. I am sure I took my interpretation of her imagination of the two vampires and the half-fae, but their origin is from her. Evyline, Lisanna, RocTar and Tylon were my choices for main characters, which is why they all got to tell the story through their eyes in the first book.
I have learned from experience that I will not take my own writing seriously enough, before I’ve made a whole plot plan and world creation process for it. I never thought I’d need it before, thinking I could simply wing it as I go along. But that’s what has made me quit on the stories before! I have Sophie to thank for the incredible planning that went into Through Hell & Highwater. Together we created a 50 page document of simply for world and character creation, layout of the university building and a lot more.
Short excerpt from Through Hell & Highwater:
Tylon was leaning against the wall next to the entrance to the girls bathroom, the rough stone behind his back biting into his shoulders. Greg stood across the mostly empty corridor, face contorted in concentration as a wobbly ball of water sneaked out of an open bottle Heizat held out for him. Even through his struggle to contain the water Tylon could see a grin starting to form on the wizard’s face. Heizat was already sneering.
A bead of sweat rolled down Greg’s forehead and Tylon followed it’s descent until it dripped off his chin and disappeared. He rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t have that much trouble with a simple water-ball. Ridiculous. He wasn’t going to help, though. His talents were wasted on a ball of water.
The door his friends were staring at opened when a dark haired Vampire stepped out into the hallway. Greg let go of the water he had been holding onto and flew it straight at the girl’s face. Both of Tylon’s friends snickered when their victim let out a surprised yelp.
“Great hit, Greg!” Heizat cheered, patting him on the shoulder.
“You son of a -” the Vampire started, but was stopped by another splash in the face.
Heizat had had more practice with water-balls and had created one almost effortlessly. If his friends ever had a fall out, Tylon would take the Fae’s side just because he had greater chances of winning whatever fight would follow. Tylon didn’t ally with losers.
“Ty, your turn!” Greg said through laughter.
“Come on, Ty,” Heizat pushed as well.
The furious Vampire girl gave Tylon a nasty look and shuffled past him, leaving a trail of small puddles in her wake.
Further down the corridor another girl came to view. She was wearing a black leather jacket that Tylon absolutely approved of. Her dark jeans hugged her curves tightly. Tylon whistled softly at the way her hips swayed. Her dark brown hair pooled around her face and two bright purple eyes stared back at him in annoyance. A Shifter. He could get into that.
The striking pools of purple took in the Vampire girl rushing towards her. “Finley! Here you are! What happened?”
Finley? Archer’s sister? Tylon shook his head. No. Wasn’t worth it. He did not want to deal with the consequences of an ‘attack’ on Archer’s sister. He ushered his two still snickering friends to the other direction.
“Come, you fools. That’s one Vampire in the campus you do not wish to mess with,” he muttered under his breath.
“Not so fast!” the purple eyed Shifter shouted out.
Greg and Heizat took off running and Tylon followed them, cursing under his breath.
“That was brilliant,” Greg said, when they stopped on the third floor, right before professor Percilla’s classroom.
Tylon caught his breath. “Yeah, great,” he said, marching into the room green with plants.
Links to Through Hell & Highwater:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MY6ZZBD
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/through-hell-highwater
I am currently working on a sequel to Through Hell & Highwater and I have plans for further books in the same fantasy world, unconnected to the story unfolding in the first book.
Through Stones & Ashes will be released in November 2021 at the latest!
My sites:
https://vicwritesbooks.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/vikitydruk/
My thanks to this weeks guest for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.
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Have a good week,
Richard.
