Today we have with us Lance Conrad, author of The Price of Creation and the soon to be released The Price of Nobility.
Blurb on The Price of Creation:
"The Historian chances
upon Surac, a land where people's destinies are defined by powerful
pendants they have from birth, called Stones. Those whose Stones give
them useful skills call themselves Creators, and isolate themselves from
all others with a wall that splits the entire continent. When Aric, a
Creator blacksmith, has a son born with a Stone that marks him for
violence and destruction, they find themselves in danger from those they
called their friends.
When the boy, Sadavir, is ultimately
banished, he discovers secrets far darker than the villagers' petty
prejudices. On the far side of the wall, he learns the origin of the
Stones' magic and a war that dates back centuries. As he uncovers the
true power locked in the Stones, he must find a way to unite ancient
enemies in order to save his family. To stop a genocide, Sadavir must
face his own destiny of violence." - Goodreads
Lance was kind enough to answer the following questions for us, interesting for readers and writers alike.
What inspired this
novel?
Believe it or not, The Price of Creation was originally
written as an allegory for third world poverty. Nobody got it, they just
thought it was a fun story, and I’m ok with that.
Are you a planner or
a panster when it comes to plotting your books?
I’m something of a hybrid. I like to have a vague storyline
put together before I get started. Then I have a few scenes that I feel define
the book. These scenes are vivid in my mind and are planned out in the extreme.
Everything else is really fluid. I know I’ve got a good book going when it
takes on a life of its own.
Have you ever been
surprised by a book you were writing?
Oh bloody heavens, yes! I actually cried at the end of The
Price of Loyalty (due out the end of 2014). The characters really took off
without me. If I wanted to know what happened next, I had to type faster.
How long did it take
you to write this book?
The Price of Creation was my first book and I was writing as
a hobby, so it took me about eight years. I think I’m still caught in that
loop, I don’t think I’ll ever consider that one truly “done.”
Who designed the
covers, and did you have any input?
Noel, a wonderful graphic designer at Dawn Star Press,
designed all the covers. On each cover in this series, there is a symbol just
below the eyes, and I got to pick that. For The Price of Creation: a hammer and
anvil. For The Price of Nobility: a roughed-up crown. For The Price of Loyalty:
fire.
The self-publishing
market is becoming widely lucrative and now a path that many writers choose.
What’s your take on traditional versus self-publishing?
The whole industry is in flux, both traditional and self-publishing.
Both formats are currently untenable. Traditional publishing is bulky and adapting
too slowly to the digital revolution, both with e-books and the effect the
internet has had on their marketing.
Self-publishing has been deluged with low-quality books to
the point where it now has a stench to it. Bookstores, libraries, reviewers,
and even bloggers don’t want to touch self-published books, which cuts your
marketing off at the knees.
There is a third classification that will evolve over the
next five to ten years that will take over the industry, but I feel I am
already taking too much time on this question. Suffice it to say, it will
satisfy the quality requirement for the booksellers and libraries, while still
putting a lot more responsibility on the writers themselves for the marketing
of their books.
What advice do you
have for future writers?
Get out there and live. The glory days of writing, when an
author could sit at home writing and the world would eagerly wait for their
books, is over. We need to up our game, so to speak. We need to have adventures
of our own, so we can make our books personal and powerful. We need to be able
to meet new people and make friends so we can network in our industry. We need
to be able to speak and present and sell ourselves so people want to buy our
books.
Who would you choose
to play Sadavir in the movie version of your book?
That’s a hard one, you’d have to take an actor who has
proven himself with the deep emotional stuff, then turn them into an action
star. Maybe someone like Dev Patel or Aaron Tveit would do well.
What advice would you
give to your younger self?
“Believe in your writing. You’re going to waste a lot of
time mucking around with a lot of unsatisfying jobs before you give in and give
yourself a shot.”
If today was your
last day on earth, what would you do?
I would go for a run, so I felt fit and alive. I would write
something powerful, so I felt important. I would spend time with family, so I
felt loved. Having done those things, feeling alive, important, and loved, I
would face death with a smile on my face, because I would feel triumphant.
Can you give us a
sneak peek of your next book?
Absolutely. The Price of Nobility comes out at the very end
of June. I will always remember this book as when a supporting character stole
the show. The core of the book is two brothers who decide to kidnap their king.
They do it to show him what his people are going through under his selfish
rule. To pull it off, however, they join up with a dark creature of a man named
Asher. He has his own agenda and reasons for getting involved.
While I didn’t mean for it to happen, Asher became one of
the most compelling characters in the book. He’s the one all the alpha readers
talk about. I actually had to do a full rewrite to try and get a bit more focus
on the king.
One lucky reader has the chance to win a printed autographed copy of The Price of Creation. Enter below (U.S. only).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
