Hi everyone!
I have another lovely author interview for you today. I think a lot of people in the fantasy community will know Justin. The Lost War won SPFBO a few years ago and then it was traditionally published by Orbit last year.
Today his sequel, The Bitter Crown, is published in the U.K. – and the reviews I’ve seen so far are pretty amazing!
I really enjoyed The Lost War when I read it earlier this year. If you haven’t yet read it, here is my spoiler free review.
And if that sounds interesting, I’ve just discovered that the ebook is £1.99 in the U.K. atm ⬇️
Now… without further ado, here is the interview!
On writing
Hi Justin! You write within the epic fantasy genre. How do you go about creating your worlds? Was this world in your head for quite a while or did inspiration strike you like lightning?
I think I’m unusual in that I heavily based my world on reality. My hometown of Edinburgh served as the basis for the whole country of Eidyn, with its history, mythology and etymology contributing to not only the world but some of the characters and story elements too. I basically mashed all that together with a D&D vibe world and voila: Eidyn!
What authors have inspired you?
Oh, loads. Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde, Tom Holt, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Patrick Rothfuss and Joe Abercrombie are big ones I mention often, but also people like Ed McDonald, Anna Stephens, RJ Barker and Nicholas Eames. Also classic writers like Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle, or more modern classics like Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller. And then there’s my mystery/thriller influences, like Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesboand Imogen Robertson. I’m a mash up of influences, which probably explains my mashup books!
What is your favourite perspective to write from? (1st/3rd or omniscient – I’m going to assume it’s not second… but maybe I’m wrong!)
That is a good question. Carpet Diem is pretty much written in 3rd omniscient and the Eidyn books are 3rdclose. But I’m really toying with writing something in 1stperson next. I’ve written a couple of short stories in 1stperson and I like the immediacy of it. The Hunger Games, written in 1st person present, is so well done and completely gripping for it. It works especially well for thriller scenes, I find. So the answer is… I don’t know!
In terms of drafting, can you go through this process? Some writers have a first draft that is almost complete, other writers only do the bare bones of the story and their editing is a lengthy process. Where do you fall here?
I tried to write Carpet Diem ‘perfect’ on the first draft and it took me a decade, so after much good advice from my wife, I changed that practice and now I write a first draft through without looking back to edit. So now my ideal process is 1/ first draft, read only by my wife, 2/ second draft with my own edits and my wife’s feedback, goes to my agent and a few beta readers 3/ third draft, with feedback from agent and beta readers, goes to my editor. And then we start the editing again! I find that editing always makes my books longer, because if anything I write quite tight and have to be reminded to do things like describing a location! Every book so far has gotten longer in edits.
How are you managing work/life balance? When do you find time to write around work and other commitments? What is your writing routine?
I’m very lucky to be in a position to write full time, so I don’t have to write around another job, and our youngest child is now 13 so it doesn’t take all that much time to keep him alive! My main issues that sap time are health-related – I have problems with chronic headaches and other pains, as well as depression and anxiety, all of which can really drag me down and hinder getting any writing done. But it’s damn sight easier than trying to manage all that and a full-time job on top of writing too.I marvel especially at parents of younger kids, who also have full-time jobs and still manage to write. I don’t know where they get the energy!
Have you ever had writers block? If you ever do, what works to get you back into the writing zone?
Oh, yes! But I have a technique now that works every time. I sit down with a notepad and list all my MCs with four lines after each. Then for each one I write down: 1/ where they are, both in the world and the story, 2/ what they’re thinking, 3/ what they’re feeling, and then 4/ what they are motivated to do next. Once I know what each character is motivated to do next I almost always know where to go with the story, whether it’s doing what they want to do or if there is conflict between competing needs and desires.
Do you listen to music while you write/edit? If so, what music is on your playlist.
It changes. I wrote Carpet Diem to Rodrigo y Gabriela, The Lost War to mostly atmospheric stuff from ambient-mixer.com and The Bitter Crown to a combination of ambient mixer and classical music. But for third Eidyn book, I’ve been listening to a lot of Tori Amos, which is the first time I’ve been able to write to anything with lyrics. I think it’s because I love her music and it’s so familiar that I don’t need to focus on the lyrics – it’s just really comforting and helps me relax my anxious brain. Or maybe it distracts the anxious part so I can sneak in the writing!
On getting published
You have been published by Orbit, but you self-published The Lost War previously to this. Can you tell me about how the deal with Orbit came to be?
It was a pretty straight line from winning SPFBO in 2020/21. Mark Lawrence kindly introduced me to his agent, Ian Drury. Ian loved the book and offered to represent me and within six months we had an offer from my now editor, Bradley Englert at Orbit. It was a bit of along way round to get there, but it worked!
Your cover art is beautiful! We’re you involved in this at all?
Well, Bradley and I usually have a discussion first about who should be on the cover and what the setting could be, and I give a description of the characters for Jeremy Wilson, the incredible artist. After that I basically just give feedback on the early draft, in terms of getting the characters to look right. All the hard work is done by Jeremy and the designer, Lauren Panepinto, who comes up with the final concept and directs the design.
Current books
The Bitter Crown
I read The Lost War and really enjoyed it. (I especially loved how you created and pulled together the band of characters.) How would you pitch your series to those who haven’t started yet?
After being asked for an elevator pitch for The Lost War and not having one, I consciously made one. So my pitch is: It’s a Scottish epic fantasy mystery conspiracy thriller found-family road trip with a D&D vibe and a twist! That’s a long-winded way of saying it’s a mashup of all my favourite stuff.
You are about to release your second book in the series. How are you feeling? What has been different regarding releasing the first book in a series compared to a sequel?
Conflicting emotions! I was very nervous about it, because by its nature I couldn’t just do more of the same with The Bitter Crown. The Lost War is a unique thing and so part of the sequel process was “Well, what happens now?” And the answer came, thankfully, but it is different. So I was nervous about people liking it, as well as wary of people’s high expectations. But the early reviews have been great, so I’m a little more relaxed about that now. I’m also excited because it’s my first brand new release in four years, so it’s been a while! I just hope people enjoy it as much as they hope to. Some of them have waited a long time! As for what’s been different, there is definitely a bigger push in terms of marketing for a first book in a series, I think. I’ve been fortunate that there has been a lot of enthusiasm from the SFF community for this book, so hopefully that enthusiasm will carry through!
What themes (if any) are you exploring with the second book in your series?
There are two main ones. The first is moral complexity. I like to dive into the greys of issues and not just play the black and white of good and evil, so there’s a lot of that in there. And the other is looking at how people with the same objectives can still find themselves at odds over how to achieve them, and what that can mean. It continues to be a metaphor for modern culture and politics, which is the underlying theme of the whole series.
How many books are you planning in this series?
It’s four books. It was three, and then book two got too long, so it got split into two!
Any plans for what you want to write next?
I have multiple ideas. I’ve been promising Carpet Diem readers a sequel for years, so that’s on the radar. I also want to convert an old script idea about vampires and mages into a novel. And I have ideas for a dystopian post new Civil War USA, a futuristic superhero SF thriller inspired by Keith Giffen’s Legion of Superheroes run, and a serial killer mystery with old gods. I haven’t decided yet which will come first…!
Reading
Who is on your current TBR list?
Oh dear God, it is so ridiculously big. I was lucky to be sent copies of all the other Orbit 2023 New Voices authors, so there’s about a dozen to start with, and I have a bunch of sequels by the likes of Ed McDonald, RJ Barker and Carlos Ruiz Zafon to get to, I was gifted a beautiful Broken Binding special edition set of Mike Shackle’s Last War series, and just looking over my shoulder I can see CL Clark and Tamsyn Muir, both of which I’ve been wanting to get to for ages. And that’s not even allowing for the two stacks beside my bed, which I know includes the likes of Mark Lawrence and Anna Stephens! I’ve had a really slow year for reading, for various reasons, so the TBR has backed up to unmanageable proportions…
What books have you enjoyed recently?
I’m currently really enjoying Atoned by Steve McHugh and the other I adored in the last year was Daughter of Redwinterby Ed McDonald, which is why Traitor of Redwinter is high up the TBR list.
Thanks for answering my questions and good luck for today!
For those who want to know more about Justin, here is his author bio.
Justin spent 15 years as a professional writer and editor before his debut novel, Carpet Diem, was published in 2015. It became a best-seller and won a 2018 Audie award. His second book, The Lost War, won the 2020/21 SPFBO award and was picked up by Orbit as the first of the four-book Eidyn Saga.
Justin lives with his family in East Lothian, just outside his hometown of Edinburgh.
Thanks for reading!
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