Interview with Luke Geraghty author of "Torrodil"

First off I would like to welcome Luke Geraghty  here at Curse of the Bibliophile to talk about his debut  young adult novel "Torrodil". I would also like to give him a big thanks for agreeing to do an interview with meFun and highly entertaining Torrodil is a great edition to any bookshelf. My review of the book can be found here
You can also read more about the author and his novel at his website.

Torrodil Title: Torrodil
Author: Luke Geraghty

Synopsis:

War brews in the world of Torrodil, and Anna Gray is too busy drinking hooch to give a kruk.

But when the enemy lays waste to her home, Anna unleashes a terrible power – one that teems beneath her skin, inviting her to tear apart the earth itself.

Forced into the wild, Anna must battle through jungle rapids and desert wastes to find the women who share her gift, joined by a best friend one quiver away from browning his trousers. Yet the greatest danger lies within.

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1. Getting your story published must have been a long process. Was there anything or anyone that helped kept you from getting so discouraged that you just gave up?

I started the novel after moving away from home and living on my own in a new country. I knew it was now or never. I had no Internet or television to provide me with an excuse not to write. It was a me against myself situation.

That said, there would be times I got so frustrated I didn’t want to write another word. The only way I dealt with it was to go to the library, find a new book to love, and want to write a book to match it. A bucketful of dark chocolate also helped.

2. When self publishing your novel “Torrodil” what sites worked best for you?

I’d recommend Amazon and Smashwords above everything else. If your eBook is well-edited with a good cover you can get into the Smashwords Premium Catalog, which means you get distributed to Apple, Sony and Barnes & Noble stores amongst others. A wider distribution is never a bad thing.

3. Do you have any tips about self publishing that you would like to share with us?

Have realistic expectations. If you sell five copies of your book in a month, that’s still five more readers than if you’d left the manuscript to gather digital dust on your hard drive. Ultimately, the writing is what will sell your first book and your last, so make that your priority above everything else. I’ve had some days where I had to unplug the router to stop myself checking stats all day long.

4. You have so many wonderful characters, but is there anyone in particular that you enjoyed writing about the most?

Kara and Tommy were probably the most fun to write. I would lie in bed, half asleep, and suddenly a one-line zinger would pop into my head. I also like that they provide opposite types of humor. Tommy is lovably dumb, whereas Kara is acerbic and cutting. It’s easy for women like her to be tagged with the “bitch” label, but I don’t see her that way at all. She’s young, she’s had some experiences which have closed her off from the world, and as the story progresses she becomes a more complete person.

Writing Anna was either good or so-hard-I’m-going-to-eat-my-weight-in-Häagen-Dazs. She’s the emotional anchor; you have to take the reader on a journey with her and make them invest in her character. Scenes towards the climax were particularly draining to write.

5. Were any of your characters or events from the book based of real life people or experiences you have had?

I once had a boss from Hell. She was either popping out for a fag break or deciding to have a second breakfast at 3 PM, leaving me to do her job while she was away. I told her that it was unacceptable. She reported me and I lost my job. Suffice to say, writing Anna’s boss from Hell was both therapeutic and fun.

On the other side of the spectrum, Nan Bunton was based on my grandmother. She passed away when I was young and I still think about her every day. She was a warrior of a woman.

6.  Are there any other projects you are working on that you would like to tell us about?

Currently I’m working on a gritty, twentysomething novel about aid workers. Hopefully it’ll be out before Christmas. I’ve also just released Torrodil: A Year in Writing, a half diary, half guide covering the experiences I’ve had over the last year and what I’ve learned about writing. It’s free to download on Smashwords.

7. I really enjoyed the voice of the story which tended to be on the humorous side especially when dealing with Cesar and Anna. How did you come up with or decide on this voice?

I think every writer has certain genres they prefer over others. Personally, I like reading stories with a mix of comedy and drama. When I started writing, the comedy scenes came more naturally to me, so I ended up skewing the book in that direction.

I remember writing scenes that were meant to be serious and reading them back the next day, laughing at how over-the-top they were. Comedy can be ridiculous and get away with it.

8. Do you plan to revisit the land of Torrodil anytime?

Definitely. I wrote this book as a standalone, but I have too many ideas to let the story end there. Plus, I have so many questions. Will Cesar and Anna get together? What is Venecia like?

I guess I’ll have to write the answers myself.

Once again Thank you Luke Geraghty for taking the time to do an interview with me and thank you to all you wonderful followers!

Comments

  1. Congratulations on the author interview! I got excited about reading Torrodil one of these days. Also, this post gave me a lot of tips on writing and publishing; very helpful.

    Nancy
    www.nancycudis.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome interview! I loved it and now I have another book to add to my TBR pile! Congratulations!

    Charla

    http://myopinonmightnotbeyours.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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