THE INTERVIEW
1. For starters, please tell us a
little about yourself.
Well, I’m a writer to begin with ;-)
I’m also a very avid reader, a history buff, lover of good coffee
and forests (not in a tree-hugger way, but with a woodsman’s
respect.) I also love Scottish and Irish folk music and I play
fiddle, piano, guitar, tin whistle and bodhran though never together.
I’m a bit of a strange person with an odd sense of humor, but then
I’m a writer. (I use that as the excuse anyway.) You can only be so
normal when you have people talking to you all the time in your head.
2. Have you always been a writer? Have
you always wanted to be a writer?
Not really, in fact I didn’t like
writing much at all until I was about ten or so. I always liked
making up stories, so I suppose in a way I did always like the
thought of being a writer. I didn’t really think about it seriously
until I was twelve. That was when I started thinking of how awesome
it would be to be published one day.
3. In your opinion, what are the
easiest and most difficult parts of being a writer?
Well, for me the easiest part is coming
up with the ideas. Seriously, they just happen. Anything can spark an
idea for me, so that’s pretty much effortless. The hardest part is
definitely the formatting, marketing, and publishing. Writing the
book is the easy bit; I love doing research, and even editing is fun
for me because I like to see how I can improve my books and I have
great writers-in-arms who help me with that, but it’s all the post
writing stuff that gets to me. But then I do not regret my choice of
self-publishing either. And all the hard work pays off in the end
when you hold your book in print for the first time. I never get over
that.
4. Would you tell us what your book is
about?
No, I won’t, you’ll have to read
it… Just kidding ;-) Overall, it’s about brotherhood, friendship
and loyalty. I love reading war novels because of the brotherly
friendships that form between the men, and that’s what I was trying
to portray in my novel. The hero is Sir Reeve Montgomery, an English
knight who is left by his comrades on the field of Stirling and
captured by the Scottish rebel, William Wallace’s army. He’s
treated as a slave, and turns bitter, but when he witnesses an
English raid on a Scottish town and sees his countrymen, knights at
that, performing horrendous acts against chivalry, he begins to
wonder if what he had been fighting for the whole time was really the
right thing.
5. Is this your first book?
No, this is my third published book and
the seventh I have written. My other published works are “Freedom
Come All Ye” which is a YA novel about William Wallace as a
teenager and then “Ballad of the Highwayman” which is a
swashbuckling adventure/romance set after the English Civil War about
a young man (Kilroy Allen) turned highwayman after his father is
falsely convicted of treason against Charles I. He sets out to find
the man who betrayed his father so he can return to his real life and
marry his childhood sweetheart, Sylvia Davies.
6. Your book is a historical fiction
novel. What is it about history that intrigues you?
The people, definitely. I love novels
for the characters and I’m the same way with history. I do like
certain time periods above others, but it’s definitely the people
who have to do with that. William Wallace is one of my favorite
historical characters as well as Manfred von Richthofen, George
Washington, Lafayette, Robert the Bruce, Montrose, Jack Churchill,
Horatio Hornblower--okay he’s not real, but you get the point ;-)
It’s also the stories. Stories that need no tweaking to be better
and more exciting than most novels. What really attracted me to
British history to begin with is that the stories are all so
spectacular that it’s hard to believe. Wallace and Bruce are
characters who could adorn the most epic novels (or movies,
obviously) and don’t get me started on Irish history and stories
like Red Hugh of Donegal whose story reads like an R.L. Stevenson
novel. They just don’t make them like that anymore.
7. I understand you like to practice
with historical weaponry. Could you give us some examples and tell
us how you began that hobby?
*Laughs* well, it’s my love of
history that made me start, and I’m the kind of author who likes to
try things out before I write about them. Since I write a lot of
historical war/adventure novels, I knew I would have to know a little
about swordplay and things like that, and then I moved on to archery,
a bit of boxing and have even tilted against boxes on my bicycle with
a pole. And for the record, no one needs to know how that particular
adventure went. I usually end up choreographing all the fight scenes
in my books in my back yard before I write them. Most of my
experience comes from books, accurate movies, and studying battle
tactics. I learned boxing from reading Louis L’Amour. Currently,
I’m actually working on creating my own fighting style that the
hero in my upcoming steampunk novel uses that involves two short
sticks and is a bit like singlestick.
8. What projects are you currently
working on?
I’m working on two novels. One is a
Victorian steampunk mystery (mentioned above) that should be out
sometime next spring, I’m hoping. The other novel should be out by
December and is about Romans and Celts. I have two main characters;
one a Roman centurion named Viggo and the other a Celtic chieftain’s
son named Caolán who is taken by the Romans after his father is
killed in battle and sold into slavery. Viggo also lost his son in
the same battle to Caolán’s father and is bitter toward the young
Celt because of that. I’m not going to say much more than that
right now ;-) I am currently writing three short backstories to go
along with the book and the first one about Viggo (“To Save a
Life”) is now published on ebook and you can find it on Smashwords
via the link below.
9. Where can readers find you on the
web?
My Blog: http://hazelwest.blogspot.com
(If you want the latest news about my books, and fun advice on
writing or the writer’s life, this is where you go!)
And I have made a Facebook page for my
hero detective Anthony Maxwell who you can find here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthony-Maxwell/978987912241341
10. Do you have anything else you would
like to add?
My last remarks from the scaffold:
(Told you I had a strange sense of humor)
“There is nothing better than a
friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”
~Linda Grayson
(One of my favorite quotes)
Thank you much for interviewing me! =)
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sir
Reeve Montgomery is an Englishman born and bred, proud of his
heritage and the right to serve his country fighting against the
Scottish rebels. But when the tide is turned unexpectedly during the
Battle of Stirling Bridge, he is wounded by an English arrow, left
for dead by his comrades, and taken captive by Wallace's army.
Wounded, and alone on a foreign field, he knows he should expect
nothing but torture and death at the hands of the Scottish rebels who
are known to be complete savages. But as he comes to know this tight
brotherhood better, and sees Wallace's utter devotion to his men and
the cause of freedom, Reeve begins to wonder whether the English are
right to oppress them. Faced with these troubling thoughts, Reeve
must decide whether he will stay true to his king, or join this
brotherhood of freedom fighters, thus turning his back on everything
he has ever known or believed in. This new novel by Hazel West is a
thought-provoking, heartfelt read about the true meaning of loyalty
and brotherhood.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hazel West spends a good bit of her time writing historical fiction about brave
men and women who have graced the pages of history, trying to bring
more light to their legacies so readers of all ages will enjoy them. Her favorite things to do are writing, obviously, listening to and
playing Irish and Scottish folk music, practicing with all eras and
types of historical weaponry, drinking GOOD COFFEE, and reading good
books. She currently lives in Florida.
GIVEAWAY
Hazel
will be giving away an Amazon Gift Card during her tour to one
randomly drawn commenter.
Disclaimer: My participation in this book tour does not mean that I
have read and/or agree with the work being promoted. Typically, unless
I'm doing a book review, I do not have the opportunity to read the books
before promoting them. The purpose of virtual tours is to help fellow
authors promote their works, and while I am very particular about who
and what I promote, I cannot guarantee that the beliefs and views stated
in any specific book are my own.
2 comments:
Thank you for interviewing and hosting for me, Dana!
Happy to have you, Hazel!
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