Author Heather James drops by to discuss her debut novel, Fire, why she loves the fantasy genre so much, why she chose to write from multiple point of views, and which male character she would go on a date with from her own book ;)
About the Author: Heather James is a young-adult author who writes about heroines with amazing powers, heroes who will break your heart and fantasy realms that you will want to move to. She works in the attendance office of a South-East London secondary school and spends her school holidays writing, reading, playing flag-American football and wasting time marketing on Pinterest.
TeamNerd Reviews: Something we ALWAYS love to ask to all those who stop by TeamNerd Reviews: what makes you
such a big nerd? Were you a nerd when you were going to school? Do like to
collect anything?
Heather
James: I was definitely a nerd at school: one of the quiet kids who always did
their work on time and liked to sit in the library (although that had a lot to
do with how cold it was outside!)
I
like to collect names, as weird as that might sound. Whenever I come across a
good one, or one with a particularly interesting meaning, I make a note of it
for future use in a story.
TeamNerd Reviews: What made you
want to venture your debut novel into the fantasy genre? What about the fantasy
genre do you love?
Heather
James: I love the limitless possibilities fantasy provides. If I want my
characters to have amazing powers, that’s fine. If I want my world to have two
suns, that’s also fine (although I did have a long debate with my
physics-teacher fiancé about this one!). I have always loved fantasy stories,
but thought that creating my own world was rather ambitious, so I assumed I
would write a few other stories first before venturing into fantasy, but the
idea for the Elements of Power series just came to me and I went with it.
TeamNerd Reviews: Fire is the first book in your Elements of Power Series. The book
follows two of the four realms: Helian (fire) and Brizan (wind). What inspired
the concept behind the four realms (Helian, Brizan, Arcan and Sephan) and the
names?
Heather
James:
Helian
comes from ‘Helios’ the Greek god of the sun. He’s the one who gets really
angry in the Odyssey and kills off all of Odysseus’ men, so seemed fitting for
the inhabitants of the Helian Realm.
Arcan
comes from ‘arcus’, the Latin word for Rainbow. I didn’t realize it at the time,
but it’s also the name of a type of cloud, which is eerily fitting!
Sephan
is from Persephone – goddess of the underworld. She’s also associated with
spring and other earthy things, so very fitting for the earth Realm.
Brizan
is from Brizo, a goddess who watches over sailors. As with ‘Arcan’, I didn’t
realize it at the time, but Wikipedia has recently informed me that she was a
goddess ‘specializing in the interpretation of dreams’, which some fans might
want to read into…
My
initial concept of the four realms was actually a remnant of another story idea
I gave up on, which was all about pirates. The Realm names and their elemental
links were the religions of the world of that story. I abandoned the idea, but
not the realms. I never get rid of any old story notes or plans for this reason
– just because something doesn’t work out in one story, doesn’t mean that it
won’t be perfect for another.
TeamNerd Reviews: You wrote Fire from two points of view in first
person narration. Why did you decide to write both in first person and from two
of the female leads in the book? What do you hope young girls and women learn
from both Roxy and Jasmine?
Heather
James: When I first began Fire, it was only going to be written from Jasmine’s
perspective and Roxy was going to be a side character, but I really struggled
to move the story on and was fascinated by the Helian perspective on events. I
started writing from Roxy’s perspective as a way of fleshing out the
background, but everything clicked into place and I realized that the story
needed to be about both girls – it needed the balance of Roxy’s fierceness and Jasmine’s
calmness.
TeamNerd Reviews: What was one of
the tougher scenes in Fire to write
and why? Did you end up getting everything you wanted out of the scene or is
part of you still itching to rewrite it?
Heather
James: The toughest scene to write came towards the end of the book and is a
confrontation between Roxy and Cinaer. I think that I had such high
expectations for it, and it’s such a crucial moment in the book, that I put too
much pressure on it being perfect. It took me three attempts to write, but after
that I barely touched it, as I was so pleased with what I ended up with. Since
writing it, Cinaer has become my favorite character to write and I went back
and re-wrote many of his previous moments with this new, meaner Cin in mind.
TeamNerd Reviews: Jasmine and Brae
are childhood best friends and have a very close bond. Was their relationship
inspired by the friendships in your life? Why do you think friendship is such a
powerful element to storytelling?
Heather
James: I have an absolutely amazing group of friends, all of whom have inspired
and influenced the story in some way. I think friendship is powerful is stories
because, no matter how fantastical the setting or storyline might be,
friendships are something that all readers can relate to and connect with. One
of the strongest features of the Harry Potter series is the friendship between
Harry, Ron and Hermione, because it is so real.
TeamNerd Reviews: As the standard
question goes: what can readers expect from the second book in the series? Give
us some juicy details you haven’t told anyone else *wink wink* *nudge nudge*
Heather
James: Readers can expect to learn more about Jasmine and where she comes from,
and see Roxy really struggle with her sense of identity – Roxy’s powers and status
as a Protector are a very big part of who she is and without them she feels
incredibly lost. There’s also a moment, half way through, which will have half
of readers cheering and the other half cursing. My sister is in the second
group of readers and I wrote the scene specifically with her reaction in mind;
she didn’t disappoint and her Kindle was very nearly thrown across the room… You
can also expect some new characters and a closer look at the Sephan and Brizan
Realms.
TeamNerd Reviews: Jasmine is an
avid book lover (Yay! Book-a-holics! *hehe*). Do you share the same passion she
has for reading? What were some of your favorite books growing up?
Heather
James: Absolutely. I love all kinds of books and am always reading – I’m taking
a break from ‘Clockwork Princess’ to answer these questions (and I’m team Will,
before you ask!). ‘Growing up’ (although I’m still very much in the process of
that one!) I loved the Harry Potter series and books by Meg Cabot. I also read
a lot of classic-themed books, like the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline
Lawrence.
TeamNerd Reviews: You live just
outside of London. Would you ever write a book or series set in London? Or do
you already have plans for that in future books?
Heather
James: I do have plans for a novel set in London once I’ve finished the
Elements of Power series. But it will be a futuristic London, mixing some of my
favourite places with what the city might be like in a few centuries time.
TeamNerd Reviews: If you could go
out on a date with one of the characters from Fire, who would you choose and why? What would you want to do?
Heather
James: From Fire, I would have to pick Brae and I would want to sit on the top
of Bryer Hill, looking out across the Arcan Realm and putting the world to
rights. In the series overall, however,
I would actually pick a character I haven’t introduced yet – but he’s going to
feature quite heavily in ‘Water’ and ‘Air’. I don’t want to give too much away,
but he’s a Sephan and he’s going to give Brae a run for his money.
BIG thank you to Heather James for stopping by and letting us into her creative process and thoughts! Be sure to check out Fire, the first book in the Elements of Power Series, on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble!
