The Goblin's Heir

Q and A

Thanks, everyone for your patience! I literally just got back from my trip and immediately had to write this out. You all had so many great questions! Just a bit a warning that if you aren't caught up and you're reading this for some reason, stop now. There may be spoilers below. 

Q: What made you start writing?

A: It all began when I discovered a little thing called fanfiction dot net. I was a bit late to the party. I live in a very rural area and had dial-up internet a lot longer than most people I know. Still, when I was in middle school, even though I had to wait forever and a day for each page to load, I adored that website. Eventually, I tried my hand at writing a story of my own. The very first thing I remember writing was a Dragonball Z fanfiction. I will never say its name or give you a link as it is still out there on the interwebs. I dared to reread it a while back and wanted to fling myself back in time and punch myself in the face for posting it. It's just one long unending paragraph. It's nearly unreadable, but I can't bring myself to delete it. I can't remember if it's actually the first thing I wrote, but it is the first thing I dared to share with anyone else and for that, it holds a special place in my heart even if I find it embarrassing. Can you tell I'm still a big Dragonball Z fan because I can still hear it in the way I describe fights, especially when the fae are using magic? XD There have been times when I've deleted whole paragraphs because it was starting to read like a script from a dbz episode.

Q: Where do you source the beautiful fae illustrations you use in your chapters? 

A: I believe that all of the art I use for the headers are by Brian Froud, character designer of Jim Henson's Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. The look of The Goblin's Trilogy, as I see it in my head, is heavily inspired by his art. 

Q: What is or was the hardest thing to write about for the Goblin Trilogy?

A: Oh god, I don't even know where to begin. There was a lot to choose from. However, the part that really comes to mind was Magni's death. I worried that it was too dark a subject and that it would upset people. I almost didn't do it! I have several family members on both sides of my family that have lost young children and I wanted to be respectful of readers that might be going through something similar while still not shying away from the psychological and emotional toll something like that can take on, not just each individual parent, but the couple and the family as a whole. It was a tricky part, but it's probably the most important event in the entire series.

Q: Do you ever feel guilty for what you put your characters through?

A: Sometimes. I often feel like I'm abusing poor Matilda, but the whole point of her character is that she's doomed to struggle and claw for everything she has and everything she wants. There were several times in Book 2 where I sat back and asked myself, "Is this too much? Have I gone too far?" But then I thought of how delightful your comments would be, shrugged and kept typing.

Q: Is there anything you planned to write but just turned out differently? Like an alternate ending to a problem the characters had?

A: The finished chapters will oftentimes change drastically from what I first envisioned. For example, in the first few drafts of The Goblin's Crown Knut's role changed repeatedly. He and Ib's characters were reversed in one. Ib was the handsome goblin king and Knut was his spymaster. In another, the goblin king was a short little toad of a man. Matilda was going to murder him on their wedding day and take the crown herself. Knut was her personal spymaster and they eventually fall in love. I almost kept this version, but I loved Knut's character so much, it kind of got out of hand an evolved into what we have now. The same can be said for a lot of the characters. At one point I was also planning to let Magni live. Matilda was going to give birth and have to take care of an infant while being a slave to the summer court, but then the plot of the third book changed a bit...

Q: Do you have any other books planned?

A: Ohohohohoho, boy, do I?! I have several ideas, some are further along than others. My computer is choking on word documents. The question is, which one will I actually focus on after the trilogy is done. I have a book about giants, one about trolls, an adventure story set in an rpg based world, one about a grandma saving her granddaughter from being stolen by fairies, and a horror version of the Cupid and Psyche myth. This, my friends, is why I have to force myself to focus on just one story at a time. If I don't, nothing gets finished. 

Thank you all again for your questions and for reading the trilogy! I had so much fun with this! I think I answered all the questions I received. If I've missed anyone or you haven't had a chance to post yours yet, please send me a message and I'll add it on. Thanks again!Reply