Abigail Linhardt

 

Interview with Abigail Linhardt

Author of

Season of the Runner and Goddess Among Us

 

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

I have two currently. One is the third instalment to my Witcher-esque dark fantasy series Season of the Runer. This series is my primary love interest right now and I get excited to work on it every day. The series follows two main characters from the middle-eastern-inspired country of Al’Myrah as they hunt monsters for a living and accidently incur the wrath of a necromancer and a sorcerer, leading to larger conflicts that they’d rather not be a part of. 

My second WIP, called Prince of MidWest, is a dip into YA and I haven’t quite placed the genre. It’s wild west-ish, steampunk, alternate history, and there’s also a vampire. So I’m not sure where it belongs. It’s inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo so there’s lots of revenge, plotting, and it all starts with a good old fashioned jailbreak. It’s low magic as well, so there’s lot going on!

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

For Season of the Runer, I actually got inspired from these Saudi ghost hunters I watch on youtune. They were far braver than their western counterparts when it came to chasing down haunts and shadows they believed to be djinn. I thought, “Dang! If these guys were ghost hunters in a fantasy world, they’d be bad ass!” So then, I wrote that story. It just happened to turn out like The Witcher, which I am ok with.
For Prince of MidWest, it was a NaNoWriMo project back in 2015. It was an exercise in writing a certain kind of main character, which I ended up changing all these years later. The book has gone through MANY drafts and I think it’s finally starting to look like something I can be proud of. I LOVE Alexander Dumas and have read most of his books. I studied France and French in mu undergrad and don’t get to show those loves often in my writing so I took this opportunity to dive into them.

Do you write in more than one genre?

Sadly, yes. Marketing for more than one genre has been a struggle, but I love so many genres! I write dark fantasy, paranormal horror, YA fantasy, romance, sci-fi, and even dipped into space opera for a whole trilogy (not published). I think what makes my stories uniform is my characters. I love sympathetic, emotional, raw characters and they are consistent through my writing. If you like my style, you’ll like my sci-fi as much as my fantasy!

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

I like to think I do pacing well, and have ever story focus on the characters more than the world and the plot. I like people that populate my stories and focus on them. I think that makes my stories very unique and very raw. Someone once told me that my writing reminded them of Russian literature in that it was all very dark and depressing. I’m not sure if that was a compliment, but I took it that way! The famous English teacher and writer Anna Leonowens (someone who has inspired me a lot) once said, “People do not see the world as it is: they see it as they are.” As someone who deals with mental illness every day, I do indeed see the world as I am and I not sorry about that. My viewpoint is unique and dark, and—as the literary agent Donald Maas says, the fire in fiction is you, the writer. You are what makes your writing good.    

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

For sure. I take a lot of my life experiences and mostly the feelings and revelations of those experiences and put them in my writing. Other times I don’t, and my writing has very little to do with me. I am currently writing a YA paranormal horror trilogy (called The DarkFront Witness, not due out until 2023) that is helping me process the guilt and sadness I have been hording about my brother’s death. Other than that, my main character in Season of the Runer—Tzarik—is really helping me process my depression. I make him figure out the solution to his problems and it inspires me. He wasn’t going to make it out of book one alive, but I took pity on him and had a great revelation for my own life when I showed him mercy and allowed him to overcome his desire to end his own life. It’s been hard and I’ve been told the characters I write like that are not appealing as not many can identify with them. But I do. And I know at least one other person will. If characters like Tzarik and the upcoming Huck (DarkFront Witness) can inspire someone to just give life just one more chance, I’ve done my job as a writer.  

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

I am a ferret mom! It’s like being a crazy cat lady but so much worse. For other people. For me, it’s great! Also, despite all the sad things I’ve talked about, I’m generally happy and often hilarious. At least, I think so.
I have a group of guys who play video games online with me and they help keep me funny!

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

I read this divine little book called The Landlord of Hummingbird House by a beautiful soul named Jane Harvey. It reminded me of Jane Austen and cozy mystery and chick lit and just felt so good to read. It’s cute. Romantic. Emotional. I think any woman my age should read it.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. It’s about books. It’s about fantasy and the responsibility storytellers have to tell good stories. If there was a bible for fantasy writers, that’d be it.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

Haven’t had it yet. However, I have learned to work very hard for my books in the last two years. That doesn’t just mean I have a passion for writing. You have to turn that passion into actions. I am an introvert so it’s very difficult. But I have to step out there for my stories! I spend months writing them, editing, getting betas. Then I spend thousands on producing them (covers, narrators, editors, etc). I have two fulltime jobs to support my books so realizing I needed to get myself out there came as a harsh reality. I cannot sustain working like this and writing so I have been turning that love into actions by reaching out to bloggers, podcasters, cons, fairs, libraries, and other places to get out there. In person is best and most profitable. But so hard right now. I haven’t had much success yet, but I think my books are good enough to make it if I can just be brave and put myself out there!

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

I wish people would ask me about my books. It’s happened maybe once in the last five years. They are my life, and no one cares. I think most indie authors can relate to this. I’d love to sit and discuss my books like a book club with just one person in my lifetime. Have them ask questions, have them point out how they caught my symbolism and saw how I used literary devices to frame this dramatic scene. Tell me their favorite character and why. Tell me a detail about the book they loved. Something that really shows they liked it and read it. I do have some support for my work, don’t get me wrong. But not that. I’d love that.

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

Yup! And this is all I will say on the subject because I get heated (hahah) as do the people on the other side of the opinion. I always say, “The only thing an outline stops you from doing is having writer’s block.”

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Thanks to Abigail for participating.

In my own writing, Book 6 of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series has moved into chapter 19. The adventure has not suffered from any lack of excitement so far, but the exhilaration factor will be ramping up as we enter the last third of the book. The thrilling exploits will mar English ruins, devastate armies in America, and wreak havoc among strange new creatures with life and liberty on the line.

You'll want to get in on the action with books 1-5 in the series. Did I mention that there are dragons? Well, there are--and so much more.