Maria Yrsa Rönneus – authour, artist, graphic designer. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be three things: a ballerina, a farmer, and a writer. Born and raised in rural Sweden, rambles through fields and forests shaped her and continue to influence all her work; animals and plants are ever present. Whether images or words, she immerses herself wholly in her work. The majority of her stories are written in English and, most commonly, in the genres of historical fiction, contemporary romance, or short stories inspired by Scandinavian mythology and folklore. She and her husband live in the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula. Your Regency Tales remind me of works by Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde in terms of setting, characters, humor, and social commentary. Where have you drawn inspiration from for the series in general and specifically Offers of Atonement? Thank you. It’s a great compliment to be compared to Austen and Wilde, and both are indeed role-models to me. At the same time, I’m writing for 21st century people, and I try for my own and original style. Inspiration comes from everywhere, from everything I’ve ever experienced or read, from everyone I’ve ever met. Having dated a fair few “bad boys” in the past, I know that it’s generally more of an ordeal than an adventure. The first idea for Offers of Atonement was born as an attempt to write the trope of “bad boy transformed to great boyfriend” in a way that felt credible. Offers of Atonement is book 5 in your Regency Tales Series. Each book can be read as stand-alones. How does Offers of Atonement differ from the other books in the series? All the novels are character-driven, and the stories are told from the characters’ POV. It sort of follows organically that the story-telling hinge on their personality and outlook on life. Captain Hartcourt is a cynical fish in murky waters and so, this story is a shade darker than the others. That said, it’s been some years since I wrote the first one and I have also evolved as a writer in that time. Your descriptions often bring the past to life, through all the senses. How do you capture a past setting so well and ensure its accuracy, even in such everyday details? Imagination and research, lots and lots of research. I spent four years researching and writing Offers of Atonement. Of course, some things are impossible to know exactly – the odours of a 19th century sugar refinery for example. Though there still are sugar refineries, they’re nothing like what they were back then so, even if you’d been to one, it wouldn’t have been the same. Here’s where an aptitude for kitchen disasters helps, I’ve failed with enough batches of Christmas toffee to know what burnt sugar smells like. Not everything is that different from our own time; I was raised in the country, in a 19th century farmhouse that gave me first-hand experience of wood stoves, outhouses, and so on. Your main characters, Lady May and James Hartcourt, both have quirks that really add to their characters, whether it’s May’s superstitious stories or Hartcourt’s reliance on the deck of cards he carries. These parts of their characters suit them well and make them seem even more real. Do you actively work to create your characters or do they come to you fully formed? It varies; some characters show up more or less complete, others take more work to flesh out. Hartcourt has been a minor character in some of the previous books, so his personality had developed in my mind over several years. May was harder to get a grip of. When the book begins, she has very limited experience of the world; the tiny village has been her whole life. Yet, she has quite firm opinions and having her tell little anecdotes to back up her theories was also a device to show something of her past life and the village. In Offers of Atonement, you revisit some characters introduced in earlier books in the Regency Tales. How has it been revisiting characters from new perspectives? It was hard actually to try to see favourite characters in negative light. I had to flip the perspective, making good – sanctimonious, caring – overbearing, witty – patronising etc. Not everybody reacts the same way to things or people, we interpret things differently. But that’s life, isn’t it? Who has been your favorite character to write and why? Lord Peter Whysleigh, definitely. Partly because he’s such a useful supporting character – he’s been messenger, comic relief, spanner in the wheels. But also because of his personality; he’s shameless, says what others merely think, but it’s impossible to be angry with him. Yet, there is a depth to him that he only lets people glimpse. In both Oaths of Affection and Offers of Atonement, you write strong women main character, who are capable of taking on an otherwise horrible situation and turning it on its head. They manage to create their own agency in a world that often limited women. How do you figure out the creativity for your characters to navigate such a world? As you rightly point out, middle and upper class women were, as a rule, bound in daughterhood, wifehood, even widowhood, successively. The history of working-class women is different entirely. For unmarried, upperclass women in early 19th century England, that bond was financial and conventional rather than legal, that is, it was the convention that young men were given means and opportunity to independence and young women were not. The fourth part of Regency Tales – Orbits of Attraction – deals with this in particular. Upperclass women were typically not taught any skills that could lead to useful employment. Then as now, there can’t be agency without means to support oneself. So, I try to figure out what courses of action might realistically have been open to them and then I try to think what they, given their character, might have done. You are covering topics that are still relevant today, including homophobia and disparity between economic classes. How do you balance the modern with the archaic to tackle these conversations? Looking at the world as a whole, I’m afraid not much has changed. Humanity is still largely struggling with the same issues broadly speaking. Offers of Atonement deals with concepts of rebellion, oppression, and domestic terrorism, but also about perspectives – who’s the hero depends on one’s point of view. It also aims to highlight the importance of the ability of changing one’s mind. Historical accuracy is not always comfortable. You had mentioned setting aside personal feelings to still adhere and achieve accuracy. How do you accomplish that and why is that important? The present is a product of history. We all exist in our own historical context but that context is what it is because of what happened before. History explains the present if you will. To have any hope of understanding our society or even ourselves, we must also understand how we got here. Revisionism damages that understanding. I would prefer a story that ends in a happy ever after for every one, but for the sugar refinery workers, for the child prostitutes, for the chimney boys, for the dogs that were bred only to live their entire lives to run in a wheel, it rarely did. I feel I owe it to them to not turn my eyes away. When I wrote of the aftermath of the battle of Waterloo in Odyssey of Attachment (RT3) I cried constantly and had nightmares for weeks. Can you talk a little about the tools and techniques you utilize for tackling such topics in a historical setting and tips and tricks for accomplishing this? Two that really stuck out to me were when you chose to use humor and the push back by some characters in a genuine give-and-take seen in dialogue. I wrote my first historical fiction when I was seven. It was a funny piece about how Napoleon had his nose shot off. My teacher had me read it out loud to the class and everyone laughed. I realised then that if you can make people laugh, they listen. Once you have their attention, you can talk about serious things. Letting characters discuss and debate is a good way of raising issues, showing different points of view, and at the same time avoid coming off as preachy. Regency Tales six and seven are outlined, but I haven’t started writing them yet. Number six is set later in 1820, just after Offers of Atonement ends, and will, as usual, reconnect us with some of our old friends. The most exciting news right now is that I’m currently writing on something completely different – a sort of Mediaeval-esque fairy tale about three princes, a prophecy, and the damsels that will save them from distress. Follow Maria Yrsa Rönneus on Social Media! "We shall need a corpse." When Captain James Hartcourt’s best friends ask him for an unusual favour, he doesn’t hesitate. Losing fortunes at cards, London’s shady underworld, his mother’s schemes – few things faze him. Until he meets Lady May. Destitute but determined to retrieve the family estate, Lady May arrives alone in London with a proposition he cannot refuse. She discovers that Captain Hartcourt is a cardsharp with emerald eyes and dangerous kisses, but soon she must wonder whether he is a murderer too. Mixing the profound with the hilarious in a rare formula, Offers of Atonement, brings the early 19th century to life in vivid colours. This literary, romantic comedy comes with a gritty twist. Inspired by writers like Austen, Wilde, and Wodehouse, this is wholly original story by Maria Yrsa Rönneus. Offers of Atonement is the fifth stand-alone novel in the Regency Tales – a series of captivating and remarkable dramas of love and jealousy, friendship and deceit. TW: Contains profanity, mild sex, violence, attempted rape.
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Interview with Abigail Silver, Author of Visions of Fire (book 2 in the Redeeming Grace Trilogy)4/15/2023 Abigail Silver grew up reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern books and her father's old comic book collection in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. She holds a BFA from Edinboro University of PA and currently resides near Charlotte, NC. She shares a humble one-story abode with her husband, son, and fur children. When she's not reading, writing, or drawing (which is rare), she enjoys blasting music with the windows down on long road trips. Hi, Abigail! I am very excited for this interview and I appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions. Absolutely a pleasure to talk with you, Ellie! Thank you for taking the time to read Visions of Fire and to ask such thoughtful and insightful questions! 1) Are you a pantser or a plotter? Can you share a little about your writing process? So, I’ve never been someone who can plan out all of my scenes and then write them down as if I were filling out a worksheet. That process takes out all of the mystery and discovery for me, which is what keeps me coming back to the page. That said, there’s no way to tell a story this complex without some kind of a road map. This was the first time I tried to write with a particular ending scene in mind rather than letting the characters and logic take me where they would. So, starting with that scene, I sort of fleshed the story out in a backwards way, asking myself what I needed in order for everything to make sense in the end. I did do a scene by scene timeline when I was about halfway through the book, just to keep track of all the moving pieces. I referred back to it a few times, but by the end it was completely ignored. I have looked at it since finishing the trilogy, and I'm pretty sure it’s a completely different book. 2) What inspired Gracie's story? Music is a huge inspiration for me. I have a long commute and I enjoy listening to the pop stations and streaming services, as well as news and talk radio. I get a lot of inspiration for my writing from all of those things - from song lyrics to current events, as well as situations going on in my own life. Of course other fiction, like books, TV shows, and movies can give me a creative nudge as well. For Gracie in particular, I was watching a lot of Dr. Who at the time and very interested in time travel. I had just finished working on a piece about the romance between my characters, Gabriel and Olivia, and was wondering what would happen to them in the future. Then I heard “A Team” by Ed Sheeran on the radio and this little scenario came into my head. Then a writing prompt popped up on one of the writing pages I was following at the time and I decided to jot down a short story that I called “Amaya Over the Rainbow.” Gracie has her first mention at the end of that short. After that, I had to know how it all worked out! So I started writing Gracie’s story, and the original short story ended up being rewritten and incorporated into the end of Book 3. 3) Books in the Redeeming Grace series are very well balanced, whether it is the various aspects- world building, action, romance, family drama, the different fantasy and scifi elements- or the reminders of book 1 in Vision's of Fire. How do you achieve such balance? Thank you so much! This is a balance I think about constantly, especially after reading so much sci-fi and fantasy as a young person. When this mix is off, it makes a work incredibly difficult to read! When I approach a scene or a line, I always ask myself what it is contributing to the narrative. If a scene isn’t doing at least two or three important things, I usually try to cut it and incorporate the information in it somewhere else. For example, let’s take the scene from Visions of Fire where James, Liam, and Gracie are talking about Gabriel’s past while eating in the cafeteria. Obviously I needed to cover a lot of Gabriel’s backstory, but by having the banter between the three young characters occurring in the same conversation, we’re also building their relationships and characters at the same time. In fact, I tried to make a lot of the backstory and technology talk conversational, so that instead of being forced to read through blocks of text, the reader instead gets to enjoy a dialogue very much like gossiping with friends or reading a series of text messages. Not only do we learn a lot that way, but we then feel like the characters are our friends who have just shared fun information with us. 4) There are popular tropes in Visions of Fire, such as love triangles, but it's always a unique and refreshing take. Do you enjoy these tropes as a reader that you play on as a writer? And how does that affect your writing of them? As a reader, I’m very hard to please with tropes. When I was little, I’d read a story and think, “it would be so much better if they just did THIS instead!” So I’d grab a pencil and write my own stories. Thirty years later, I'm still doing it! My favorite thing to do as a writer is to turn gender roles and tropes on their head. That said, I won’t break something unless lived experience says it can be broken in a realistic way. Some tropes are that way because life is that way - like characters who aren’t always trustworthy, or who turn out to have ulterior motives. That’s just how life is, and I don’t mind including characters or tropes that bring the reader valuable insight into human nature. But let’s face it, a lot of tropes, especially romantic ones, often paint women as helpless and men as stupid or emotionally stunted. I don’t think that’s accurate or fair to anyone. My goal with breaking tropes is to make my characters as human and relatable as possible. They may be vulnerable or uninformed, but they’re not helpless or stupid, and they’ve usually got their heart in the right place. 5) "I'm not chasing after anyone, except maybe me" is just one of the lines that stuck out to me. Gracie's, the main character, exploration of identity and trying to figure out her place in the world comes across as very feminist. "Thought-provoking" is another adjective that comes to mind with the tough topics you don't shy away from, like Gabriel's addiction. You always write with such respect. How mindful are you of that while writing? How do you maintain such respect for both characters, as well as readers who might be living similar experiences? The way I view character development is empathy. I try to imagine the world through that character’s eyes. What are their hopes, dreams, and most importantly, fears? I find, more than anything, people are driven by fear. Whether it’s Gracie’s fear of being trapped in Angelus Quietum, which is just another way of saying nowhere, with her dad forever, or Gabriel’s fear that Gracie will learn about his past and no longer find him worthy of love or admiration, those kinds of deep fears are what drive their actions. When we understand a character’s motivations, when they show us that their fears are so much like our fears, suddenly we can’t help but identify with them. And that’s where I try to write from as much as possible. When you’re talking about the addiction issue and all the painful things that come with that, I wouldn’t say it’s any different. I think of these characters as real people, almost as friends, and I write them as I would want to be written - with respect and compassion for their humanity, while also being honest about the consequences of their choices. 6) Your settings are always so rich and fleshed out, almost as if it is a character itself. From history to religion to politics. Can you share a little about your process for world-building? Any tips or tricks? How do you keep it at that sweet spot of just enough in your stories? My world building is a little unfair, because I have been writing in this multiverse for at least two decades now. All of that planning and history allows me to write as if I live there, because mentally, I suppose I do. One tip I can give, is one of the first things I always do when starting a new novel. And that is to create a planning document that is separate from the manuscript. It’s there that I keep any important definitions, scene ideas, and cut scenes that didn’t work out. When planning out Cybele, the planet Gracie’s story takes place on, I had the advantage of writing Gabriel and Olivia’s story first. So I knew all about the history of the Inspiration and had whole genealogy charts and charts of who was in what job on the generation ship, before I even started. Then, when I began brainstorming for Gracie, I drew out a large map of Cybele and assigned place names that tied back to individuals on the Inspiration. That way, their history would be seamless and I knew what kinds of last names and features people from various areas would have. I also kind of let my mind wander about the world at that point, thinking about what kinds of religion and societies might have sprung up from the characters and families in the earlier novel. 7) Visions of Fire deals with a bit of science. How much research went into writing your books? Was it something you have always been interested in? How do you make real-life facts compliment the fantasy elements and the flow of the narrative? My father is a retired chemist who loves science fiction. To him, I am sure my work is much more fantasy than sci-fi. He's the type to research every tiny detail. For me, as long as I can explain it in a way that makes logical sense to me, I am happy. I don't have to know the exact equations behind it. I'm more of a big picture, application sort of person. What would this concept look like in real life? That said, I have done a lot of reading on the science of aging, addiction, and the psychology of trauma. I love reading psychology text books more than is probably wise for someone without a degree in it! 8) Your illustrations are such a cool addition to the reading experience. What inspired you to include them? Can you share a little about your process for illustrating? Is this something you're planning on doing with more of your books going forward? My day job is in visual arts and drawing is intimately tied to my characters and world building. As I am thinking about these characters, drawing them is part of that empathy building process. That said, I have created well over 100 drawings for this trilogy and it has been an exhausting process! The illustrations also make publishing and downloading the books more difficult. I think they work in a unique way for Gracie's story, because I wanted to tell her story almost as if she were speaking or journaling. Since she is an artist, I feel that the sketchbook style makes sense and gives an intimate feel to her story. All this to say, I'm not sure if I will continue illustrations if or when I ever publish again after Book 3. 9) Can you share a little about book 3 in the Redeeming Grace trilogy and what else you are working on? Sure! Book 3, The Fear of Time, pulls together all of the threads I've been weaving in Child of Awareness and Visions of Fire and reveals the shape of the pattern. I will warn you, it is not for the faint of heart! As Gracie's asides have hinted since the beginning, there are so many roads that could have led away from disaster, but she isn't on one of them. For those brave enough to see how the story ends, I am hoping to have her ready for publication this summer. As for new projects, I actually have a vision of Cybele's future that I would like to write, but it has so many moving pieces that it makes Gracie's story look quite simple. As a result, I have been working on a lot of writing that I would consider "pre-work" or back story. Stuff that takes place off stage that I need to know, but that doesn't necessarily show up in the published cannon. One of those pieces is my current drafting project, a rewrite of the love story between Gracie's grandparents, Gloria and D'nay. Follow Abigail Silver on Social Media! Check out Abigail Silver's website and TikTok, as well. Follow Abigail Silver on Amazon and Goodreads! My name is Gracie Usuriel and fire is in my blood. According to my dead sister Ariel, it’s in my very DNA. She thinks I’m the strongest pyrokinetic ever born on Cybele—so strong my flames actually burn holes in the fabric of reality that allow me to peer into other times and places. Hence why my best friend happens to be the ghost of my (much) older sister. So what exactly am I supposed to do with all this firepower? At eighteen, I had no idea. I just knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life twiddling my thumbs on my father’s farm. Dad might choose to spend his whole life hiding out in Angelus Quietum, but I was ready to go have some adventures! Not to mention a whole bunch of long-overdue research into a particularly mysterious immortal parent. And if I happened to be taking off to the same university as a pretty, blond diplomat-in-training, well, that was just a bonus, right? Dad, on the other hand, didn’t see it my way. He pulled every guilt protocol in his coding. Once he saw I’d made up my mind, though, he relented with a stern warning about the Overwatch. “They’re our police,” he said, “the ones who make sure individuals of Awareness stay in line. With your head blindness, the telepaths will be very nervous around you and I won’t be there to make sure everyone remains… civilized.” “I’ll be fine, Dad,” I reassured him. “After all, how much trouble can I get into at school?” rIn my Be Series, there's some overlap when and where the books take place, due to the shape of the series versus the timeline. The second book, An Impossible Dream, is a prequel and takes place over the course of six years, overlapping in terms of the timeline for the very last year with the first book, Be. The places the characters visit, also have some overlap, such as with the town surrounding the castle. Here are two excerpts side by side, to compare, of the town surrounding the castle from seventeen-year-old Ari's perspective in Be and sixteen-year- old Sare's perspective five years earlier in An Impossible Dream.
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Ellie Lieberman |