Questions for Freda Warrington

[Culhwch]

Hey there, Freda, welcome aboard! I must shamefully admit that I have never read any of your books (yet!) but what I have read here so far very much intrigues me, so I will keep an eye out for you on the shelves of my regular book haunts....

 

[Freda]

Hi Everyone and Hi Brian!

The book club sounds a great idea. I'd suggest we could do Court of the Midnight King as it's more easily available and my most recent, or Taste of Blood Wine, or A Blackbird in Silver and ~Darkness (the pair makes one story), or Dark Cathedral as I have copies - but I'm happy to discuss whichever one the readers want!

Are any of you going to Eastercon in Glasgow? Mark and I have agreed to share a bookstall where I'll be displaying Immanion Press books (including my own). It should be a lot of fun.

 

[StevenSavile]

Blackbird was the second ever fantasy novel I read - very good book. I hope to be at Eastercon in Glasgow. It's all a matter of finances, as it ever is.

I met Freda years ago at the BFS but she won't remember me - it was probably 99... maybe 2000... very talented lady.

 

[Freda]

Gee thanks Steven!

Hi folks - this was to let you know that I've updated my website but, unfortunately, the board won't allow me to post the URL. So I'll try to spell it out instead. You can either use fredawarrington dot com (which comes with an annoying ad banner until I do something about getting rid of it!) or members dot aol dot com slash FredaMike slash index.html - which comes without the ad banner!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Sorry about that - here's the link: http://members.aol.com/FredaMike/index.html

 

[angie]

Hi everyone,

Freda here! Just to say I'm really looking forward to doing this interview, and I'm really grateful to Mark for setting the whole thing up. Yes, many of my books are out of print BUT you can still get The Court of the Midnight King, the 'Jewelfire Trililogy' - the Amber Citadel, The Sapphire Throne and The Obsidian Tower - to the best of my knowledge - and A Taste of Blood Wine (US edition). Most of the Blackbird quartet is now available from Immanion Press. Plus I have loads of copies of Dark Cathedral, and a few copies of the out-of print stuff. Anyway, I look forward to getting to know you all better soon...

Blessings, Freda

Hi Freda. I absolutely love your Vampire series and would like to know if you, at this stage, have any intention to write a fourth novel?! I found these books impossible to put down and fell in love with the characters and lush descriptions. I also enjoyed the thought provoking ideas relating to sex and gender, science, 'good' vs 'evil', religion and history. Thanks!

 

[Mark Robson]

Hi Freda. I absolutely love your Vampire series and would like to know if you, at this stage, have any intention to write a fourth novel?! I found these books impossible to put down and fell in love with the characters and lush descriptions. I also enjoyed the thought provoking ideas relating to sex and gender, science, 'good' vs 'evil', religion and history. Thanks!

Hi, angie. Welcome to Chronicles. I'll be sure to add your question into the interview I'm putting together, but Freda may well pop in and answer it before I get a chance! Do make yourself at home here in the forums. I hope to be ready to send the questions for her shortly, so if any of you have any more questions you are burning to have answered, you would do well to get them in soon.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I have several more questions, but they are very specific to Court of the Midnight King, so I'll save them for that discussion. (And if we don't end up choosing that one over all her others for the Book Club, I'll post those questions later.)

 

[nikkles]

Hi Freda, I would just like to know if you will be releasing the Vampire books in the future? I've looked everywhere on the Internet for them, and some people are asking ridiculously high prices like $2128USD for the trilogy! I'd rather the money I spend when buying books go to the authors, not some person trying to make money for books which are rare or out of print! Thanks.

 

[Freda]

Hi everyone, sorry I've taken so long to reappear - struggling with the last couple of chapters of my novel at the mo!

Well actually, just in the last couple of days I've received a glimmer of hope about the vampire books, or 'Blood Wine sequence' as I call it. A UK publisher has expressed interest in re-issuing them. It's early days and nothing has been sorted out or signed yet, but I am hopeful. And if this happened, it's VERY likely I would write a fourth (and maybe more, who knows!) which I've always wanted to do. Keep your fingers crossed!

Interesting about the high prices, isn't it. if only I'd kept more copies, I could have cleaned up on eBay!

 

[scalem X]

part A; don't read when in a hurry :Mmm damn I always seem to come to find interesting stuff very late, I blame the fact that I have to study constantly because I don't study enough, yeah doesn't make sense. Not that I hate learning Japanese, it's fun, but time consuming damnit and (*insert random rant about other languages like traditional chinese and courses that I have trouble studying*).

B:Mmm your books look pretty interesting, must remember name when I have the time to get to a bookshop and must also find time to read it afterwards (see part A for further info concerning time). I usually ask authors about translations, but well for a change:
How do you do your research? Do you start with files bulking with info about the subject and plot outlines who run all across the room or is it in your mind and do you look something up when you need it?

C: Mmm Welcome to chronicles lolz, late and weird, but since it's at the end of the post it's too late to realize you shouldn't have bothered reading on. Since I've wasted your time (see part A how time loss affects your life), I feel sorry and should warn you:

warning:

Chronicles-network may bring huge hazard to your time schedule
But in a pleasant way

 

[Freda]

Hi Scalem - Japanese eh, good for you!

I try to keep research to a minimum and tend to look things up when I need them. It eats into writing time so massively. While I TRY to avoid inaccuracies, I'm more interested in creating story and atmosphere - eg the 1920s flavour of the vampire books - than obsessing over historical or technical detail.

I had to do a massive amount of research about Richard III for Court of the Midnight King and really it was a bit of a nightmare. The more you learn, the more you realise there is to learn - I could have spent ten years researching and never written a word! Setting it in a parallel world helped me get away with quite a lot! I don't think I would tackle another historical story for that reason. A friend of mine was once writing a wonderful period novel but unfortunately the 'facts' got in the way of the story she wanted to tell and she gave up in the end... such a shame!

Thanks for the time warning! I already know!

 

[G_wolf_P]

Hello all. I am new to this place, but I have read some of Freda's works. Thus, consequently I have some questions.
First and foremost I loved "Dark Cathedral" and "Pagan Moon". I have to say that I connected so well with Morgan (as well as the other characters) That I instantly developed a deep respect for your works and writing style. So this leads me to my,perhaps, obvious question.
"What, or who was your inspiration for Morgan?"
The way you portray him touches on almost all aspects of my life, and if you pulled him completly from you head I applaud you full well on your ability to develope a character so thouroughly without an outside source.

 

[G_wolf_P]

Hello all. I am new to this place, but I have read some of Freda's works. Thus, consequently I have some questions.
First and foremost I loved "Dark Cathedral" and "Pagan Moon". I have to say that I connected so well with Morgan (as well as the other characters) That I instantly developed a deep respect for your works and writing style. So this leads me to my,perhaps, obvious question.
"What, or who was your inspiration for Morgan?"
The way you portray him touches on almost all aspects of my life, and if you pulled him completly from you head I applaud you full well on your ability to develope a character so thouroughly without an outside source.

Ok I have a small confession to make. while it would be nice to get an answer to the question, it's hardly necessary. ( I know you get questions like that all the time.) Actually quite honestly I would just love to have a conversation with you. I find you facinating,and weird (in a very good way). That, and I have never has the opportunity to talk to any of the authors I love to read. Thank you for bearing with me.

 

[Freda]

Sorry - I've been so immersed in trying to get my novel finished that I haven't been on the board for a while!

Where did I get Morgan from... H'm it's a while ago now and I can't remember specifically what inspired me. My male characters generally develop from maybe a particular image, or something I've read, or just an idea in my head. Generally, I'm trying to visualise what would be most attractive to my heroine, and in the case of Dark Cathedral, a person who would be absolutely irresistible to Beth regardless of the consequences... and Morgan was who turned up in my head! Yes, he behaved badly and hurt her, but redeemed himself in the end. It's interesting looking at good or bad, excusable or inexcusable behaviour from different perspectives, as I often try to do. He might look 'evil' to one character but merely young and impulsive to another.

He did kind of develop from an earlier idea, about a witch who lived on the edge of a forest and was visited by a 'demon lover'. The witch sort of turned into Beth and the 'demon lover' sort of turned into Morgan!

Anyway, I'm not sure if this is a particularly helpful answer but I'm really pleased to hear you identified with him and got so much out of it! Thank you!

 

[Freda]

Fascinating and weird, eh!

Apologies again for taking so long to answer... I always will eventually, even if Mark has to hit me over the head first!

 

[G_wolf_P]

actually that was very hepful. Thank you for taking the time to answer. well since I don't have much time to write, this is a short thank you. ciao.

 

[scalem X]

Freda, you're alive!

I was wondering about this and was going to ask some other writers too, but since you suddenly popped up I thought I should give you some piece of the action.
How about moods:
I personally am quite surprised by my sudden injections of creativity when I'm fairly down. (don't even get me started on the suicidal attitude of girls in Belgium, oh and what about turtles, they don't bring along their houses, they bring along their coffins) ahum anyway: when is your best or worst mood to write?
(I almost never write when down though I splurge my ideas to people through instant messaging, that's why I have yet an alternative mood that's fit for writing too)

 

[Freda]

Hi Scalem,

You paint an intriguing picture of Belgian girls walking around with coffins on their backs! That's a very good question. Not sure I can answer it clearly. If I'm feeling really down, I can't write at all. However, there have been times in the past when I have written obsessively to escape from bad things that were happening around me. So, there seems to be a difference between feeling down within myself, and feeling down because of external problems.

My best mood for writing is when I can get into what I call the 'zone' - completely wrapped up in my imaginary world and completely oblivious to what anyone else might think of what I'm writing! I only wish I could conjure it up to order!

 

[Mark Robson]

Freda, I'm now intrigued to see what sort of writing schedule, if any, you set for yourself in an average week. Do you have word targets that you aim for, or do you write for a certain amount of time? Or do you not have rigid targets at all? Writers seem to vary on this a lot. Also, do you plan in detail before getting going on a novel, or do you get an idea in your head and let your pen (or equivalent) run wild?

As I finished writing this I've got the spookiest feeling that I might have asked you these things before. If I have, then apologies - in one ear and out of the other I'm afraid!