Today we’re happy to welcome Danie Ware to AK&AQ. Her new novel Ecko Rising has been receiving some enthusiastic press and she’s on a blog tour to promote her Titan Books title, so be sure to follow along.
Q: What do you write on? Computer, pad o’ paper, battered Underwood? Give us a vivid picture.
A: A slightly battered old MacBook white, and MSWord – no quirks to speak of. I carry a Moleskine in my bag, though I’m not sure why because I have Evernote on both iPhone and iPad. Sometimes I end up with flashes of inspiration and random notes that stray from one to the other and I have to sit down and collate them before I start writing properly.
Q: Do you listen to music while you write? Does it influence what you write?
A: I don’t – I like the quiet! I’ll use music to conjure a character, or a setting, or a mood, but once that frame of mind is in place, I need to hear myself think. I like to be alone, as well, because I still tend to read stuff aloud as I go along.
Q: Do you write in short bursts or carve out long periods of time to work? Is it a habit or a vice?
A: it’s a compulsion – I went a long time without writing/being able to write and I missed it! These days, I’m a working single parent and I simply write as and when I can, there’s no formal strategy, I don’t have that much control over my working day. If I’m really up against it, I prefer to get up at silly o’clock in the morning and write, rather than try and write in the evening after my son goes to bed!
Q: What writer would you most want to read your work? What would you want to hear them say?
A: I’m in the bizarre position of knowing many of the authors whose work I most respect – though my job, I’ve met most of them personally. With this goes the knowledge that they may well read my book at some point – and that’s quite a scary thing. As for what they’ll say, I hope they enjoy it – but any experienced and constructive feedback they choose to give me would be welcome.
Q: On the days where the writing doesn’t go so well, what other art or career do you fantasize about pursuing instead?
A: On days where the writing doesn’t go so well, I have a commute and job and a child and a mortgage and a fitness plan – the only thing I fantasise about is being able to go on vacation. No, I’m not joking!
Q: What do you read? What do you re-read?
A: I have re-read, again and again, Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Galapagos’ Julian May’s ‘Saga of the Exiles’ and Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant series – though have more enjoyed the Mordant’s Need books as I’ve grown older. I went through a long period of not reading genre at all – read a lot of Palahniuk, books like Patrick Suskind’s ‘Perfume’ and Max Barry’s ‘Jennifer Government’. I’ve come back to genre recently with the discovery of audiobooks – to fit my reading in, I listen to new books on the train the work. Most recently, Lavie Tidhar’s ‘The Bookman’, Richard Morgan’s ‘Cold Commands’, China Mieville’s ‘Iron Council’, and Joe Abercrombie’s ‘First Law’ series – as well as some older SF classics, ‘The Death of Grass’ and ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’.
Q: Where did the idea for Ecko Rising come from? Do you have a surefire way of sparking inspiration?
A: I wish! The idea for this publication was born from the ‘what if’ fun-fic I wrote during my twenties – when I wrote endlessly and purely for the fun of it. In its new incarnation, it’s a distillation of all those old ideas, brought up to professional standard by a diligent and patient editor. Sparking ideas – no, not really. They can come from anywhere, at any time, brought by pictures or music or people or places, or just by waking up in the middle of the night. That’s why I keep the Moleskine!
Following a cynical anti-hero, Ware’s first novel is sardonic fantasy, a sharp new slant on the genre, scattered with a healthy dusting of sex, violence and sarcasm.
Ecko Rising has received glowing accolades from authors including, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Empire in Black and Gold), Mike Carey (X-Men, Lucifer), Lavie Tidhar, (Osama, The Bookman series), and Adam Nevill (Apartment 16).
If you love fantasy, classic or modern, or have a liking for twisted anti-heroes please check out the trailer and blog tour. Find Danie on Twitter or Facebook, too.
A Knife And A Quill- old 