I’m honored to be on Reading with AngelaRenea for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on Reading with AngelaRenea.
A warm welcome to the lovely Farah! Let’s start with some inspiration, Who or what inspired you to become an author?
I have always enjoyed great literature, and the range of authors that have inspired and influenced me throughout the years is quite vast. From Homer, Shakespeare, and Milton to Jane Austen and Enid Blyton, I’ve enjoyed them all. But in the past few years I’ve been fascinated with the prospect of creating fantasy worlds and exploring them with the characters I have created. Books like The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Earthsea Quartet, The Magic Faraway Tree series and Harry Potter with their wonderful worlds and fascinating stories really influenced the way I looked at storytelling.
Which authors would you say have influenced you most and how?
Enid Blyton, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K Rowling. All their books have a magical wonder to them, and at the same time the worlds are so beautifully crafted that you feel like you want to live there. Creating the world of Avalonia was how I started writing this book, I wanted to create a world that readers would love to live in. The characters and plot grew from there.
How long do you generally let a story idea ‘marinate’ in your brain before you start the book?
A while, it needs some time to change and grow. So I write down notes first, and then start writing.