Check out our authors!
Breakwater Harbor Books
  • BHB Home
  • Breakwater Blog
  • Fantasy
  • Sci-Fi
  • Historical Sci-Fi / Fantasy
  • Horror
  • Dark Paranormal
  • Crime Thriller
  • Women's Fiction
  • Psychological Fiction
  • Christian
  • Poetry

Mary Fan interviews Ivan Amberlake, author of the Urban Fantasy, The Beholder

4/22/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Below is the recent interview by author Mary Fan of Breakwater Harbor Books' author Ivan Amberlake. To visit Mary Fan's website follow this link.
http://zigzagtl.blogspot.com/2013/04/author-interview-ivan-amberlake.html
__________________________________________________



 

The Beholder
tells the story of an ordinary New Yorker, Jason, who learns about his critical role in a supernatural battle between good and evil. What inspired this story? How did you develop the idea of the Sighted?



Before I started writing The Beholder, I only had an image of a man standing on top of a skyscraper, with a thunderstorm raging around him. This image was so powerful that it inspired me to start writing chapter after chapter, something that I’d never done before. The scene that I had in mind was initially a prologue, but I decided to move it closer to the end of the book.

Frankly speaking, The Beholder wasn’t supposed to be a fantasy book at first, but it just happened to transform into one as I was greatly influenced by Sergei Lukyanenko’s "Watch" Series. I wished to create something like this, yet new, and the Lightsighted and Darksighted were born.

Why did you choose New York as your setting?


From the beginning I knew the story would be set in a city with lots of skyscrapers, so my choice was between Moscow and New York—cities I’ve never been to, yet would love to visit sometime in the future. I picked New York because of its grandeur and glamor, but it doesn’t mean that part of the series won’t happen in Moscow or any other city of the world. One of The Beholder chapters is set in Minsk, Belarus, and I intend to let my characters travel to other cities and countries in the books to come.

What is your favorite scene in The Beholder? Could you please describe it?


Frankly speaking, I can’t choose just one, probably because The Beholder is not a one-genre book, but has elements of fantasy, sci-fi and romance in it, so if my favorite fantasy scene would be the one I’ve described above, my favourite romantic scene is the one in Chapter 23 where Jason and Emily are strolling around the estate garden and come up to two trees with a hammock tied to them. This is where and when Jason and Emily say they love each other, and also the point at which the story takes a darker turn.


Do you consider yourself as having a particular writing style?

When writing I always try to visualize what is going on and then describe the scene. I get inside my characters’ minds and try to show what they feel. I stick to the principle of “Less is more” by using the right amount of narrative, dialogue and descriptions.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process? How much did The Beholder change from first draft to publication?

With The Beholder, I just sat down and started hammering the keys without thinking much about what I was writing. Frankly speaking, I often think that the book wrote itself, because when rereading the first draft I sometimes wondered how I could write this scene or that. Of course, after my first draft was ready I started editing heavily. It was great luck for me to come across a writers’ community Authonomy.com, where I met lots of great people who helped me understand the principles of modern writing. The book would never be the way it is now if not for them. So when The Beholder was finished, it was completely different from the first draft.

Among the characters in The Beholder, do you have a favorite?

Oh, they are all my favorites, each of them in his or her own fashion. If we take Jason Walker, the main character, his transformed self closer the end of the book is what I’ve wanted my own self to be. As for Emily Ethan, who Jason falls in love with, she was greatly inspired by my wife, so she’s definitely one of my favorites as well. I can’t help liking even my evil characters because they are part of the story that helps me show a world I have within to my readers. Without these characters the story would be incomplete.

Can you tell us a bit about Breakwater Harbor Books, who is listed as The Beholder’s publisher?

Well, BHB is not exactly a publisher, but rather a group of self-published authors who promote each other in different ways: on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Authonomy, and on the last pages of our books where more releases of BHB authors are recommended. Scott J. Toney and Cara Goldthorpe are the founders of this group. Both helped me immensely with The Beholder, and I’m grateful to them and other members for their support.

What’s your favorite part of writing? Dialogue? Descriptions? Plotting?

I think it’s the descriptions. Plotting usually gives me a splitting headache, and while writing dialogue I always question myself: “Do people talk like that in real life?”, so I think the best part of writing for me is describing the scenes, especially the ones with lots of action and tension. That’s where I’m in my element.

Are you working on anything new?

As crazy as my real life is at the moment, it’s really hard to find the time to write, though I should say I’m writing Book 2 of The "Beholder" Series, which is called Path of The Heretic, and I also hope to finish my YA Paranormal/Horror Novel (Novella) called Diary of the Gone which tells about a boy haunted by the dead. The boy can only stop the dead from following him by writing in an old diary he accidentally finds, yet at some point the diary disappears and his life turns into a nightmare.

The  Beholder is available  at: Amazon US (Kindle e-book), Amazon  US (paperback), Amazon  UK (Kindle e-book), Amazon  UK (paperback)


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Breakwater Blog

    The Breakwater Blog is run by our authors. Here you will find insights into the inner workings of our authors' minds and information on upcoming releases.

    Archives

    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    #1
    Acx
    Adult Fantasy
    Amazon
    Anthology
    Apocalyptic Sci Fi
    Apocalyptic Sci-fi
    Asian
    Audible
    Audiobook
    Awards
    Black Humor
    Breakwater Harbor Books
    Cara Goldthorpe
    Chic Lit
    Christian
    Christian Fiction
    Claire C Riley
    C.M.T. Stibbe
    Contemporary
    Crime
    Cyber Punk
    Dark
    Dark Fantasy
    Dee Harrison
    Drama
    Dyane Forde
    Dystopian
    Eli Constant
    Epic Fantasy
    Facebook
    Faith
    Fantasy
    Futuristic Sci Fi
    Futuristic Sci-fi
    Historical Fiction
    Horror
    Humor
    Inspirational
    Interviews
    Ivan Amberlake
    Ken Mooney
    Lela Markham
    Madeline Sheehan
    Melissa Simonson
    Mike Lee
    Mindy Haig
    Nova Trilogy
    Paperback
    Paranormal
    Poetry
    Post Apocalyptic
    Psychological Fiction
    Punk
    Quirky Fiction
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Scott J. Toney
    Simon Paul Wilson
    Soon To Be Released
    Starfire
    Stephan Martiniere
    Ted Cross
    Thriller
    Twitter
    Up And Coming Authors
    Upcoming Authors
    Urban
    USA Today Bestseller
    War
    Wasabi Punk
    Wasabi-Punk
    Youtube

    Grab the BHB Button!
    Breakwater Harbor Books
    <div align="center"><a href="http://breakwaterharborbooks.weebly.com/" title="Breakwater Harbor Books" target="_blank"><img src="https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash3/c14.14.171.171/s160x160/555102_615656915114914_1816539622_n.jpg" alt="Breakwater Harbor Books" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.