APRIL 2, 2013

I’m pleased to feature a series of blog posts on and from AD Starrling who is currently on a virtual book tour for her debut novel, Soul Meaning.

 

 

AD Starrling was born on the small island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and came to the UK at the age of twenty to study medicine. After five years of hard graft earning her MD and another five years working all of God’s hours as a Pediatrician, she decided it was time for a change and returned to her first love, writing. Released in July 2012, Soul Meaning is her debut novel and the first in a supernatural thriller series entitledSeventeen. King’s Crusade, the second novel in the series, will be published in May 2013. She currently lives in Warwickshire in the West Midlands, where she is busy writing the third novel while drinking gallons of tea. She still practises medicine. AD Starrling is her pen name.

 

Tell us a little about your book.

 

Soul Meaning tells the story of Lucas Soul, a man who can die up to seventeen times. Classed as a supernatural thriller, the novel is a fast paced, action-packed ride that introduces the reader to the Crovirs and the Bastians, two immortals races that have existed as long, if not longer than humans. Soul is the much hated halfbreed offspring of a Crovir and a Bastian. As such, his death warrant was issued the day he was born.

 

How did you come up with the title?

 

The title for the series came from seeing the number 17 painted in red on a black marker stone located on a sandbank in a lagoon in Mauritius. When I thought about writing a story based on this particularly vivid image, Lucas Soul, the main protagonist, walked into my head, a living, breathing entity. His first words to me were the first three lines of the story. The novel is about him uncovering the incredible meaning behind his existence, hence the title Soul Meaning for the novel.

 

How are your story ideas born?

 

From dreams. From images. From inspiration through films and other books. There is only one time when I sat myself down and deliberately put together a story. This was when agents kept telling me ‘light-hearted fantasy doesn’t sell.’ I wanted to see whether I could come up with a dark, epic fantasy idea, which was what publishers and agents wanted. It took me about two hours of doodling and fooling around on Seventh Sanctum to draft a concept that might work. I plan to write that particular story when I finish Seventeen.

 

How much of the book is realistic?

 

The concept of immortality, the two immortal races, and my protagonist’s abilities are all obviously made up! Without wanting to give too much away, the origin of the series is based on a sacred religious text.

 

I’ve tried my best to keep the rest of the novel as geographically, technically, and historically accurate as possible. For example, Miyamoto Musashi, the man who taught Lucas his sword skills, did exist. He was the greatest samurai who ever lived and his life makes for fascinating reading.

 

The great thing about Seventeen is that it allows me to set subplots at different points in history. I am considering writing one or two novels completely in the past, say 300 or 400 years ago.

 

What is your writing process?

 

Working the hours that I do, it takes me 9-12 months to complete the first draft of a novel, which will be 100-105K words on average. On the days when the Muse is in a good mood, that means 2000-3000 words. On bad days, it’s 500-1000 words. Although I can sit at the computer for 10-12 hours on the days when I’m not working, only about 8-9 of those will be full-on, productive writing time. I drink a lot of tea, about 2-3 cups of coffee, and the odd double Martini when I really want to kick the Muse up the ass. I also listen to a lot of American hard rock while writing.

 

What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

 

Finishing a scene and realizing that your characters have taken you on a journey you never anticipated or planned.

 

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your book?

 

Take out more adverbs! I am actually planning the release of an updated version of Soul Meaning circa 2014-2015.

 

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?

 

Yes. I hired two editors for Soul Meaning, a US and a UK one. One of my editors also proofread the novel after the final rewrite. I think it’s essential to have at least one if not two editors, a proofreader, and if possible some beta readers for every project. They add so much to the final product.

 

Did you try the traditional route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?

 

Yes, I did so for 4-5 years. I initially submitted the first novel in a light-hearted fantasy series to agents and publishers in the UK and US from 2008 onwards. The feedback I got was pretty consistent: good writer, wrong material. I almost secured a small, independent London publisher for that novel. When I started to submit Soul meaning in 2011, I generated interest from a couple of agents and publishers here and in the US. But still no contract. My study of the publishing industry since 2006 made me realize that drastic changes were afoot and that the whole landscape of traditional publishing was changing. Self-publishing, an option which I considered to be a last resort and a sign of failure in 2006, was fast becoming the more viable option. There were a lot of self-published novels coming out that were indistinguishable in content and product quality to the mainstream published novels. There were also more resources out there for self-published authors, with many individuals and companies offering professional services, from editing, cover design, and website design, to proofreading and formatting. A good proportion of these individuals used to work for traditional publishing houses. I did a lot of research on self-publishing before I took the plunge in 2012. It has not been an easy ride, but I have relished the challenges and have no regrets!

 

What advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing arena?

 

Do your research on the different aspects of this industry. There are plenty of author websites and blogs that offer great advice to the newbie author. You will find some of the advice conflicting. Don’t worry about it; what works for some authors may not work for others. And everyone will have their opinions. Don’t expect to know EVERYTHING about this industry straight away. It’s a learning curve, albeit a fast one. Also, publishing is an ever shifting landscape, somewhat akin to quick sand. You’ll likely do most of your learning AFTER you’ve published. You will make mistakes. Learn from them. And always, always strive to become a better writer. The day you think ‘I’m a great writer, I have nothing else to learn’ is the day the Muse will kick your ass and leave you bleeding on the side of the road. Possibly with bullet wounds in your kneecaps. (As you can probably tell, my Muse and I have a somewhat violent relationship.)

 

 

‘My name is Lucas Soul.
Today, I died again.
This is my fifteenth death in the last four hundred and fifty years.’

 

The Crovirs and the Bastians. Two races of immortals who have lived side by side with humans for millennia and been engaged in a bloody war since the very dawn of their existence. With the capacity to survive up to sixteen deaths, it was not until the late fourteenth century that they reached an uneasy truce, following a deadly plague that wiped out more than half of their numbers and made the majority of survivors infertile.

 

Soul is an outcast of both immortal societies. Born of a Bastian mother and a Crovir father, a half breed whose very existence is abhorred by the two races, he spends the first three hundred and fifty years of his life being chased and killed by the Hunters.

 

One fall night in Boston, the Hunt starts again, resulting in Soul’s fifteenth death and triggering a chain of events that sends him on the run with Reid Hasley, a former US Marine and his human business partner of ten years. When a lead takes them to Washington DC and a biotechnology company with affiliations to the Crovirs, they cross the Atlantic to Europe, on the trail of a French scientist whose research seems intrinsically linked to the reason why the Hunters are after Soul again.

 

From Paris to Prague, their search for answers will lead them deep into the immortal societies and bring them face to face with someone from Soul’s past. Shocking secrets are uncovered and fresh allies come to the fore as they attempt to put a stop to a new and terrifying threat to both immortals and humans.

 

Time is running out for Soul. Can he get to the truth before his seventeenth death, protect the ones he loves and prevent another immortal war?

 

Buy Soul Meaning at Amazon

 

Connect with AD Starrling: Website / Facebook / Twitter