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John Dodds joins Timothy C. Ward in this podcast interview with Marie Brennan about her A Memoir of Lady Trent series, a Hard Fantasy exploring a girl’s quest to stand in the presence of dragons. Tor has been very gracious to offer another giveaway, this time Tor has offered three copies of the second book, The Tropic of Serpents, or two sets of both A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents. US and Canada only. To enter, subscribe to our newsletter. Giveaway ends 5/12/14 at 11:59 PM CDT.

*Speaking of free books, John’s Steampunk book, The Mechanikals, is free on Tuesday, May 6.*

Discussed:

Dragon artwork by Todd R. Lockwood

Her inspiration for using Victorian Fantasy to tell this tale.

How she approaches “Hard Fantasy”. (Uses Aliette de Bodard‘s Obsidian and Blood trilogy as an example)

Audiobook experience versus print book experience (John will review the audiobook version of A Natural History of Dragons on Thursday at Amazing Stories Magazine.)

How she developed her character through the memoir format.

Her blog post about the epic story structure and having discipline to keep it focused. This article discusses her thoughts after rereading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, including problems it had with character pov’s and pacing.

Creating scene tent pegs to blend being an outliner and a pantser to organize her story.

Researching for her novel, how much she does before writing and how much she researched as she wrote. Discussion on her third book, Voyage of the Basilisk.

How the conflict is about more than just the dragons she studies.

What kind of adventure readers can look forward to in The Tropic of Serpents.

What she struggles with in her writing that she knows the advice for, but has difficulty applying.

Writing when it isn’t convenient and we’re not in the mood.

Making up your own slang for your fiction.

Her ebook Writing Fight Scenes and how fight scenes are similar to love scenes.

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Timothy C. Ward

Executive Producer

Timothy C. Ward has been podcasting since 2010, first as AudioTim, and now with AISFP. His first publication, Cornhusker: Demon Gene (A Short Story) , is available on Kindle for $.99. His novel in progress, Order After Dark, is a Post-apocalyptic Fantasy set in the rift between Iowa and the Abyss. Sign up to his author newsletter for updates on new releases.

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