Ask the Author: H.L. Macfarlane
Answered Questions (14)
H.L. Macfarlane
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H.L. Macfarlane
It's still coming but I don't have a release date for it yet! I suffered from massive burn out - plus AI is making indie publishing very difficult because fewer people are buying books from Amazona because they don't want to sift through all the AI books that are filling the rankings, resulting in smaller royalties - so I had to take a step back for a while to focus on my mental & physical health, and take a salaried job as my primary source of income. I know having to wait an indeterminate amount of time for Dark Spear is disappointing, but I swear it's still coming out eventually! Thank you for your patience until then <3
H.L. Macfarlane
It's still coming but I don't have a release date for it yet! I suffered from massive burn out - plus AI is making indie publishing very difficult because fewer people are buying books from Amazona because they don't want to sift through all the AI books that are filling the rankings, resulting in smaller royalties - so I had to take a step back for a while to focus on my mental & physical health, and take a salaried job as my primary source of income. I know having to wait an indeterminate amount of time for Dark Spear is disappointing, but I swear it's still coming out eventually! Thank you for your patience until then <3
H.L. Macfarlane
It's still coming but I don't have a release date for it yet! I suffered from massive burn out - plus AI is making indie publishing very difficult because fewer people are buying books from Amazona because they don't want to sift through all the AI books that are filling the rankings, resulting in smaller royalties - so I had to take a step back for a while to focus on my mental & physical health, and take a salaried job as my primary source of income. I know having to wait an indeterminate amount of time for Dark Spear is disappointing, but I swear it's still coming out eventually! Thank you for your patience until then <3
H.L. Macfarlane
Maybe a bit petty but I once found out that someone I went to primary school with (elementary school in the US) who then coincidentally went to the same university as me to do the same degree fully hated my guts - and had done since we were kids. Nobody would tell me why, and to this day I still don't know. I think it could be a fun either as a silly rom-com, a cozy mystery or a psychotic domestic thriller!
H.L. Macfarlane
Hi there, sorry for the massive delay in replying! I plan to release the Dark Spear duology in the first quarter of 2022 - they'll be back-to-back releases so both books will be out by June next year for sure :)
H.L. Macfarlane
When she returned home she discovered that her laptop had been stolen in, which contained her newly completed, two-hundred-thousand word masterpiece.
She had not backed up her work.
***Literally my worst nightmare. I should really back up my work...***
She had not backed up her work.
***Literally my worst nightmare. I should really back up my work...***
H.L. Macfarlane
Write. Write again. Don't stop. Even if what you've written is terrible (and some of it definitely will be), just keep going. The best way to improve your writing - to develop your own narrative style and voice - is to put words to paper and never stop.
H.L. Macfarlane
The best thing about being a writer is that I never get tired of coming up with new story ideas, characters, worlds etc. There's always something new to write!
H.L. Macfarlane
Badly.
No, really, all I do is procrastinate until at about 4am one day I'll trudge through the chapter that was giving me trouble. Then I'm fine again...for a while.
No, really, all I do is procrastinate until at about 4am one day I'll trudge through the chapter that was giving me trouble. Then I'm fine again...for a while.
H.L. Macfarlane
I would travel to the Old Kingdom from Garth Nix's books simply to get lost in the Clayr's library. Obviously.
H.L. Macfarlane
Outside of my client writing, I've been co-writing a new genetic sci-fi series that will begin publication in November. When October hit I'll be finishing Lord of Horses for a late November publication date, too! After that will be King of Forever, the third and final book in the Bright Spear trilogy, and then I'll be moving onto some sci-fi. How exciting!
H.L. Macfarlane
I tend to have very lucid dreams so I've had a lot of inspiration from them. Outside of that, because of my academic background in genetics and synthetic biology I get quite a lot of inspiration for plots and characters for sci-fi and urban fantasy stories from biology, and research environments in general. Myths, fairy tales and legends also serve as inspiration for my own stories, because there's nothing better than a timeless classic.
Aside from that? Inspiration truly does come in the weirdest forms at times. Once I got the inspiration to write a short story from a Wikipedia entry on something, and another time I drew inspiration from a video of a goat screaming.
Aside from that? Inspiration truly does come in the weirdest forms at times. Once I got the inspiration to write a short story from a Wikipedia entry on something, and another time I drew inspiration from a video of a goat screaming.
H.L. Macfarlane
My most recent release - Prince of Foxes - was borne from my desire to write a Scots fairy tale. After having written retellings of the classic Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and The Snow Queen, I felt like I had developed my fairy tale narrative voice to a point where I could do a Scots tale justice.
Foxes is loosely (very, very loosely) based on the tale of Gold Tree and Silver Tree, as well as throwing in some nods to classic tropes in Celtic and Scots tales e.g. faeries turning princes into foxes. I had so much fun creating my own Scottish fairy tale, and I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm even more excited for the story to continue in Lord of Horses and the final book in the trilogy, King of Forever. More folk tales will be explored in both books, including some classic English fairy stories. I can't wait for everyone to read them.
Foxes is loosely (very, very loosely) based on the tale of Gold Tree and Silver Tree, as well as throwing in some nods to classic tropes in Celtic and Scots tales e.g. faeries turning princes into foxes. I had so much fun creating my own Scottish fairy tale, and I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm even more excited for the story to continue in Lord of Horses and the final book in the trilogy, King of Forever. More folk tales will be explored in both books, including some classic English fairy stories. I can't wait for everyone to read them.
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