This week, Let’s welcome David Meredith author of Aaru!
David, What got you into writing in the first place?
I’ve always had an interest in writing. I think my earliest attempt was a story I wrote in about 3rd grade that I bound in shirt boards and decorated with magic marker. I wrote some admittedly awful fanfic in middle school and high school that I’d honestly never want anyone to see now. I also had several false starts and attempts at novels. I think there were four that I got 50 or more pages into before giving up for various reasons, but all of those were important to helping me grow as a writer. I kept just kept at it until I finished my first novel, that I have still not published by the way, but I think that has been the key. Writing isn’t a product. It’s a process, and the only way you get better at it is to keep doing it.
David, I think you are absolutely correct. We have to keep at it. I too have a folder of stories that will never see the light, but they were all crucial in helping me reach the point I am at today.
Share a short excerpt from your novel.
The days were hard to measure in Aaru. Rose never felt any need to sleep, and she only ate when she felt like tasting something. It threw off her whole appreciation of time’s passage. Additionally, although there was a brilliant sun in the sky whenever she wanted it, the deeply orange harvest moon and all the stars of creation were hers to command as well. Day and night were only what she made of them. However much time there was though, she began spending a very great amount of it with Franco.
She helped him build his mansion, of course. It was a sprawling, walled structure with a reddish-brown, clay-tiled roof and looked like it might have been inspired by a combination of the villa of some ancient conquistador and the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine that Rose remembered visiting on a vacation to Florida once as a child. When they finished it, they stood staring up at the magnificent structure in silence. Franco’s face bore a deeply affected expression.
“Feel glad it’s done?” Rose ventured. “You took long enough to do it. Of all the Vedas, yours is the last one to go up…”
“I never thought I’d ever get to have anything like this,” he murmured. “My family… well… there was seven of us all living in a two bed-room apartment. My mom and dad had one room. My sisters shared the other. Me and my brother slept in the living room on the couch… It still doesn’t seem real…” He trailed off. “Is this thing really all mine?”
“That and anything else you want, Franco,” Rose replied softly. “It’s perfect here. You can do anything, be anything, have anything …”
Franco turned his face toward her with a curious half smile. Something in the way he looked at her made Rose catch her breath. Maybe it was the intensity that seemed to ever burn in his large, dark eyes or perhaps it was his strong angular features and high cheek bones, but when he looked at her like that, right at her, like he couldn’t see anything else, it stole the thoughts from her head and words from her lips. All she could contemplate was how utterly handsome he was.
“Can I?” he asked coyly. “I’ll have to think about it… What about you though, Rose? What do you want? What do you want to be?”
The question took her off guard. She hadn’t thought about it in quite a while. There had been a time when she wanted to be a doctor or a professional soccer player – the first woman to play for Real Madrid! Maybe president. Why not?
Her illness had stolen all of those dreams away a long time ago, however. Could she have them back now, here in Aaru? Was not anything possible here?
As she thought about it some more though, they seemed less and less relevant. Why be a doctor in a world with no disease? What use was a president where everyone was a princess or king? What would she be?
Hana had told her that she was a Veda, but that was still just a word. It didn’t really hold any meaning for her. She thought back on the previous four long years – the constant sickness, the weakness, the fear, the pain.
Rose met Franco’s gaze earnestly. “I want to be happy.”
Franco chuckled and turned away. He stuck his hands deeply into the pockets of his skin-tight slacks. The heavy gold chain around his neck clinked softly as he looked down. Then he turned back to at her with a smile. He took Rose’s hand and squeezed it.
“Me too, Rose,” he agreed. “I think that’s a great thing to be.”
They stood there for a long time simply looking at each other, both unwilling to bring the moment to an end, but equally unsure of how they should proceed.
“Walk with me?” Rose ventured shyly at last.
Franco nodded.
Rose turned, but did not release Franco’s hand. She swept her free hand in a wide arc, and the sun slid across the sky to disappear below the horizon. It was replaced with an impossibly large full moon and a billion, billion stars, twinkling brilliantly in sable firmament.
“Wow,” Franco breathed, awestruck by the sudden celestial display.
Rose gave his hand a tug, and he wordlessly followed. They wended their way down the hill upon which they had built Franco’s mansion. Every so often Rose would pause and raise up a glowing flower. They were not a variety she had ever seen before except perhaps in a dream.
The vividly green leaves shone faintly in the darkness with an emerald luminescence. The tiny glowing flowers drooped like bluebells and gave off a gentle turquoise light. Rose’s quotidian kimono shimmered and changed into a translucent, blue gown to match them. It twinkled all over as if covered with diamonds. She met Franco’s wondering gaze with a coy grin of her own.
His expression suddenly struck Rose as hilariously funny. She threw back her head and laughed, and as she did so she spun in wide circles, dancing across the grass in unabashed joy. Everywhere her feet touched more of the shimmering flowers sprang to life. Soon the hilltop sparkled as if someone had spilled a million sapphires all over the grass.
Yes! She thought euphorically. Happy is what I’ll be! Happy forever!
Again she laughed, and as she did, tiny spheres of light issued from between her lips to camber and warp into minikin, winged people of every color of the rainbow. The faeries born of her laughter quickly flew away to gather dew from the softly chiming glowbells - at least that was what Rose decided in that moment her flowers should be called. The tiny people soon took up a wordless, haunting tune.
She continued her rapturous dance, the outline of her slender silhouette faintly visible as the brilliant moonlight shone down through her diaphanous gown. She spun in a dizzying pirouette, and beneath her feet, a tall marble structure erupted from the loamy earth. Fourteen feet tall it rose, layered like a wedding cake, and when it was fully exposed, the beauty of everything that had been wrought of her joy struck straight to Rose’s heart.
A single tear rolled down her cheek and dripped off her chin. Where it struck the top of the alabaster monument, it burgeoned and grew until cascades of cool, shimmering water flowed down the moonlit fountain in murmuring effusion. Franco said nothing, but simply stared up at her in amazement.
Rose blushed furiously pink, chagrined at how thoroughly she had allowed herself to be carried away. She nervously giggled.
“Something to remember me when I go home,” she ventured sheepishly. “I hope you don’t mind…”
“It’s beautiful,” Franco replied, eyes never straying from the vivid outline of Rose’s slim silhouette, illuminated starkly through the gossamer dress by the battened moon behind her. “You’re beautiful…”
Her cheeks flushed from roseate pink to beet crimson, but Rose was not at all displeased. However, her dress did darken a bit so that it was not quite so see-through. She hopped down off of the enormous fountain she had created to stand in the pooling water at the bottom. She lifted the hem of her sparkling gown, which shifted from a pale blue to milky white. She waded over to seat herself on the side, feet dangling in the cool water. Franco moved to shyly sit beside her.
He stared at his hands, folded in his lap and chuckled.
“What?” asked Rose warily, terrified that she had just made a total fool of herself and that her new friend now thought her quite insane.
He looked up at her with a wide grin. “Nothing, Rose. I just hope I can be as happy as you someday.”
Currently, what are you working on, David?
A couple of things. I’m over a hundred pages into my Aaru sequel, but I’m also still determined to publish my first finished novel, which is a fantasy novel based upon the mythology, legend and history of ancient Japan. It’s done, it just needs polishing. It will be published eventually, but it’s kind of my baby, so it will only be when I’m sure it’s perfect.
Will you tell us a little bit about your main characters?
Aaru is primarily told from the perspective of Rose and Koren. They are pretty typical Southern girls from an average working-class household, but thrust into events that soon overwhelm them. It was important for me that they came across as authentic, real, and relatable, so I hope I accomplished that.
Share something with us not a lot of people know about you.
First, because it’s so recent, I am actually Dr. David Meredith. I just finished my course work this summer and will be issued my degree on August 15, 2017.
Congratulations! That’s quite an accomplishment.
Do you have people read your drafts before you publish? How do you select beta readers?
Many. And I think that is a necessity as well. It’s very easy to get tunnel vision about your own work and other people are much more likely to spot glaring flaws than I am. In terms of selection, I first impose heavily on friends and family. My wife is always my first Beta-Reader, but then I also try to find other authors of diverse literary backgrounds who can bring interesting perspectives to my work.
What was your writing process like?
I outline some, but revise often I try to leave myself open to going where the writing leads and often end up places I hadn’t planned in the beginning.
What are your hobbies aside from writing, if any?
Of late, most of my time has been consumed by writing my dissertation, so this may be an area I’ll have to explore in more detail now that I have a little more time, but I like reading, and I still spend the bulk of my free time promoting my work.
The work really does begin once a book has been published. Promoting can take up a lot of time.
What advice would you give someone who is considering publishing? Should they consider traditional or self-publishing?
If you can go the traditional route you should. It can take a lot of pressure off in terms of promotion, but there is a lot of freedom associated with going the Indie route that I have found personally appealing. When you do it all yourself, you get it all, for better or worse, exactly the way you want it, and that’s not a little thing.
Any last words?
Just be sure to check out Aaru! The reviews so far have been great and I think you’ll really enjoy it!
Thanks for taking the time to share with us today, David. Best of luck in all your future endeavors. Find David at any of the great sites below.
Buy Link -Amazon:
Goodreads - Aaru: Goodreads-Aaru
No comments:
Post a Comment