Author Interview with Coral Walker
I’m interviewing Coral Walker today, author of fantasy novel “Children of Swan”. Enjoy the interview, and thanks to Coral for answering my questions.
Author Interview
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
When I was around 12 or 13. It might be even earlier, but it was when I explicitly shared my ambition with some of my school friends. One of them, a girl of extraordinary character who was the captain of our girl’s football team, was excited after I told her a story idea and shouted at me across a busy road: “Write it! I’d love to read it.”
What inspired you to write Children of Swan?
My own children. It isn’t a coincidence that I have three children, just like the Goodman family in the Children of Swan. It wasn’t uncommon a few years ago that my mind was dominated by the daily chaos wrought by my children. Loving them dearly, but disliking their constant sibling squabbles, I imagined they were missing and caring for each other, with their lives turned upside-down by adversity. That was how the story started. Since then it has grown a life of its own — the missing parents, the abducted young brother, and the perilous land of Taron where life is held cheap.
Nevertheless, it is a fiction. Once the writing switch is turned on, I am completely given over to storytelling. Would I want my children go through the suffering and life-and-death struggles of the Goodman children to learn the same valuable lessons? Well…no, but life can be capricious. The days that our children are sheltered under our wing are numbered. One day they will spread their own wings and fly off into the sky. By then I hope that, like the Goodman children in their fictional world, they will care for each other and be strong and resilient.
What is your editing process like?
It is a tedious, repetitive process. For Children of Swan, it took three rounds of editing and two of proofreading following about 25 drafts.
What was the most challenging thing about writing this book?
Children of Swan is my debut as an author. Doing the first draft is the most challenging thing. It wasn’t until after many futile attempts over a period of more than half a year that I decided to stick to a strict target: 50,000 words per month. The result is the Children of Swan in its current form — over 150,000 words in three instalments.
Did you set any writing goals for 2016? If so, what are they? Are you working on something now?
I am currently writing “Path to Love”, the second Children of Swan book and planning to finish it in 2016. I am also reading widely in preparation for an historical romantic fiction, and plan to have a first draft done by early in 2017.
About the Book
Title: Children of Swan
Author: Coral Walker
Genre: YA fantasy/scifi
It seems that nothing could be worse than waking up one morning to find their parents have disappeared and their young brother Bo bawling his eyes out, but for Jack and Brianna, the squabbling teenage sibling rivals, the worst is yet to come.
Much to the bafflement and distress of their children, Marcus and Zelda have actually returned to their home planet, Cygnore. Marcus and Zelda, the runaway prince and princess of Bara and Rion, had a life on Earth. For twelve years, they lived happily and peacefully under the name of ‘Goodman’.
Bo is kidnapped. In hot-headed pursuit, Jack and Brianna plunge into a wormhole that takes them to Taron. Little did they know their impetuous arrival in Taron has placed the lives of their parents in peril. Locals catch them and bring them to an arena. In bewilderment and dismay, Jack finds himself fettered to a wall and examined by a smouldering-eyed and blue-skinned young woman of Bara, Lady Cici.
Lady Cici, the daughter of Lord Shusha, has come to the arena for one and only reason — to have them killed. She is to be engaged to Prince Marcus, their father, and she cannot afford their existence to jeopardize Marcus’ life and her forthcoming engagement. She must have them killed, and the arena, where slaves routinely fight to the death, is the perfect place.
Author Bio
Coral Walker was born and raised in China. She holds a BSc in Computer Engineering, MSc in computing and PhD in Computer Science and, and has spent most of her adult life striving for an orthodox, academic career path. She now lives in Wales, UK with her husband and three children. Becoming a mother, and teaching her children to live a fulfilled life resuscitated her fading dream of being an author. The urge to write became so great that she pursued her dream and the ‘Children of Swan’ trilogy is the upshot — a symbol of a new journey in life.
Links
Web: http://www.coralwalker.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coralwalkertheauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/betheonenot
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