Author interview: Anne Tibbets

I'd like to thank Anne Tibbets, author of the Young Adult Fantasy novel The Beast Call, for letting me host an interview with her. You can view my review for The Beast Call here. Now, the interview:

1. I loved the setting in The Beast Call, so I'm curious, where did you get your inspiration for it?

Thank you! I tried to picture a medieval time and draw from that. I knew I wanted Dray, to come from a farming community, but I also wanted there to be more exotic locations, when it came time to travel.  I literally chose the characters first, figured out where they would be from, and drew a map on a scratch piece of paper so I could keep track of where everybody was.

2. What was the hardest part about writing The Beast Call? Was it sticking with it all the way through, forming the characters, something else?

The hardest part about writing this particular book was the battle scenes.  I drew up maps, laid them out on a table and used chess pieces to move around the characters so I could visualize how the battle would play out. It turned out to be quite fun!

3. Can you describe your writing in three words?

You know, this is a good question.  It's hard for a writer to think of themselves this way. Ask who I am personally, that's easy, ask about my writing? That depends on the book and the day! The best answer I can give you, is that when I was writing The Beast Call, my writing was: Paced, Dramatic, Musical...Or, at least, that's what I tried to do with it.

4. Did you expect The Beast Call to end the way it did, or did it change as you went along?

I knew from the very beginning where and how it was going to end and where the next book would start.  In fact, at one point I got impatient writing it, I just wanted to get to the end, so I wrote the last battle and put it aside until I caught up to it, so I would stop obsessing about it.

5. What was the best part of writing The Beast Call?

The book I wrote before The Beast Call was a middle grade time travel adventure called "The Amulet Chronicles," and I wrote it with a very dear friend of mine, Erika Ely Lewis.  Even though it was a blast to work with someone else, and the concept of time travel really interested me, I have to admit, writing by myself, for young adult, in pure fantasy was like finding myself. It was like finding THE perfect fitting, best feeling, hottest looking pair of shoes and getting to wear them everyday.  It felt right. That was the best part, finding my true voice. I'd like to think my happiness comes across in the writing.

6. What's in your to-read pile at the moment?

I've just started 'Lor Mandella - Destruction from Twins' by L. Carroll which I'm totally digging. Up next is 'A Dance with Dragons' the 5th 'Game of Thrones' installment by George RR Martin, and after that it's 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens, because I saw the mini-series on BBC and was quite embarrassed to realize I'd never actually read the book. That's breaking one of my cardinal rules: Always read the book FIRST! Books are always better, don't you agree?

If you haven't read The Beast Call yet, you definitely should try to get your hands on it!