An Interview with Elspeth Cooper, Author of “The Wild Hunt” Series—Plus A Giveaway!
The giveaway for Songs of the Earth and Trinity Rising (The Wild Hunt series) has now closed and the result will be posted at ca. 6.30 am, Wednesday 13 (NZ Time)
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Introduction:
I enjoy doing interviews with fellow authors and am particularly pleased to be bringing you today’s interview with UK-based author, Elspeth Cooper, who like me is a new name on the international Fantasy scene. Again like me, Elspeth is currently writing a four-book epic Fantasy series, The Wild Hunt (Gollancz.) Songs of the Earth, the first novel in the series, was shortlisted for the Gemmell Morningstar Award, for Best Fantasy Debut, in 2012.
I did a “Just Arrived” post for both Songs of the Earth and Trinity Rising, here, and reported back on reading them here—and so am delighted to confirm that as part of this interview Elspeth will be giving away a UK trade paperback set of both books, the recipient to be drawn from those who comment on the post. (Details will be provided below the post.)
But for now—onwards, to the interview!
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The Interview
Helen: Welcome to “…on Anything, Really”, Elspeth—it’s a great pleasure to have you here. Can you tell readers a little bit about The Wild Hunt series from your point of view—what is the story you are trying to tell and what is important to you about the characters and the world?
Elspeth: This is always a tricky one to answer, because I never actually thought to myself, “I know, I’ll write a book!”
I’ve always had this overwhelming desire to tell stories, right from an early age. I had some ideas about choices that had sprung from frustration with all those late 80s/early 90s fantasy books where the prophecy was the plot and the characters were just tokens to be pushed about with no agency and no personal stake in what was happening to them. I was also playing with concepts of faith vs organised religion, and the tendency of buried secrets to come out, inspired by the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church.
After a painful break-up I started writing as therapy, and what came out was Gair, in the iron room, waiting to be sentenced for witchcraft. Somehow all those nebulous ideas came together, and a book happened. I wish I could say there was some grand plan, some calculated decision to include this theme or that which would make me sound terribly thoughtful and clever, but there isn’t. I flew by the seat of my pants the whole way.
Helen: When I read Songs of the Earth, the first book in the series, I thought: “Ah, Gair is a paladin” and realized it was a really long time since I had read a true paladin story—so what drew you to write one?
Elspeth: I grew up on tales of high chivalry and the Knights of the Round Table – my parents read me Ivanhoe as a bedtime story – so that seed was planted firmly from a very early age. However, as I said up there, it wasn’t really a conscious decision to make Gair a paladin. I’d been thinking about buried secrets and when I wrote that scene where he is wrestling with his growing abilities, it occurred to me: “What if the secret his Church is so afraid of is magic?”
I instantly had the cultural back-story, Gair’s predicament in the opening scene made sense if he was a novice in a martial order sworn to hunt down magic users, and it set the stage to open up the story from his personal journey to the epic. Plus, whilst I enjoy reading the current trend for “charming shits” as protagonists, I have a soft spot for an old-fashioned hero.
Helen: As an author, and an epic fantasy author in particular, are their characteristics you feel particularly define your storytelling?
Elspeth: There’s an emphasis on character rather than breakneck plot. I try to make my characters feel like real people, talk like real people and not be tokens, in any sense of the word. I also do my worldbuilding with quite a light hand. I’m a reader, as well as a writer, and as a reader I get irritated with worldbuilding that feels laboured or intrusive, where I can see the author’s fingerprints in the plaster, as it were.
Oh, another characteristic of my storytelling would be magic that feels well, magical. Numinous, otherworldly. I dislike overly systemised magic that feels too much like science.
Helen: Trinity Rising, the second-in-series, extends the cast of characters and opens out the world considerably from Songs of the Earth. What led you to approach the story in that way, rather than having the first book define the scope for the entire series?
Elspeth: When I originally wrote Songs of the Earth, it included Teia’s opening arc that forms the beginning of Trinity Rising. This kept the timeline chronological, but her early story didn’t obviously tie in with Gair’s, nor come to a satisfying conclusion at the same time as his (and it made the manuscript too long to boot) so I moved it to the next book. That meant Trinity starts in Gair’s “past”, i.e. five months or so earlier than where we left him at the end of Songs, but the trade-off was that Songs became a tighter book because it was all about his journey.
When we first meet him he’s quite naïve and unworldly, so this first book is his coming of age. He steps out of a cloistered existence into a wider world, grows in confidence, falls in love, and finds out that pretty much everything he’s been taught up to this point has been based on a lie, and whether he wants it or not he’s hip-deep in a larger conflict.
In Trinity we have the juxtaposition of the personal and the epic. Gair’s in pain and torn between his visceral desire for revenge and the greater good. Then something happens that casts him completely adrift, and he has to start making personal choices that might have profound effects on the wider story.
So the decision to structure the two books the way I did was a largely instinctive one (I do a lot of my writing by feel – I am not a natural planner) but it’s actually worked out quite well because it mirrors Gair’s path as a character.
Helen: As is usually the case with epic fantasy, you have developed an alternate fantasy world. But are there aspects of this world—for example environments, cultures, or periods of history—that you consider particular influences?
Elspeth: I have a background in late medieval-early modern history; it was the subject I would have studied at university if I’d gone, so I drew on European history (and geography, come to that) for some of the facets of the Empire, such as the gradual separation of Church and state, the diminution of the Church as a political force, widespread literacy etc. Writing what you know, and all that.
I’ve pushed the technological developments a bit, as there are accurate (if ruinously expensive) clocks, a state press, mechanised weaving and so on, so it’s culturally a world on the cusp of an industrial revolution, just waiting for some clever bugger to start looking long and hard at fireworks . . .
Helen: Actions sequences are an important component of epic fantasy and so far The Wild Hunt seems no exception to that. So do you have “go to” sources for weapons and tactics, to ensure that you get the combats and battles “right”?
Elspeth: Um, mostly I make it up as I go along 😉
If I have a big set-piece battle to choreograph, I’ll look at accounts of real-world battles over similar terrain, with similar military hardware, but to be honest I’m more interested in the personal stories of the characters involved in the fighting, the grunts rather than the generals. I want to describe the actions of the guy who’s had his horse killed under him and only has his wits and an axe he looted from a corpse to help him survive the next ten minutes. I want to write about the mud and the fear and the adrenalin singing in his blood.
So mostly it’s one-on-one combat I need to study, and the internet gives me a wealth of choices of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) videos and re-enactments. There’s also something that can be learned from movies, believe it or not: yes, it’s carefully choreographed stage combat, but it still has to look like the real thing, and you don’t get to be fight co-ordinator on, say, Kingdom of Heaven unless you know what you’re doing.
If I was still able-bodied, I would have taken some lessons in order to have a better idea what to do with the various swords I own but, alas, that’s not an option any more. And anyway, let’s face it, if you’re in the middle of a mêlée there’s no points for style, and good form goes out the window in favour of hitting the other guy before he can hit you. This is why I don’t try to describe sword strokes with technical precision, and concentrate instead on describing the urgency of the moment.
Helen: In terms of not being able-bodied anymore, I understand you have multiple schlerosis. Does that present difficulties in being a full time writer, or not so much?
Elspeth: It’s a mixed bag, to be honest. Increased fatigue and mobility problems meant I could no longer sustain a commute that was two hours each way, nor could I work to a timetable, which was why I had to quit the Day Jobbe. Now that I am working from home I can be kinder to myself and get the rest I need, yet be at my desk for 9 am, even if I only got up at 8:40. 😉
On the other hand, I’m still sitting in front of a computer all day which makes me stiff and tends to increase the likelihood of me falling over, so I have to take regular breaks and pace myself carefully to make the best use of fluctuating energy levels. Writing full time enables me to do that, in my jimjams if necessary, but I’ve also had to learn to manage my productivity better. Now that I have all day to write, it can sometimes seem to take me all day to get anything written . . .
Helen: Ah, I know that particular feeling well! But I would love to know more about those various swords you own—do you collect them?
Elspeth: I’m not a collector as such, I just love edged weapons, and have done since I was quite small and watched The Water Margin and Shogun on the telly.
A couple of years ago, I realised that I was about to publish a book about a guy who’s spent half his life with a sword in his hand, and I’d never touched one. So I hunted around and found a combat-ready replica of a 15th-century longsword similar to the one Gair uses, and bought it so that I could better understand what it felt like in the hand, how the weight affected my muscles and so on.
In the second book, Gair’s in the desert and gets to use a curved, single-edged sword called a qatan that I’d based on the Japanese katana, so naturally I had to buy one of those too. Again, it’s a functional replica, and hangs on the wall above my desk. I’d like to add a matching wakizashi one day.
I’ve tried to persuade my accountant that these are research materials and can therefore be offset against my taxes, but she wasn’t having it. Curses!
Helen: Curses, indeed! But—regretfully—leaving the swords, what do you, as the author, love most about your central characters, such as Gair and Teia for example?
Elspeth: Gosh, I love them all, even the bad guys – Savin’s snobbery and snark are such fun. Gair’s quite tough to write sometimes because of his reserve and introspection, but it’s qualities like that which remind me of my husband. I think Gair’s somebody I could have been friends with. Tanith is a gentle and compassionate creature, but strong in her own way, and I love Teia’s determination, her drive: she just doesn’t give up, even when she feels like doing exactly that.
Helen: The wonderful thing about a series is that you get to spend more time with both your characters and their respective stories. So is there anything you can share now about how you see both developing—what are you most looking forward to with Books Three and Four of The Wild Hunt?
Elspeth: Book 3, The Raven’s Shadow, has just gone for copyedit, so that one’s in the can as it were, but without spoiling anything I can say that it sees a coming-together of the stories that began as separate threads in Trinity Rising.
I’m particularly enjoying Teia’s development as a character: just when I think she’s reached a point where she can’t go on, she digs deep and surprises me. Gair continues to struggle and feels his humanity is slipping away from him, which pushes him to make another one of those decisions that seems like the right thing to do at the time, but has ramifications for the wider story. Oh, and a couple of “Chekhov’s guns” that have been carefully placed on the mantelpiece in previous books will be fired before the end.
As for Book 4, well, I’m writing that at the minute so even I don’t know exactly what will happen, but it’s going to be big: politically for the Empire, and personally for the characters. There will be blood, oh yes indeedy.
Helen: A raven’s shadow, smoking guns, and plenty of blood—this sounds like truly epic reading, Elspeth, so I’m looking forward to seeing both books come out! In the meantime, thank you very much for doing the interview with me today, and I hope that the ongoing writing of Book 4 is a tour de force: I am sure it will be.
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About the Author:
Elspeth Cooper was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England. A fantasy reader from an early age, she began writing her own stories when still a child and never quite grew out of it.
In 2009, ill-health forced her to give up a 21-year career in IT and now she writes full-time. Songs of the Earth, published in 2011 by Gollancz, was her first novel, and the first in The Wild Hunt Quartet.
A sword-owning, tea-drinking imagineer, she lives in Northumberland with her husband and two cats in a house full of books.
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About the Interviewer:
Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet, interviewer, and blogger. The Gathering of the Lost, the second novel in her The Wall of Night series, was published in April 2012, and in June last year she won the Gemmell Morningstar Award 2012 for the first-in-series, The Heir of Night. Helen has twice won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Excellence in SciFi-Fantasy: for Thornspell (Knopf) in 2009, and The Heir of Night in 2011. She posts every day on her Helen Lowe on Anything, Really blog, and monthly on the Supernatural Underground and SF Signal. You can also follow her on Twitter: @helenl0we
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About the Giveaway:
Elspeth Cooper is very generously offering a UK trade paperback set of Songs of the Earth and Trinity Rising for giveaway, the recipient to be drawn from commenters on this interview.
The giveaway is fully international and will remain open until 12 midnight, Monday 11 February (NZ time), with the winner announced as my blog post on the morning of Wednesday, February 13.
Just leave a comment to go in the draw—and don’t forget to check in on Wednesday 14 to see if you’ve won. If the winner has not contacted me by 12 midnight on Friday, 16 February (NZ time), I will re-draw on Saturday 17.
The draw will be made by Random.Org Integer Generator.
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Other Recent Author Interviews on “… Anything, Really”:
To read, click on the links immediately below:
- Daniel Abraham & The Dragon’s Path
- Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel
- Kristin Cashore & Bitterblue
- John R Fultz—Author of “Seven Princes”
- Tim Jones: A Magical Mystery Tour through “Men Briefly Explained”
- Brandon Sanderson
- Mary Victoria & Oracle’s Fire
>>In the second book, Gair’s in the desert and gets to use a curved, single-edged sword called a qatan that I’d based on the Japanese katana, so naturally I had to buy one of those too. Again, it’s a functional replica, and hangs on the wall above my desk. I’d like to add a matching wakizashi one day.
Now I am drooling in envy. I need to find some extra $ and get a blade. I suspect both of you know me well enough to know what kind of sword I need…
A gladius, Paul?
Of course. 🙂 Although I would not say no to a Spatha, but I am not a horseman by inclination, skill or training.
A Gladius and pugio set, yeah, that would be the stuff…
Glad I guessed right, then… 😉
I’ve seen this in the bookstore. I’ll have to take a closer look at it when I’m in next time. Sounds like an interesting series
Your books look wonderful! I’ve put them on my wishlist. But I’m reading ebooks exclusively now, so I don’t need to be in your drawing.
I’m eagerly awaiting book 3. The title sounds fantastic!
Please don’t enter me as I already have both books.
As someone working on a fantasy piece, I would be interested to hear more about Elspeth’s worldbuilding and how she felt that in some works you can see the authors fingerprints in the plaster? Worldbuilding is the most enjoyable but often the most difficult part of good fantasy.
Hi Kade,
The “fingerprints in the plaster” comment referred to stories where the worldbuilding appears to have been more important to the author than plot or character development, or just handled clumsily. Nothing pulls me out of a story faster than tripping over some indigestible lump of authorly exposition – especially if it happens in the middle of a chase, say, and everything comes to a screeching halt whilst the author tells me about some detail of the local Thieves Guild charter.
I don’t consider worldbuilding to be a separate phase in the construction of the book; for me it happens organically as characters interact with each other and their environment. As I write I try to weave in the saint’s days and swear-words, the customs and superstitions, so that (hopefully!) the reader learns about the world without ever feeling like I’m pulling them aside to lecture them.
At least, that’s the idea ;o
As I said in the interview, I am not a natural planner so sometimes I have to go back and rework early scenes to suit later developments, but I feel the results are worth it. This approach may not work for everyone!
Thanks for that Elspeth! Something new writers can really take on board, being careful not to break the readers engagement.
Thanks for posting this, Helen – Elspeth’s series sounds like an interesting read
Doing the interview with Elspeth was a great pleasure, Peter.
I’ll not lie, I’ve never heard of these books. However, I’d love to be given the introduction to a new authors work.
Thank you for all your comments.:)
Adrianne & Jan: I will make sure both of you are excluded from the draw.:)
Kade, I will draw Elspeth’s attention to your question.
Roger, As new authors both, I am sure Elspeth and I are equally appreciative of readers willing to try the new. 😉
Both books are just under 500 pages each. I can cope with that.
Good interview – thanks.
Fantastic interview. I’ll second the recommendation for Elspeth’s first book, which I’ve read and consider to be among my best reads of last year. Looking forward to reading the second book!
June and Abhinav: Thank you both for your respective comments: I’m glad you enjoyed the interview.
Hey, Ellie. I’m here because I (cough) haven’t got around to getting a copy of Trinity yet….
Great interview!
Ha! Good luck…
These sound like excellent stories. I much prefer real 3d characters in setting rather than a handful of clever story gimmicks carried by flat stereotype stock characters. The story themes are intriguing. This author is new to me but I look forward to correcting that.
You know how some writers like to moan about how their characters seem to take over and have their own ideas about what they’re going to do? I think that’s a consequence of building rounded, realistic individuals: they behave like real people, making stupid decisions in a fit of pique or performing jaw-dropping heroics because that’s what real people do, and to hell with the author’s carefully-constructed synopsis.
This is why I hate writing synopses. It’s much more fun to turn the characters loose and just write down what happens!
I’m always fascinated by the first idea that sparks a book, and a writer’s “process” (for want of a better word!) Thanks so much for sharing yours with us, Elspeth. Reading your interview was a fabulous way to procrastinate rather that opening up the dreaded manuscript file *g*. I love high fantasy so I’d be rapt to be entered into the draw to win your books. (And if I’m not fortunate enough to win, now I know what to spend the book vouchers I got for Christmas and birthday on — Yay! Always a thrill to discover new authors for my must-read list.)
On the subject of swords, one of the most interesting workshops I’ve attended was Nic Harrison’s sword fighting workshop that he and his colleagues presented for the 2011 Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference. It was the first time I’d gotten up close and personal with real swords and equipment, as we were allowed to “play” a bit with some of the swords. Nic was kind enough to let me post a heap of videos I took of his workshop, too — just as well, as the notes I’d frantically scrawled throughout didn’t do the action sequences justice. Fascinating stuff! I’m in awe of writers who can write convincing fight scenes.
Glad you enjoyed the interview Maree! I’m always happy to witter on about my writing process to anyone who’ll listen.
That workshop sounds like it was fascinating. Combat scenes are very easy to get wrong if you don’t do any research at all (or just enough to stab yourself in the foot with a technicality, as it were). There is absolutely no substitute for getting your hands on real weapons and learning how they feel, in my opinion.
Plus they just look so damn cool!
I agree entirely re the swords, Elspeth. And second Maree’s recommendation of Nic Harrison’s workshops.
It’s my husbands birthday in 10 days time and this would be just perfect for him.
Finally!! Thanks Helen for the great interview!
I am an avid reader and have been reading Fantasy my whole life – what else would you call fairy tales with knights and princes? 🙂
My nephew had given me “Songs of the Earth” for Christmas in 2011 and thereafter I was eagerly awaiting the second book, yearning for it to appear.
The character of Gair is absolutely fascinating, and I enjoyed having something a bit different again – though I have to say I did not particularly like the cover picture, I think it doesn’t fit Gair – so I’ll just have to go and get the second book. And then the waiting will begin again!
Really enjoyed the interview – thanks to Helen and Elspeth. The books sound wonderful – will have to hunt them out!
sorry to be pedantic but:
“The giveaway is fully international and will remain open until 12 midnight, Monday 12 February (NZ time), with the winner announced as my blog post on the morning of Wednesday, February 14.
Just leave a comment to go in the draw—and don’t forget to check in on Wednesday 14 to see if you’ve won. If the winner has not contacted me by 12 midnight on Friday, 12 February (NZ time), I will re-draw on Saturday 17.”
Given that the giveaway is open until midnight on Monday the 12th (NZ time) surely it should read 12 Midnight on Friday the 16th (NZ time).
A-ha! Well-spotted Caroline, & thanks very much for pointing out: I have fixed it “immed-jately’! 😉
Songs of the Earth hooked me in the book shop from the opening lines. The more I read the more I wanted to read. An outstanding series. Very much lookng forward to book three
Ooh, a fan! Glad you enjoyed the series so far, Brendan.
Love the cover so much!!! Adding it to my TBR and definitely checking them out!
Thanks for the INT giveaway.
I’m really looking forward to picking up both of these books.
Very interesting interview, will add Elspeth Cooper to my bookstore shopping list!
Her books have been on my to-buy list for a long time! Very interesting interview!
Hi, would love a chance to win the books. I’ve read the first one as an ebook, and enjoyed it, it would be great to have the physical copies 🙂
I would love to own the paperback copies of these book!