To Dance In Liradon by Adrienne Clarke

Please welcome Adrienne Clarke author of To Dance In Liradon.

Adrienne will be awarding winner's choice of a Kindle touch, Nook Simple Touch, or a $100 Apple gift card, and one crystal Faerie necklace similar to what Brigid wore to the Faerie ball to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Please leave a comment for a chance to win.

To Dance in Liradon

by Adrienne Clarke

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INTERVIEW:

Thank you such much for having me angels! Wow! I feel a bit like the mysterious Charlie when I say that, but I’m guessing you hear that a lot.

1.     Books inspired me to start writing.  I’ve been in love with books all my life and I always knew that I wanted to create stories of my own. I admire artists of all kinds, but storytelling has always been the talent I’m most in awe of.

2.     I think the necessary components for fantasy and YA are the same for any genre. You need to have compelling characters that the reader cares about; conflict; character development; and good writing to bring your story to life on the page.

3.     The story for To Dance in Liradon has been with me for a long time. I have a shared passion for fairy tales and Celtic mythology, and I knew I wanted to write a book that drew on the magic and romance of both. I’ve always loved stories about the Irish Tuatha De Danann, tall, beautiful, proud and amoral, who have a propensity for falling in love with humans. To Dance in Liradon explores what happens when the human and Faerie worlds collide.

6.     No matter what the future holds I will always write. Reading and writing are as essential to me as me breathing. I can’t imagine not having a writing project on the go whether it’s a novel or a short story. The publishing side of things is more unpredictable because it can take a long time to find the right publishing home for your story. I’ve learned that, for me, a huge part of being a writer is perseverance, and hopefully I’ll continue to persevere!

7.     Brigid, the heroine of To Dance in Liradon, is a perfect example of my living vicariously through my characters. Although I always dreamed of becoming a writer I had another passion as well, ballet. I loved everything about it, the music, the costumes, the artistry, and most of all the mysterious, often tragic, and fairy tale like stories. I wasn’t good enough to become a professional dancer, but the dream remained, and when I began thinking about Brigid I knew she would be a dancer; someone whose body tingled “with the familiar urge to dance until she felt her very soul underneath her feet.”

8.     Excerpt

The sneak peak I’ve chosen is from the early part of the novel where Brigid meets the Faerie Queen for the first time; a meeting destined to change the course of her life forever.

The Faerie Queen raised one eyebrow so that it disappeared behind the gold circlet she wore around her head. “Another favour? I’m afraid this one shall cost you.”

Brigid nodded. What good was the flower if she couldn’t find her way back again?

“Close your eyes,” the Faerie Queen commanded. “What do you hear?”

“Nothing.”

“Still your breath, and let the pictures in your head slide away. Listen to what’s underneath the silence.”

She tried, but it was hard to do. And then she heard it, the gentle trickle of running water.

“Follow the sound. It will bring you back to the path and your father. But hurry, the forest is no place for a child.” And then she began to laugh, the sound surprisingly harsh and deep.

Brigid ran towards the sound until she saw the sky peeking through the trees, and felt the path beneath her feet. When she saw her father, she ran into his open arms, the Faerie Queen’s laughter still ringing in her ears.

“We thought we’d lost you forever,” her father whispered into her hair.

“But I’ve only been gone a short time,” she said.

“Nay, my sweet. The sun has risen and set twice since we came into the forest. Your mother and I have been searching everywhere.”

She showed her father the flower. “The Faerie Queen gave it to me so I could give it to Mother.”

Her father smiled, but fear spread across his face like a stain. Three days later he was dead.

9.     I don’t belong to a critique group, but I do have a couple of trusted friends who understand my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and who provide really valuable feedback. Critique groups can be wonderful if you find the right one, but I think they can also be a hindrance if they cause you to question your instincts as a writer. As with any creative endeavor you absolutely need to accept criticism and use it to make your work better, but first and foremost you have to listen to your own voice. It’s what makes your work unique.

10.  I submitted my first story in University. An English major, I spent my days reading and talking about books, and I realized I didn’t just want to talk about other peoples’ work, I wanted to create my own.  That first story was not my best work, but it set me on the path towards publication.

11.  The best advice I ever received was “Don’t give up.” Writing is hard and you must do it because you love it. It’s easy to get discouraged and you need to find ways to move beyond that to keep going. I find the best way to make myself feel better is to write. Nothing compares to the feeling of disappearing into that imaginary world and seeing your ideas come to life on the page.

12.   I do a draft outline of my books but there’s always room to move. I tend to add and subtract things as I go along. Some outlines are more detailed than others, but even when it’s pretty bare bones I find the outline helps to keep me focused.

13.  I find the best way to maintain my creativity is to make sure I spend part of my day writing, even if it’s only for 20 minutes. There’s so much pressure to promote your work that it’s easy to neglect your writing. Although I understand the necessity of self promotion giving up my writing time puts me in a bad mood so I make sure I devote at least a part of my day to writing.

BLURB:

Seventeen-year-old Brigid O'Flynn is an outcast. A chance encounter with the Faerie Queen left her tainted in the eyes of the villagers, who blame the Faerie for the village’s missing women and children. Desperate to win the village’s acceptance, Brigid agrees to marry her childhood friend: Serious, hardworking, Connell Mackenna. But when Connell disappears before their wedding, Brigid's hopes are shattered. Blamed for her fiancé’s death, Brigid fears she will suffer the same fate as the other village outcasts, the mysterious Willow Women. Lured into Faerie by their inhuman lovers, and cast out weak and broken, the Willow Women spend their lives searching for the way back into Faerie. When Connell suddenly reappears, Brigid is overjoyed, but everything is not as it seems. Consumed by his desire for beauty and celebration, Connell abandons his responsibilities, and Brigid soon finds herself drawn into a passionate, dangerous world of two.

When Brigid discovers the truth behind Connell's transformation she’s forced to choose between two men and two worlds. Brigid’s struggle leads her into glittering, ruthless Faerie, where she must rescue her true love from a terrible sacrifice or lose him forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

Connell was waiting for her when she arrived. He took her hand without speaking and led her into the forest. Once they were safely inside the trees’ protection, Connell removed something from the heavy cloth sack he wore around his waist tied with a silken cord. It was a harp, the most beautiful instrument Brigid had ever seen. The tuning pegs looked to be made of gold and the strings of pure silver. When Connell touched them with his fingers, the music made her want to weep and sleep and laugh, all at the same time. She reached out to touch it, but Connell snatched her hand away.

“Forgive me, my love, but I cannot let you have it. As pretty as it is, it would burn your delicate fingers.”

“Why should it burn me and not you?” She thought it would be worth the risk to run her hands along the deep U of the harp’s neck.

“‘Tis no ordinary harp. It will only endure the touch of its owner.”

“How did you come to have it?” 

Connell brushed his fingers gently across the strings. “It was given to me as a gift.”

“By whom?” Brigid asked, bewildered. There was no one in the village save for the lord himself who could afford such an instrument.

Connell leaned towards her. “‘Tis a secret.”

“If I am to be your wife, there must be no secrets between us.”

Connell seized Brigid’s hands and pulled her towards him. “I am not myself,” he whispered in her ear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I think I became a writer because the world inside my head was so real and vivid, sometimes more so than the outside world. In some sense I have lived parallel lives, present in my real and imaginary lives in different ways. Because much of my childhood was spent searching for faeries or reading about them, it is natural that my work encompasses fairy tale themes and other magical elements. In the words of Tennessee Williams, forget reality, give me magic!

Adrienne has previously published short stories in The Storyteller, Beginnings Magazine, New Plains Review, and in the e-zines A Fly in Amber, Grim Graffiti, Les Bonnes Fees, The Altruist, The Devilfish Review, and Rose Red Review. Her short story, Falling was awarded second place in the 2008 Alice Munro short fiction contest. To Dance in Liradon is her first published novel.

An avid reader of fairy tales and other magical stories, a thread of the mysterious or unexpected runs through all of her work. When she’s not writing Adrienne can be found searching for faeries along with her daughters Callista and Juliet.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.adrienneclarkewriter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/ToDanceInLiradon

Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6436251.Adrienne_Clarke

Twitter: https://twitter.com/clarkeadrienne

Buy Links:

Amazon: US: http://www.amazon.com/To-Dance-in-Liradon-ebook/dp/B009F94I3W/ref=la_B009HWWMT4_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349915685&sr=1-1

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-Dance-in-Liradon-ebook/dp/B009F94I3W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1349972228&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-dance-in-liradon-adrienne-clarke/1112975145?ean=2940015710045

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/To-Dance-in-Liradon/book-J5YVsQBAyU26uuplRq4VrQ/page1.html?s=KS-iLsIhp0GoqVUvE-QpvA&r=1"

 Don't forget to leave a comment!