Interview with AJ Culpepper - World of Kore` Forums EXCLUSIVE!

On February 17, I was lucky enough to snag some time to hold an IM interview with Mrs. Culpepper on behalf of the forum. The following is the transcription.

World of Kore`: You’ve recently finished the first draft of Book Two of the Tome Series and have said you will be starting your editing soon. So the first question and probably the one of everyone’s mind is when is it coming out?

AJ Culpepper: The planned release is Autumn 2013.

WoK: What can you tell us about Book Two?

AJC: “Sea of Sands” picks up several weeks after the conclusion of “Zikhin” and resumes following many of the characters from the first book - Riya, Scorpio, Kalidas, Fenris and Eyfura, Zorastres and Drakon, each on their own quests but ultimately to stop Amias. However, there’s a lot of twists and turns along the way and Amias has a new pet that is going to make things even harder. A few new characters join the growing war, some wittingly, some non.

WoK: A “new pet”…can you give us any hints as to what it is?

AJC: I’ll only say that it’s big…very, very big and 100% evil.

WoK: Well, the size leaves Drakon out. What can you tell us about these new characters?

AJC: The foremost one is someone my readers met at the end of “Zikhin”, Maaka, the TaniwhaPori warrior that works for a shadowmancer. There’s also a NarQamar half-blood king and an Al’Aqran warrior, Sayf al Ghayth.

WoK: Sounds like an interesting brood. Okay, as of right now, what do you like most about “Sea of Sands”?

AJC: The fact that you get to see a bit more of the world of Kore`. The story takes place almost entirely on the Far Realm continent, but you get to see more of the realms and even a little bit of the foreboding continent of CernZaviest. I also like the fact that I got to show a little bit more of the other races of the world and even delve in depth in a few.

WoK: What can you tell us about these other realms and races?

AJC: A good chunk of the story takes place in the desert realm known as the Sea of Sands. But there's a host of other places the characters travel through and to. You even venture into the UnderEarth at one point. There’s a tropical jungle in the middle of a magickal winter. You get to see some of the islands of the Shamira (and experience a bit more of Zorastres’ people and the world he comes from). You also get to peek into the world of the SangeCavaleri through Andrei Dalca and his clan.

WoK: That’ll make more than a few female readers happy, I’m sure. Now, you often mentioned on your facebook page and many blogs that music is a very big factor in your writing. How so? Do you listen to music while you write?

AJC: Never! When I’m writing, silence is always the best policy. But I do listen to music before I write. Certain pieces fit certain situations, scenes, characters or entire books! I have some songs or pieces that I feel are “character themes” and I will listen to them before writing that character.

WoK: Could you give us some examples?

AJC: “7 Days to the Wolves” by Nightwish is definitely Fenris’ theme song while the entire album “Archangel” by Two Steps to Hell fits Drakon’s character evolution from beginning to end.

WoK: On the topic of character evolution, do you plan a character’s development from point A to point B? Or is it a totally spontaneous thing?

AJC: For the most part, I have character “highlights” that I pinpoint and plan on. How they get there is anyone’s guess, though, because eventually the story takes on a life of its own. When that happens, the characters take on a life of their own and then the development happens naturally. There are certain things that I feel have to happen to the character, but sometimes those things don’t work out and I end up sitting back saying “WTF?” Then I realize, it couldn’t have happened any other way.

WoK: Were there any surprises like that in writing “Sea of Sands”?

AJC: Definitely! At one point a certain character got killed, one I’m not ashamed to admit I got rather attached to, and I had TOTALLY not planned on killing him off! It just sort of happened. It seems odd to say that about something I wrote, I know, but believe me, it was a traumatic experience nonetheless!

WoK: When you posted that the first draft of Book Two was complete, you said you were taking time off from the Tome Series for the rest of the year to work on other projects. Can you tell us anything about them?

AJC: The primary project I've been working on has been a ForeverGreen novel which, I'm hoping, I'll be able to finish the first draft of by the end of the year.

WoK: Does that mean we might be expecting a new book in 2014?

AJC: If all goes to plan, yes! At least I hope so.

WoK: Have you been working on any other projects?

AJC: As of yet, not really. I seem to have fallen into the groove of my ForeverGreen novel and am rather content to remain there for the time being. Still, I'd like to at least touch on my horror novel project and a few other mad ideas I have floating around in my head before the year is out and it's time to return to the Tome Series.

WoK: In closing, if you could name one song or piece of music that would be the “theme” to “Sea of Sands” as a whole, what would it be?

AJC: Without a doubt, Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on the Bare Mountain” paired with Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (like in Disney’s original “Fantasia”) fits “Sea of Sands” from cover to cover to a “T”! It’s not over yet, but there’s hope in the end.


WoK NOTE:
I'm inclosing a youtube vid of the pieces to which Mrs. Culpepper referred for the benefit of those unfamiliar and in the hopes of getting us ALL looking forward to the release of "Sea of Sands".

Very nice WW! Thank you so much for sharing!

Cool, thanks for sharing this, Wraith! Now I'm really looking forward to book 2! Seeing more of the world sound pretty neat!

Ha! I love it! Thanks for doing the interview Wraith and thanks for sharing your time AJ!

I learned a lot. Thank you for the interview, Ms. Culpepper.

I'm glad the interview was so well received!