First Light – Book Tour and Giveaway

What inspired you to write this book?

I got back into reading again after years of not reading for enjoyment. I started with a lot of online web novels and moved on to a bunch of other books and light novels. After a while, I eventually got an itch to write again after years of having nothing to do with it. I found one of my old stories (self-insert cringe-filled ones). I removed all the self-insert, all the plot, and almost all the characters and kept the magic system and created a whole new story. Fun fact, one of the characters from First Light stayed as well (though with many changes) and it will be fun to see his story play out as I continue the series!

What can we expect from you in the future?

More books in Tales of the Vanguard for sure. Rune’s saga will be three to five books long, and I want Vanguard to be a whole universe with other books; side stories, prequels, sequels, and unrelated stories all set in the same world. I also have another project in another world I am working on that just finished up its first beta read that will deal with PTSD, LGBTQ+ themes, and the cost of power. They should all be fun!

Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?

For those who sign up for my newsletter, they will receive a short two-chapter prequel to the story of one of the side characters named Venraya!

A lot of my ARC and Beta readers fell in love with a number of side characters and the most popular one has been Rune’s(MC) dad, Vickar. So I will be writing a standalone book about his story at some point!

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in First Light?

Happily!

Rune is our main character! His birth name is Arkrune, so named for an in-universe legendary hero. He takes on the nickname of Rune for the purposes of our story after being given it by his childhood friend Tara. He has hopes for the future of being a famous adventurer as a member of the Vanguard. Rune is kind, compassionate, and a touch dense. He also struggles with decision making on his own, kind of meandering through the story, unsure how to really complete his goals outside of what other people tell him to do.

Tayven is a side character who is a friend of Rune and a foil to him of sorts. He also wants to join the Vanguard and be a powerful warrior. Unlike Rune, he knows he is going to do this by the use of his sword and through Aura (this world’s magic). Tayven has goals, and a drive to step forward by making allies on purpose with intent to grow.

Venraya is another side character who is a bit abrasive to most at first. She’s quick to warm up to some and slow for others. She knows she wants to be a strong fighter like her parents, but is trying to find out how to do that and looks to a party member of her mom’s group as a mentor.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?

I have a number of friends who like to write who have asked me that… and the answer is that I really don’t know! They just kind of pop in my head randomly. Usually I figure out a personality and then a name just pops up after that (for a character). Similar for the names of places. I think about the description of a place, kingdom, or entity, and then a name just kinda pops into my head.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Diving into another world and taking the characters I created and giving them life… It was all so thrilling. The idea that someone else would end up reading this eventually was just as exciting, albeit equally terrifying.

Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

Find a way to plan or track your writing that works for you. I am a pantser by nature. Planning and plotting with a plot line and all that breaks my brain and I just can’t do it. Instead, I write now using Novelcrafter. I don’t use the AI features, but I LOVE the codex part because it makes it easy for me to come up with people, places, and things on the fly, then immediately add them to my codex notes for me to remember later. Then if I type the name, I get a little hover box that tells me all my notes I made about them. It’s great. I also did find a way to plot that allows me to prepare a little bit by creating guide posts instead of a complex diagram called the Five Sentence outline. I love using that.

If you could spend time with a character from your book, who would it be? And what would you do during that day?

Brick, absolutely. I need his emotional support and no-nonsense attitude. He has a way of telling you what you did wrong without being mean about it and I feel like that would be very helpful for me. Is it bad to use your own characters for therapy? Probably.

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

In the original inspiration of this book, almost all the characters were inspired/sometimes named after people I knew. However, in this book, they are all completely original. None of these characters are people I know, though some may have slight similarities, there is no one in my book that I can point to and be like “That is absolutely Jane from the coffee shop”.

Have you written any other books that are not published?

Yep! I have another project I’m working on in a different series, and of course the sequel to First Light!

Is there a writer which brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?

I would love to just sit and talk to Rick Riordan. His book series The Lightning Thief is what originally got me into both writing and reading as a kid, so talking with him would be insanely cool. As far as a more recent author, I don’t think there are any. I have done a lot of networking with some other authors who write a lot of Kindle Unlimited books I read, so if I want to talk to one, I usually just go and do that. They are usually a lot easier to reach than the big names.

‘Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?’-type tidbits about the author, the book or the writing process of the book.

*The final title for the book didn’t come into being until after like the 3rd beta read

*There were way too many beta reads of this thing! Literally like six or more, it was insane. Note to others: don’t do that, if you can avoid it.

*I wrote the first seven chapters of book one of a sequel series to Rune’s saga before I wrote First Light. Those seven chapters will eventually come out in the series set after Rune’s story is over.

*My wife is obsessed with a character named Lylah who is… interesting. I mean she’s a good character, but I find it fun that Lylah is her favorite because she is so not who my wife is or hangs out with in real life!