Today, I'm very pleased to welcome author A. L. Sinclair to the blog to talk about her upcoming book, The Witch Queen's Gambit.
If you don't already know Amanda, I'd highly recommend finding her on Instagram, as since she completed this interview for me, she's had some extremely exciting author-y news and things are moving very fast for her right now. I'm absolutely thrilled for her, and if you also want to follow along as she takes the trad route into publishing, that's definitely the place to be!
But, on to the interview, so grab a cuppa, put your feet up, and enjoy :)
Hey, Amanda! Great to have you on the blog, thank you so much for joining me. Please introduce yourself and your books, and include one fun fact about you (or three very boring facts)
Oh gosh, I’m so excited to be here!
I’m Amanda, a debut author. The first ‘book’ I published was when I was in Year 6, so about 11 and it was called Teila’s Monkey and my school ‘published’ it in the library for the younger kids! I was always a voracious reader, but this cracked open my love of writing. Between the ages of 13 and 23 I wrote 3 novels — none of which ever saw the light of day, thank the Goddess.
I’ve recently gotten back into writing, and channelled A Song of Stars. I thought that would be my debut novel and was querying it when The Witch Queen's Gambit dropped in. So in the space of 18 months I wrote TWO novels, and it looks like TWQG is going to be my debut! It's set in the same universe as A Song of Stars, but 483 years earlier.
One fun fact about me…I went on a holiday to Edinburgh on an impulse in October 2016 and fell in love with the City. I came back to Australia, managed to manifest a redundancy, sold everything and moved to Scotland with one 30kg suitcase and my two cats. I didn’t even know anyone there, or have a job lined up.
Wow, that's an indredible adventure!
Not unlike your books - and to help everyone get a feel for what to expect from your writing, please tell me what tropes are in your book?
As a fan of the Tudors and occult-y themes, this sounds fantastic! But tropes aren't the only important thing in a book, so please describe your main characters in five words each.
Zephyr — burdened, values-driven, resilient, yearning, dryly funny
Baldr — shit-stirrer, intuitive, insightful, teddy-bear, chaos-gremlin
Gadreel — take-no-bullshit, powerful, resilient, deep, kind
George -- conflicted, dreamer, romantic, loving, loyal
Anne -- shrewd, cunning, determined, insightful, sharp
Oh, that is a fun set of characters. All right, next, please fill in the blanks: [Your book/series] is [book or film 1] meets [book or film two]
The Witch Queen's Gambit is The White Queen meets The Other Boleyn Girl
And now for a slightly sillier question - If your book were scratch-n-sniff, it would smell like…
Blood and betrayal
Many authors dream of seeing their stories brought to life on TV or as a film. If that happened, who would be your dream cast?
That'd be a fantastic cast! Writers spend a lot of time thinking about their worlds, but if you could step into your book and join your own stories, would you? Why/why not?
Yes. Hands down. Having magick and the power to make a difference at such a large scale? Sign me up. I’ve always been an activist, and I’m not shy about getting political or standing up for what I believe, but there’s only so much one person can do. In this world, Aurelia has a little extra backing. Although that does come with its own price.
Great answer! Another thing authors do is research (so much research!). What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched for a book?
Omg I’ve done whole posts on this. This entire novel is over 10 years in the making. I’ve researched the most unhinged conspiracy theories on evolution, ancient civilisations, bloodlines, secret societies and power brokers. On a more practical note there’s a lot of research into stars and binary stars and how they work for Zephyr’s magick. Then there’s the work I’ve done in psychology and attachment and trauma as a coach that plays heavily into the book as well. Plus 26 years as a practicing witch!
That's a lot of interesting and unusual research, it sounds fascinating. All right, Amanda, if you'd like to take a break for a second, I'd like to hear your main character speak:
Hi! Be honest; what do you think of your author?
She’s unhinged in the best way. I mean a little sadistic once you get to Chapter 22 — really, did we have to go there? But other than that, it’s been a heck of a ride being in her head. I like that she lets the story be what it’s meant to be, rather than trying to dictate it. She trusts the narrative and the pace. She doesn’t get hung up on what she thinks we need to do. She asks questions. I’m both looking forward to and dreading the series. I know what’s coming. I’ve seen into her head *shudders*.
It sounds like a really interesting collaborative effort. Thank you so much for sharing!
Now, Amanda, I'd love it if you could please share:
a. The first line of your book
George halted at the threshold of the parlour, tasting ether and storms in the air.
b. The last line of your book (if there’s no spoilers)
It's a bit spoiler-y -- sorry!
c. Your favourite line that you’ve written
“Oh we’re still fighting,” Zephyr growled. His fingers found the buttons of the doublet, making quick work of them. “I can multi-task.”
d. A line without context that raises more questions than it answers
Zephyr shuddered, and told himself it was pleasure and not fear that made his throat tighten. And he tried not to think about what he had to lose if he took one misstep in the witch queen’s gambit.
So many fab lines!
We're getting to the end of the interview, so it's nearly time for me to let you go. Before you do, where can people find your and your books online?
You can connect with me on Instagram — I absolutely LOVE chatting with my community, so slide into my DMs and say hi!
Thank you so much for your time, and all the best with everything that's going on - I can't wait to see how everything pans out!