1. What made you want to be a writer? 

I’ve always been interested in writing and books – books have been a staple in my family for as long as I could remember. As an introvert who had a hard time connecting with other people, it was much easier for me to focus on the fantastical worlds in my head rather than the boring one outside. Putting it down on paper was a form of release and now, pride.

2.  What books inspired you to become a writer? 

I actually don’t have any specific books to list. I was writing before I even learned English, and then continued to write for many years as a hobby. If any, I absolutely loved Salvatore’s Drizzt series years ago as his writing style for fight scenes blew my mind, but can’t think of any specific books.

3. Is English your second language? If so, what is it like writing stories in your second language? 

Yes, English is my second language but it is my primary one, if that makes sense. I started learning English when I was 10 and I find it a lot easier to express myself in English than my first language. Having said that though, I do try to include anecdotes or styles from my first language (though none are specifically included in Soultaming the Serpent) such as grammatical structure or even the struggles of being multilingual. 

4. What is your book about? 

My Blurb: Jun was barely ten years old when the last dragon died.

Half a century later and Jun still dreams of the rain that hasn’t fallen since. Her mundane life takes a turn when she encounters Aurel, who she suspects may be the one that holds the key to restoring balance and is destined to find the elusive serpent from the prophecy.

Joined by Casey, Jun’s closest friend and the village brewer, the three embark on a journey to unravel the prophecy’s intricacies, figure out what the serpent’s role truly is, and why the dragon has to die, not knowing they are being watched.

Follow our trio as Jun discovers a love of adventure, Casey’s devotion takes an unexpected turn, Aurel spills his secrets like dust in the sand, and the three of them discover the true power of their bond.

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Basically, Soultaming the Serpent is a love story about Jun, a woman who turns 60, and has been an introvert and outcast for all her life. It is at this point in her life that she decides to go on her first ever adventure. And go-big-or-stay-home, she decides to go travelling with a complete stranger she found naked in the woods and her best friend. Their goal is to bring back the dragon, whose death has left the lands without rain for half a century. 

I do market it as a romantasy, even though I like to clarify this is a love story, not specifically romantic love as there are many forms of love explored through the characters. 

5. What excites you most about your story?

It’s because it’s something I haven’t read. As someone in my 30s, I’m tired of reading these stories about 16-20 year old kids saving the world. I wanted somebody I could connect with. Throw in a change of the common dragon tropes in fantasy by using an eastern-inspired dragon that aids the people rather than lords over them or hoards gold in a cave, and then flip the chosen one trope on its head – and I am so happy. And Casey – my second male character – he is everybody’s favourite so far and he just makes me smile thinking about him.

6. What excites you most about your characters?

That they are different from what I grew up reading. I have one style of character I include in all my writing, but in this case – Jun is the character I haven’t read about before. She’s old, she’s grumpy, she’s not adventurous or the chosen one, she is single and happy for it, and she’s not relegated as a side character or comedic relief (which seems to be the most common case with older characters) – this is *her* story.

7. I’m fascinated by the world you created. Can you let readers in on what this world looks like and the legends of dragons? 

The world in Soultaming the Serpent is based around a cycle of dragons. Basically, the dragons in this story are what bring about rain and there is a common cycle that everyone knows about that once the dragon dies, a chosen one rises who has to go and find the new dragon. Usually, this cycle lasts only a few years with the time between the death of the dragon and a new one rising being short. In this case though, the dragon died fifty years ago and with no dragon – there has been no rain. 

With no rain, the desert has slowly started taking over, there is limited water so they use sand and plants to clean, the heat of the day is too much, and so people work at night and sleep during the day. Another small detail, the capital city where the Empress is in control has more access to water and they offer all elderly to live out the rest of their days there – Jun, being of an age where she would be accepted, has refused this offer and remains living in her village.

8. I really enjoyed Jun as a character. From the start, she is someone who collects trinkets, is cantankerous, and points out she wants a different life than others. What was it like developing her as a character? 

In the beginning, she was very hard to write because I felt myself automatically leaning towards either the comedic relief or the grumpy stereotype of an old lady with cats. In fact, one of my first marketing messages was “imagine a crazy old cat lady but with magical trinkets rather than cats”. The more I developed the storyline though, the more I decided to focus on her as an individual person who has her own faults and dreams and fears, and she just took over from there.

9. Do we see a lot of back and forth with her going on a journey? Does she have regrets, or is she always going at 100%? 

There actually isn’t that much of the back and forth nor is there that 100% certainty. In the beginning of the story, when she crosses the border of her village, there is a lot of internal struggles with it, but I wanted her to be of the mindset where – she’s more likely to do something out of spite or just to prove others wrong, and either the shiny-object-syndrome or her own stubbornness and pride will keep her going – even if she doesn’t want to. 

10. I also really saw myself in Jun. She is a character who still believes in mysticism even though those around overlook her. Is she a character that you saw a lot of yourself in? 

I definitely saw myself in Jun when writing her, but it was less the mysticism and more of the urge/itch to do something. I’ve always been the type of person who has a lot of ideas and wants to do a thousand things at once, but when decision paralysis strikes and then the urge disappears and nothing gets done. I kind of wanted to get that feeling into her – she wants to do it, she has the dreams, but she doesn’t have the motivation or a reason, or even a person to give her that final push to make her do it, whether that’s learning a new skill or going on an adventure. 

11. It also sounds like there is a bit of history with her and Casey. Can you give readers any hints on what to expect? 

The relationship between Jun and Casey was actually changed from the first draft very drastically. Originally, I went with Casey being the best-friend to Jun who has been in love with her for a long time and is a love rival to the new guy – Aurel. The more I wrote this story though, the more I remembered how much it annoyed me with every story of a love triangle where the heroine meets a new guy and then has to choose between her best friend and him. 

As such, I changed Casey around to be more than just a best friend – they’ve known each other for a long time (small village, everyone knows everyone) and even with their age gap they become friends. In fact, his role in the prophecy and the journey changed completely and (trying not to spoil) could even be considered as, if not more, important than Jun’s. 

12. Casey is a person with a missing limb. What was the process like creating him with care for the disabled community? 

My main concern with Casey is that his missing limb was a part of him, not something to define him. I didn’t want that to be a focus of who he was and even the backstory of how he loses his limb isn’t focused on the loss as much as how he gains a new fear that makes an appearance later in the story. 

My goal was to try to include his disability as naturally in the story as I could, such as when he stumbles walking on sand or when he’s sore from wearing the wooden leg all day and has to sit. In the end, to me it felt more like the same way I would describe Jun’s belly pouch or Aurel’s sun-burned skin – it’s something to tell us more about them without defining them.

13. Aurel seems so standoffish. I was so amused by him having the energy of “I’m not going to thank you for just saving me.” What’s he like throughout the rest of the novel? 

Although the story focuses so much on Jun and her adventure and growth, I do believe that Aurel actually has the most dynamic story, both as a background and growth throughout. The readers see how his standoffish behaviour at the beginning changes as he’s warming up to Jun and Casey, and then a few glimpses of his past and what led to that behaviour, before he changes for the purpose of the story and then beyond that. His character was honestly the hardest to write because I wanted him to change a lot, but without it seeing out-of-character and making sure it has a natural progression that made sense. 

14. Is there something about your characters that you struggled with while writing?

Already mentioned my issues all three of the main characters but I also had a few scenes I struggled with, but one in particular that deals with retracted consent – Jun had given her consent for an action to occur (not sexual, though can be read as such) and then retracted it – having to write that scene and how two of the characters fought over it and reacted to it was so difficult! I had to try and get into both mindsets and figure them both out in how they would react in that type of situation. 

15. What made you want to go into Indie Publishing? 

I am an indie author and that is mainly because I have experience in trad publishing and I don’t want to be involved in that again – unless the offer comes my way and the money is good ;). To be completely serious, I wanted full creative control of my work, especially plot-wise as trad is still not as diverse as they claim, and it allowed me to have fun and draw my own cover for the print version that subverts tropes as much as the story itself does. 

16. What are you currently reading, watching and/or enjoying? 

I’ve been on an absolutely horrible fanfiction binge for the past 2 months, but I’m waiting for that urge to die down since I have a ton of amazing indie books waiting to be read. I do read primarily queer indie fantasy and scifi, and switch around on what I watch too much to stick to anything specific for long periods of time.