R. J. Truman is the brain-power behind fantasy series The White Light Chronicles. Focusing on Obsidian White, a seventeen year old girl who finds herself on a journey to find her estranged father, and save the world in the process. This unique coming -of-age fantasy story made it’s debut in 2013 with Obsidian White-Shades of Violet and has since grown into a six book long series with the 7th and final book currently in the works.
First things first – did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
Writing is always something I’ve loved doing, ever since I was younger. So yeah I guess in a way I have always wanted to be a writer.
Writing is a career that most find difficult to pursue and often find themselves deterred from – did you ever face adversity for wanting to become an author? And what did you do in the face of this?
Some people do find it hard to understand, as it’s difficult to make money from it. So I point out that it’s more like a hobby for me, and all hobbies cost money. But most people have been supportive or me, and I have another job that pays the bills.
Where did the idea for The White Light Chronicles come from, and what made you decide it had to be a series?
I got the idea for The WLC years ago after reading The Lord of the Rings, and being a tad obsessed with vampires. I got the crazy idea to find a way to combine elves and vampires into one story. Originally it was just going to be one book. But as time progressed I started to get ideas for other stories, and I decided to try and link all the stories together. I thought it would be fun to try and write a series.
What are your own favourite books or series? And do you have a favourite author?
I wish I had more time to read, I do still love The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien), and I’m not ashamed to admit I liked reading Twilight (Stephanie Meyer). But as for an all-time favourite author, I don’t think I’ve read enough books to be able to say.
Who would you say are your biggest inspirations? Authors, other fictional characters, people in your life?
I get a lot of inspiration from the people around me. I try not to base my characters on actual people I know, but I often use their traits in my characters. I also watch a lot of T.V and that helps to get my imagination working. I try to read as much as I can, but I can’t always find time.
How long does it take you to write your books?
It varies from book to book. I managed to write the first three books very quickly, as I was on maternity leave. And they were the ideas that I originally had years ago, but never got round to writing up.
What is your work and home schedule like when you’re writing?
I don’t really have a schedule, I’m more of a write when I’m in the mood kind of person. So I can go from writing every night in a week, to only writing once a week. All depending on how creative I am feeling.
What would you say is your biggest strength when it comes to writing your books?
Ooh that’s a difficult one, I’m not very good at picking out my strengths. I like writing dialogue, and think I’m quite good at that.
And your weakness?
My biggest weakness is I’m lazy. I should spend more time on my books, but tend to get distracted a lot. Which isn’t always a good thing especially when it comes to editing them.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When I’m not writing I am either spending time with my son, working, or building up my POP! Collection.
Have your family or friends read your books? Or are you fairly shy about showing your work to people you know?
I think most of my family members, friends, and even people I work with have read at least one of my books. To start with I was a bit shy about it. Now I want as many people as I know to read them. So I can get feedback on areas I need to work on and develop.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I do hear quite a lot from my readers, as lots of them follow me on Facebook, and Twitter. Most of them are positive in what they say. And normally say how much they enjoy the books, and about how different they are from other things they have read. Which I like to take as a compliment.
Has anyone ever surprised you with feedback on your work?
My sister actually surprised me by saying she enjoyed the books. She doesn’t normally read fantasy stories, so I took that as a compliment that she liked mine.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Just how crazy I really am.
What do you think makes a good story?
Something that really gets people’s imaginations going. I like to feel as if I’m there in the story, as one of the characters.
Have you ever surprised yourself by where your story is going? For example, authors usually map out a story, then find halfway through their characters have done something entirely different!
This happened to me a few days ago, when I was working on the final book in the series. I had all these ideas I wanted to use, and when I started writing I ended up with something completely different. A whole new bunch of ideas just came to as I was writing. And I’m pretty happy with the outcome.
Once you’ve completed The White Light Chronicles, do you have another series or book ready to go? Or will you be taking a step back from writing for a little while?
Once I’ve finished this series, I’m going to work on putting together a collection of short stories that I have already written. And after that, I have lots of ideas for stories written down all over the place. I would like to expand on some of them, and who knows maybe start my next series of books.
Will you be staying along the same tracks of Fantasy stories? Or are you going to dip into new genres for your next books?
For now at least it looks like I’ll be staying in the fantasy genre. I’ve just got some ideas for a new series of books, so it will be interesting to see where that takes me.
R. J. Truman’s The White Light Chronicles series is available to purchase on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. You can follow her on her Facebook and Twitter pages for further updates, including ones on her new series!
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