Lyndsey Hall Author Bio:
I’m a YA fantasy author from a little town on the edge of Sherwood Forest, England. I’ve always loved reading, anything with animals was my go to as a child, but I really got into fantasy when I was a teenager and I discovered Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl. My first story was a school project when I was ten where we had to write a poem in the style of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. I wrote a retelling of Red Riding Hood, and it ended up being shown around all the primary schools in the area. But I started writing seriously in 2016 and published my debut novel, The Fair Queen in August 2020.
What inspires you to write?
Nature is a huge inspiration for me, a lot of my ideas come to me while out walking my dogs in my local woodlands. I like to be as accurate with my settings as possible, so getting the flora and fauna right for the topography is really important for grounding myself in a story. Having Sherwood Forest on my doorstep is obviously a brilliant source of inspiration! But I also love people watching and observing the little details of people's interactions and relationships. I think you can find that tiny spark of inspiration anywhere if you keep your eyes open and jot down in a notebook anything that catches your eye. You never know what little word or phrase will be the core of your next story.
Tell us about your writing process.
I'm a plantser (a mixture of plotter and pantser), but I definitely lean more towards being a plotter. I need a good outline to keep me on track and keep out the writer's block, so I tend to create a list of scenes and moments needed to move the story along, sometimes in a spreadsheet so I can move them around easily. Then I take my notes on each scene and paste them at the top of the chapter so I can refer back as often as I need to and make sure the scene plays out as I planned, but I do leave room for some discovery writing, because I find that when I try to force my stories to stay within the lines I've created, that's when the writer's block hits. I also create a bible for each series so I can save all the important details, like character profiles (normal stuff like eye and hair colour, height, etc. but also their personality archetype, what their name means – names are really significant to me so I always put a lot of thought into their meaning), and anything to help me keep my world building and magic system consistent.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I love getting into the heads of my characters, I write close third person POV, so it's important to know my characters inside out. I put character profiles together with all the details that I might need to know, and some of it doesn't make it into the book, but it helps inform my writing and give the character a strong voice.
Who are your favorite authors?
I love so many authors, Laini Taylor and Leigh Bardugo are two of my favourite writers, Strange the Dreamer is as close to perfection as a book can get. Maggie Stiefvater and Melinda Salisbury are big favourites of mine too. I love Sarah J. Maas as well, and Samantha Shannon. There are so many incredible fantasy writers to choose from, it's hard to pick just one!
What genres do you write?
Fantasy, YA, fairy tales
How did you choose the genre(s) you write?
I fell in love with fantasy books as a teenager, it's such a formative time of life, I think that feeling of being whisked away to another world, away from all the struggles of adolescence, really stuck with me. Escapism is one of my favourite things about reading, so I try to create that for myself and my readers with my writing.
What three things are on your writing desk at any given moment?
A cup of tea, a scented candle, and a bowl of sweets or chocolate buttons (and a laptop, of course).
What hobbies do you have when you need a break from writing?
I have a little boy, so he provides a lot of fun distraction from my writing! I also have two dogs that love going on long walks in nature, and seem to constantly require treats and belly rubs and head scratches, so it's a wonder I find time to actually write!
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print
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All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
