Excerpt:
At dinner, Liliana repeated what the stranger had said. After all, he now had a name.
Then the weather was discussed, and the whole table agreed that they were expecting another cold snap. Grandmother felt it in her bones, the farmhands and Cedric observed it in the animals’ behaviour and Father smelled it in the air. The chicken broth was well received.
Armed with a portion of said broth, Liliana ventured to the stranger’s bed after dinner. He awoke immediately and swallowed greedily, his gaze fixed on the bowl. There were so many questions swirling around in her head that she didn’t quite know where to start. If he was missing his memories, he couldn’t answer most of them, and she didn’t want to overwhelm him.
‘Do you remember me?’
He looked up briefly. ‘Yes.’
The fact that he could remember newer things was a good sign.
‘How’s the pain?’
‘Don’t ask.’
Liliana would’ve liked to know if his curt manner was part of his personality or due to the pain he was in. To wake up in a strange environment, in this agonising state and unable to recollect anything … No, she didn’t envy him.
Once the bowl was empty, she gave him the medicine, and Grandmother came to look at his wounds. She loosened the bandages in some places, careful not to damage the skin that had already healed. She rubbed on some of the ointment containing the resin Liliana had collected.
The stranger grimaced but made no sound.
‘That’s my grandmother,’ Liliana said. ‘She’s nursed many people back to health.’
Since he lay there quietly afterwards, Liliana stayed in the room. She was eager to talk to him more, but he kept his eyes closed, exhaustion on his face. So she sat down with her book, in front of the wardrobe. It was a precious, carved piece of furniture that Father had given to her mother after their wedding.
‘How did I get here?’
Astonished, she looked up. His eyes were still closed, but it seemed he felt her presence in the room. ‘I found you half-dead in the woods and brought you here.’
A pause followed, during which Liliana watched him over the edge of the book. What a peculiar way of speaking he had … Although she understood him clearly, the melody of his sentences sounded strange to her ears. His lips formed the words with precision, as if every single one of them deserved to be heard.
‘Be honest, what are my chances?’
‘The fact that you survived the first few days is amazing. If you keep going like this, I’m sure you’ll make it.’
A hint of a smile appeared on his lips. He opened his eyes and slowly turned his head to look at her, quietly grunting with pain. ‘What … are you reading?’
The bronze colour of his eyes still fascinated her. ‘Oh, this? A collection of fairy tales.’
Another pause followed while they studied each other.
‘You like books?’
‘I do. Would you like me to read you one of the stories?’
‘Yes, please.’
Liliana cleared her throat. ‘Most farmers struggle with reading. While I am by far the best reader in the family, it probably still sounds bungled to trained ears.’
The stranger gave her another smile to acknowledge her efforts and closed his eyes.
Liliana began to read. She hadn’t read out loud in a long time. No one here shared her enthusiasm for books. Why would they? There always seemed to be gossip to share, and after a day of hard work, most people in the village didn’t want to overexert their tired brains. For them, books were an expensive and superfluous possession. When Cedi had been younger, she’d taught him to read. As with many other activities, her little brother started on it with great zeal, only to lose interest after the first few strides. Reading to someone who may be well educated made her nervous. But she soon found her rhythm. As intended, the stranger relaxed. Distraction was a good antidote to pain.
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The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with . . . D. S. McColgan . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
I write single POV, third person close, meaning the reader is in a specific character’s head and experiences the story through their eyes, but there is a bit more distance and a bit more of a storytelling or fairy tale feel to the writing compared to first person (for reasons I can’t disclose, there will be a switch to a different character’s head in book 3 of the series though 😉).
My pacing is variable depending on the atmosphere I’m trying to create and the character in whose head the reader is. A Tale of Something New starts out slowly in a cozy countryside setting, and then picks up speed towards the end, when Liliana has to leave the environment familiar to her.
Because the world is loosely based on Europe around 1800 (Switzerland, Southern Germany, and Great Britain, more specifically), I have also incorporated a couple of old-fashioned terms.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
Writing does feel natural to me, and no, it can’t be called ingrained at this point. I’m still fairly new to writing novel-length stories. I’m constantly learning and trying out ideas. I am also an intuitive plotter, so while I have the outline of the story in my head before I sit down to type, I don’t follow a specific formula, which is why my books are a bit more on the unconventional side when it comes to plot structure. Book 4, the last one in the series, is probably going to adhere most to a traditional plotline.
Do you people watch to help with character(s) development? Or do you build upon your characters during story creation?
I bet we all secretly do people-watching. However, I never consciously decide to put a real person in a story (not even to exact revenge on someone, haha). I often have a basic idea of who the character is, but they evolve with the story. This is one of the reasons why I try to write linear if possible. Sometimes, I’m not sure in advance how my characters are going to react exactly, and I just put them in a situation and then kind of lean back and watch what happens.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
My head is always full of ideas. I already know what I want to start writing when this current series is finished, and I’m super excited about the characters I have come up with so far. The romance trope will be childhood friends to lovers, and the love interest will be a cinnamon roll kind of guy; in other words, a sweet, soft puppy with a surprising amount of inner wisdom.
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
A Tale of Something New is book 1 of my A Tale of Series. I would describe it as low, supernatural fantasy with a good dose of romance, family drama, mystery, and (from book 2 onwards) political intrigue. Book 2 A Tale of Something Red is coming out at the end of July (July 25th for the ebook).
I’m planning on opening a Ream page (as D.S. McColgan | A Tale of Books) in September, where I will post chapters from book 3 from two alternative viewpoints and let my readers decide which one should become widely available as a book (and which one will only be part of special editions). I reckon the wide version should be out sometime at the beginning of next year, between January and March.
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
I want to work on my website (www.ataleofbooks.com) to be able to sell books directly from there. And I want to finish books 3 and 4 in both German and English!
If you could spend one-week with 5 fictional characters, who would they be and where would you spend that time?
Adolin from the Stormlight Archive, because he’s good-natured and handsome and fun to hang out with. Some of the Lord of the Rings characters as well, a hobbit or Aragorn, or maybe an ent … hmm, let’s go with Samwise Gamgee. Aslan from Narnia. The Little Witch (from a children’s book by Ottfried Preußler). And I would love to meet one of my own characters, too, like Inay or Annie.
I would invite them to our world because compared to most fantasy worlds, it’s a little less deadly. They could visit us in our house in summer, do some gardening and picnics, have fun with my daughter, or play kind pranks on people.
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