Introducing the UNHEWN STONE author... Wendy Laharnar

Wendy welcome to my blog. Great to have another Australian author as a guest. 

Not only are you a fellow MuseItUp Publishing author, you are the creator of Calamity’s Corner, a monthly ezine that has a particularly Aussie flavour.  

Thanks for being here today as our guest Wendy.

The Unhewn Stone is  released TODAY!!  Would you please whet our curiosity before we begin?

Hi Rosalie, thank you for having me on your stunning blog. It’s one of the most spectacular blogs on the Internet. I’m honoured to be here. 

About my Stefan’s story—it’s 93,000 words long.  So, where to begin? Stefan has a complex because of facial scars and a lame leg from birth. He wants to look perfect so he can win the popular Ursula, who has eyes only for herself.  He’d be better off taking notice of young Heidi who only has eyes for him.

He has another problem too. On his eighteenth birthday, he comes across a vagrant disintegrating in the snow. With his charred hand, the man offers Stefan half of a golden orb, which happens to be part of a key that keeps open a wormhole back to 1307AD. He begs Stefan to ‘Tell them I came.’ In an ancient manuscript, his grandfather gives him, Stefan discovers that this man was an alchemist who used the orb to transport him to our world. He was also the brother of the tyrant, Gessler, who made William Tell shoot an arrow through the apple on his son’s head, thus beginning the Tell legend which has haunted Stefan’s family down through the centuries because they bear the unpopular Gessler name.

So, Stefan’s grandfather, a magician, asks Stefan to use the orb and go back in time to change the course of history and prevent the legend from happening. If he does, he will restore the family honour and as a reward, his grandfather promises, he will lose his complex.  Oh yes, and Stefan has another problem. Me! Oh dear, how I make that poor boy suffer. Out of love . . . of course. Hehehe.

Thanks Wendy. I will add here, that Stefan’s adventures are compelling, your characters and writing kept me turning pages. I won’t ask where you get your magic pen from. That’s a secret you should keep. But don’t stop writing!! Or I will ask! The age old legend revamped with finesse makes for great reading.

That’s lovely of you to say, Rosalie. Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed Stefan’s story. I’ve come to care for Stefan, too. If I was writing his story today, I think I would have been a lot kinder to him, but I’m glad I wasn’t :). He made me suffer!

So Wendy, about yourself, other than ‘author’ what are three words you would use to describe ‘you’?

Haha! Should I sugarcoat this or be overtly humble? As a writer, Truth doesn’t come easily. In fact, sometimes I’m not really sure what ‘truth’ is.  So, three words.  Loving, Caring, Giving. Yeah, I wish. Haha. Umm . . . Curious, Worrywart, Friendly.

Do they influence you as a writer? Or the genre you write?

Oh! I wasn’t expecting that. Can I change my answer? :) Curiosity certainly influences me as a writer.  I love all aspects of research. The thing is: when I was writing The Unhewn Stone, over four years, I was trying to figure out what I actually believe in; if I had a philosophy at all. Stefan’s experiences in the medieval world with the monks, alchemy and magic opened my eyes. Now my beliefs are the same as his.

What is it about your chosen genre that fires up your muse?

That’s easy. Escapism! But then fiction of all genres allows that. My muse loves to escape back into history or into fairytales with real people who are shape shifters and tricksters.  She loves the tricksters. Problem is, she’s better at being one and not that good at conjuring them. She often leads me up the wrong path and has me bogged down for a long time. Often, I have to boot her out of the way and get on with my story, alone. 

Your first book is about to be released. Congratulations. It has been a long wait. Now you are about to be published, please tell us what inspired your story?

Tellskappelle

Thank you. A teacher, where I worked, asked me to give a talk on writing short stories to her junior high English class. Since she taught History, too, I thought I’d use a medieval setting for a short story which I planned to write specifically for her class. So, to entertain myself in the process, I chose the Wilhelm Tell Legend because I wanted to learn more about it and that would require some research. The short story and the talk didn’t happen, but the germ of the novel was born. However it stalled for five years until I was able to visit Switzerland and figure out exactly what it was I was trying to say.

Do you have a regime when writing? A special place, time, mood or do you snatch opportunities to pen ideas or write a few lines?

No regime, I’m sorry to say. First drafts are very difficult for me to get down. I sweat blood over the characters and conflicts. There is very little joy in my study and lengthy absences from my desk.  BUT, the story and my attitude change dramatically in the second draft. That’s when my characters seem to come alive for me. Then, when that magical thing happens and I’m ‘on a roll’ I write anywhere and everywhere, as passenger in the car, as an email if I’m on an outside computer, on note pads kept in different rooms and always with a smile because of the wicked things or amazing connections that just happen when you tap into the collective consciousness. Okay, when the muse is active and playful.  The third draft is the serious business of writing. I write at my desk, which is big and cluttered.

Does your Muse follow rules and plot lines or does she offer ideas on a whim?

My muse and I clash. I follow rules and plotlines. She offers ideas on a whim. I love her for that, but I wish she’d do it more often. For the most part she tends to criticize my characters and situations. That’s when I shut her out. There is nothing worse than a muse who assumes the role of internal editor, especially in the first draft.

What are the most dramatic changes you have made to a story you have written? What prompted the change?

Burglen in winter, showing the snow clad mountains.

The most dramatic change I made was in The Unhewn Stone. In the beginning, I created Stefan as a farmer’s son who loved the land, because I knew about farming. But he fell foul of those fallow fields and the novel stalled. When we took our granddaughter to Switzerland with us, on my research trip, I discovered that tourism rather than farming was more obvious in the foothills of the William Tell birthplace so one of the hotel or guest house was a more likely home for Stefan. Also, my granddaughter felt intimidated by the high snow clad mountains. She worried about an avalanche and wanted to get away. I realized young Stefan, the innkeeper’s son, would feel trapped here and would want to escape the pressure of life, symbolized by the solid ring of sharp peaked mountains. He might want to travel like the tourists who stayed at his inn.

In this case it was Sara, and not my muse, who put me on the right path and the story began again.

Has there been one event in your life that changed/inspired your writing career? For example, meeting an author, finding a publisher, joining a critique group?

Mirella Patzer owner of the Historical Writer’s critique group pushed me to complete The Unhewn Stone when I had five chapters to go. She had become an editor with a now defunct publisher and wanted me to submit my manuscript. I’m forever grateful to her for believing in my story more than I did, at the time.

Having given us a hint about Stefan’s adventure, would you like to tell us more about the main character of your book and/or the villain? Would you please share an excerpt? Either or both… we are keen to learn more about this fascinating story.

Stefan can be exasperating at times, especially when he thinks his modern day knowledge is enough to help him survive in the Middle Ages. Almost everything he does meets with disapproval or worse. It isn’t long before he comes to rely on his ‘distant cousin/ Vetter’ Rolf for help and companionship in this very dangerous age. When Stefan is on his own, well . . . I shudder at the memories.

There are two villains, an evil knight and the shape shifting sibyl. Stefan is drawn to the sibyl because she has Ursula’s face, but he is repelled by her too, especially when she morphs into the old crone and the bat.

Museitup Publishing is releasing The Unhewn Stone as an ebook TODAY… Where can we get the ebook?

The Unhewn Stone will be available from the MuseItUp Bookstore, on Amazon and probably at the Australian on-line bookstores Fishpond and Booktopia.

Do you have any idea yet, when it will be in print? Will it be available here in Australia?

I understand the print book will be available in a few months, but I don’t have a date for that yet. It should be available in Australian bookstores, but this is still a dream for the future.

Wendy, how can we follow your career?

I have an author page at MuseItUp Publishing Wendy Laharnar

And my website is  Wendy Laharnar - My Imagination

How can we sign up for Calamity’s Corner?

There is a contact form Calamity's Corner e-zine   on my website.         

Calamity’s Corner is for everyone: writers, readers, movie buffs, travellers, pet owners etc., and anyone is welcome to contribute.

Wendy, it’s been great having you drop by. Thanks again and congratulations on the release of The Unhewn Stone.

Thank you for the pleasure of spending time with you and your readers, Rosalie. Oh boy, all that talk has stirred up my muse.  Now she’s pushing me to open our fantasy wip, but I already opened my urban mystery. :)

Please come back soon!
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Now here's the book trailer...