Author Interview with Kate Hegarty

Hey everyone, last week I had my first author interview with Kate Hegarty who is the author of the upcoming novel Mieradome. Here is the interview! 

You mentioned in your about me that the story came from a dream you had, did you dream the part of the story then elaborated on the idea or did you dream most of the story? 

I definitely had the dream and then worked my way from there. I felt like a spectator wanting to know why Amavia, the main character of my story, was so curious and fascinated by an old oak tree. Oak trees are quite sacred in Irish lore and is also on my family's (Hegarty) coat of arms. You could say that the dream, plus the image of my own coat of arms was intriguing enough to continue on with this particular story. 

The main character of your new novel is a young girl, is she based off of someone you know or you possibly? 
Amavia is very much her own character, but I do see a feisty nature in her that is similar to me. We both don't give up easily, we're persistent in those things we want to do in life.

Since your first novel is fantasy, do you plan to keep writing books in that genre or switch to another genre? 
I do plan on writing more stories in the fantasy genre. I have my Bachelor's Thesis that I'd love to publish. My 3rd Great Aunt was a famous madam in Deadwood, South Dakota (employed & was friends with Calamity Jane). I have so many stories brewing....but fantasy seems to be the best suited to my writing style. 

The title and character’s names are very unique, how did you come up with them?
I absolutely love surnames!! A lot of characters, including the main characters Amavia, Inocian, and Thewlis are surnames. Other ones I just made up.

Will there be any sequels to Mieradome? 
Yes! I am currently working on the sequel for Mieradome! It will hopefully be out about a year after the publication of the first novel.

What is your favorite book from your childhood? Now? 
Childhood: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
Now: My House in Umbria by William Trevor

How much time do you spend writing each day? 
It depends. It could be only a few seconds jotting down a note about a character or new story idea or it could be 5 hours sitting at my desk. Most days I think.

When you are writing, what keeps you motivated or inspired? What’s the one thing you have to have when sitting down to write?
I am inspired by many things, but what keeps me motivated is to know what happens to characters down the road. I myself am not just the author but also a reader. I, too, want to know what happens at the end. I have to have a a pad of paper and a pen near me when I write; because more often than not a great idea comes and I'm busy doing something else.

Finally thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Is there anything else you would like to add about your book, writing, ect? 
I hope you all enjoy the novel and that it inspires you to start writing your own stories!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

My YA fantasy novel, Mieradome, revolves around a young girl named Amavia, who believes she is a human girl, but slowly comes to find she is a faery in the world of Mieradome. Amavia's mother, Anastasica, had taken her out of the faery realm and hidden her away here in our human realm, so that she may be protected from her parents' past mistakes. But that was not enough, the forces that be found Amavia, and brought her back into the cosmos of the Grandmother Tree. There she meets other faeries, goblins, Telkar dragons, and Utopisols. Slowly who Amavia really was began to unravel to show the truth. The truth, that she just may be the evil they need to destroy. This is where our story begins.

EXCERPT:
“You will die Amavia that is certain,” said the dark black raven.

Deep red eyes penetrated Amavia’s pale flesh. Thousands of mini goose bumps burst from ripples of her skin, her muscles tensed; this was the moment where her life hung in the balance.

“Why must I die?,” Amavia asked.

The black raven, large and powerful, lunged at her quickly, snapping its watery yellow beak towards her face. 

“Your parents were supposed to dispose of you,” the raven replied.



A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME:
I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Goddard College in March ’09 and am a Library Helper at my local city library in their Children's department programs. I live in the Central Valley of Modesto and recently discovered my maternal 3rd Great Aunt Dora DuFran was a famous brothel madam in Deadwood, South Dakota. My senior BA thesis was a history of this madam. I have been working on my fantasy novel, Mieradome, for 7 years. I began working on writing the story on Oct. 31, 2002 , Halloween, (when I accidentally forgot to buy candy that year and needed something to occupy my time so I didn't go crazy with people continuing to bang on my door). I had a dream a few days before I started writing, about a young girl looking out on a second story balcony towards a tall oak tree in her backyard, as she watched a bright lighted spec disappear into the leaves and branches of the tree. Just as this young girl was curious where that lighted spec went in the tree, I was too. I wrote this story to figure it out. I am 27 years old and live in the Central Valley of California which has helped inspire me to write about locations I've traveled to, and also internationally.

Check out the book's blog: http://mieradome.blogspot.com/