Monday, October 7, 2019

Verity A. Buchanan on The Journey


Verity, welcome to Homeschool Authors! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm an extrovert who wants to be pretty much everybody's friend. I love tea but hate coffee. I also love The Silmarillion, my piano, and babies, and I have a secret preference for British spelling.

Everyone’s homeschooling experience is different. What do you think made yours unique?
I know my homeschooling experience was a lot more unstructured than many homeschoolers'. We didn't have formal grading or testing, except on math. We weren't involved in any co-ops and didn't participate in typical extracurricular activities, like sports. Despite this, I never lacked for social interaction, as my church provided a loving, close-knit community. I considered everyone there my friend and learned how to interact comfortably with older people as well as my peers. As a church, we exchanged gifts and talents to help one another out. I hung out with dairy-owning friends and learned how a farm operates; I studied Latin under a fellow homeschooling mom; I learned piano from my Sunday School teacher and singing in our (tiny) youth choir. There was never a lack of opportunity.

How did being homeschooled prepare you to write?
I would say homeschooling gave me the time and freedom to pursue the career of writing from an early age. I also read a wide variety of literature for school, generally 30-40 books a year, in varied genres and styles. This ingrained the principles of fiction writing in me, so that I learned to write by instinct rather than rote.

What caused you to start writing?
I'm honestly unsure. I always loved reading, being read to, and creating stories in my head. It's hard to say what specifically impelled me to pick up a pen and start documenting those stories. I just know that I've been writing since I was about six.

What inspired The Journey?
The Journey was inspired by a parody of Lord of the Rings that my sister and I created, in which the characters of the Fellowship were all siblings in the same family.

Would you give us a synopsis?
Absolutely! Here is the official blurb for The Journey, Ceristen Series #1:

Fred Thorne must shoulder the full care and protection of his sisters after a fire leaves them homeless and friendless. He sets out to follow the last advice given to him by his great-aunt: Take the girls to Menevace, to the refuge home.
But the road to Menevace is fraught with bandits, famine, and unknown dangers.
The Journey follows the three Thorne siblings through rejection, captivity, and an increasing downward spiral of guilt as Fred fails time and time again to protect his family from the dangers of a hostile world.
Can the Thornes find a place of rest and safety? Will their journey ever end?
Dangerous cities, breathtaking creatures, and an incredible adventure awaits in this debut novel by Verity A. Buchanan.

Who will enjoy The Journey?
The Journey is appropriate for a family audience. If you enjoy classics or classically-influenced literature, I'd say you're in for a treat with it, as most reviewers have compared it directly to the classics. You may also enjoy it if you like a not-so-typical fantasy that focuses on ordinary, lower-class people instead of epic battles. Or do you like themes of sibling relationships and good coming out of evil? Because this might just be your book.

Where can people buy your book?
It's on Amazon in paperback and ebook format. Christianbook.com carries it in paperback. You can pre-order it online from Barnes&Noble or Kobo in ebook format only.

Do you plan to write more books?
I have written three more books, with a fourth underway. I'm doing some touch-ups on #2 in the Ceristen Series before I get it on the road to bookstores as well.

Where can people connect with you online?
I encourage people to check out my website and sign up for my email list under the Contact page. This is where you get top-priority updates about what's going on with The Journey and future books, not to mention sneak peeks, giveaways, and free short stories: https://www.verityabuchanan.com/contact/#subscription-form

If you want to keep pace with my blog and further interviews, like my Facebook page, where I share relevant links, fun facts, and interactive questions: https://www.facebook.com/VBuchananWrites/

If you're an Instagram person, I do have an Instagram, although Instagram doesn't like me. I try to share Journey quotes, life tidbits, and Q&A on there, as well as tip my followers off whenever I blog a book review: https://www.instagram.com/verityb.writes/

Do you have any final thoughts?

Thanks for hosting me! I love sharing about my book, and I'm glad to make this connection to other homeschooling families.

1 comment:

  1. Thank You for the interview. Verity is a talented young lady.
    Marilyn

    ReplyDelete