Monday, July 2, 2012

Announcing the arrival of....

Bethany Faith!




Bethany, tell the readers a little bit about yourself.
Well, my name is Bethany Faith - which is my first and middle name - and I've been writing since I was four years old; I'm fourteen now. Writing has always been my passion and it's what I love doing. Since I've been homeschooled my entire life, I've been allowed to work on my strengths and have been able to pursue my loves. 

I self-published my first book in June of 2011 and just published the sequel to that book on New Year's day this year. They are part of a four or five book series that I am currently in the process of writing. 

Due to my past experience with friends that suffered from depression and low-self esteem, I tend to target that type of teenage audience, but the books I've published so far are more overtly Christian than many other things I intend to write. They have strong allegory, because I specifically wrote them for Christians when I started them, but I intend to write other books targeted to different audiences in the future.

Along with writing, I also love music and draw a little bit. I write a lot of poetry because of this, and have mapped out a few of my Fantasy worlds that I've created. 

What are your favorite subjects in homeschool?
I love English and Science, which is a fun combination for a Fantasy writer. I've always been intrigued in the scientific side of why things happen, and when you're inventing a world or plotting out a scene knowing that sort of stuff can really come in handy. So I always payed extra-attention in Science class; I'm usually the one always asking when we get to start dissecting stuff. 

You sort of need to apply yourself in English for writing too, so that's definitely a helpful skill to have. Due to my writing, I've always been into grammar so English is usually the subject with the highest grades.  

What is your least favorite subject?
I don't really like Math. I started Algebra this year and it's very quickly turned my moderate dislike of the subject into major dislike. They actually started off the school year by telling me that Algebra was another language. That freaked me out a bit, haha. It's still pretty fun when I put my mind to making it fun though. 

What made you start writing?
I was really little so I really can't remember very much other than asking for lots of notebooks and coming up with crazy stories every time I had a free moment. I think it was probably a combination of watching my mum journal a lot, my love of reading, and just a very active imagination. I needed something to pour all that creativity into and writing was one of the things I chose as an outlet. 

I don't really think there was a deciding moment where I thought to myself "I want to be a writer." It just sort of happened that my stories were put on paper and I decided to share them with people. 

What inspired your book What Lies in the Dark?
Ironically, it didn't really have a base when I started it. The verse which I put on the back of the books was actually brought to me by a friend of mine after the first book had been completed, and I quickly adopted it as the series' sort of 'theme' verse. I can't actually say that verse inspired the book, though most people think that.

Originally though, I think what I wanted to do was to write a Christian Fantasy story that didn't involve a maiden, a knight, and a castle, and might attract an audience that liked whimsical or magical elements in stories. So, really, I think it was the undeniable need for wholesome Fantasy stories that everyone can read (that aren't as old as Tolkien or Lewis) that really urged me to write. From there I decided to go with the theme of lies and uncovering truth, which is something that can be done in so many abstract ways that I figured it would be nice to write about.

Where can people get your books?
I publish with CreateSpace, which is an Amazon-run indie publishing company, so all of my books are available atamazon.com

Are you planning on writing more books?
Certainly. Just right now I'm working on the third book in my 'Trials of Three' series, a novel called 'Exceeding Flesh & Blood' along with several other series, a trilogy, and countless ideas that just haven't been smoothed out enough yet for me to start writing. I'll be keeping busy with my writing, and intend to publish more books in the near future for sure. 

Do you have any final thoughts you would like to share?
I'd like to encourage every writer to just keep writing. A lot of people get discouraged when they realize how much time and effort publishing or even just writing the first draft of a book can be, but it's completely worth it. Being able to hold those thousands of words that contain aspects of your life and worldview is very rewarding. 

1 comment:

  1. Nice interview, Bethy! I need to get What Lurks in the Forest. =D

    ReplyDelete