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.

A little bit about Kate: 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.

OBS: When you started writing did you intend to write a YA book or did it just develop as you went?
Kate: I honestly just started writing Mieradome for myself. It was Oct. 31, 2002. I wrote to keep myself occupied while kids banged on my door for Halloween (I had forgotten to buy candy that year!) But after that, the writing just continued to flow and I saw that the main characters were very much in the YA realm. I had never really written in that realm before, so I thought I’d give it a try.

OBS: How did you come up with the unique names, places and title of the book?
Kate: A lot of the names of characters are actually taken from surnames. Specifically, Feig, Amavia, and Inocian. I’ve always liked the sound of words, and surnames often have a particular ring to them. Other names I just made up, like Caiden, Jeiks, Naidrau, and Boyt (which if you rearrange the letters can spell Toby.)

OBS: In Mieradome there are several races and royal families, how were you able to keep it all straight continuity wise?
Kate: I actually jotted notes down to organize all the family lines, cause there is no way I could keep all that stuff just in my head! I have a big notebook with just notes that I’ve jotted down, things I’ve written parts of the story on (sometimes napkins, if that’s all that’s around), drawings and sketches. The family lines are very important within my story, like branches of a tree. If one breaks, they all have a possibility to break as well.

OBS: This is your first book, correct? Was it difficult to get published?
Kate: Yes, Mieradome is my first novel. I originally took the normal publishing route and submitted my novel to agents or publishers. Most of the feedback I got was that my story was good, but it just didn’t “fit” with their current list. I finally realized it may never ‘fit’ in anyone’s list and therefore decided to start my own publishing company, Hegarty & Co.

OBS: Which one of your characters do you identify with or is most like you?
Kate: I think Prince Boyt (or the Royal House of Senrulan) is very much like me. He’s got a good heart, is a true friend, but he’s a real big klutz. For as much as I’d like to think I’m cool and sophisticated, there’s nothing like tripping and falling over something to bring me back to reality. We’re all human. It happens!

OBS: If Mieradome was adapted to the big screen, who would you cast as Amavia?
Kate: Hmm…this a tough one. I would have to say if they made a film of Mieradome, I’d love for Emily Browning, (A Series of Unfortunate Events), to play Amavia.

OBS: Why did it take 7 years to write and what went into that writing process?
Kate: It took awhile to write this story because I wrote the first novel, Mieradome, and its sequel at the same time. During that time I was sending queries to agents and also working on my Bachelor’s degree and thesis. It’s just taken a long time to get to this point, but I’m very excited to be here.

OBS: How involved are you with fans? How important, do you feel, is that to your success?
Kate: I think fans are the #1 reason a book does well. I’m involved a lot with my fans. I converse with many currently on Twitter. When my website for the novel goes live, I hope to encourage book clubs where I can phone in via Skype and get to know my fans more personally. On my Facebook Fan Page for Mieradome a good portion of my fans are from the Philippines, Argentina, and Mexico!

OBS: What are you currently working on? Do you have any future projects you’d like to tell us about?
Kate: I’m currently finishing the ending of the sequel to Mieradome, which will hopefully be out Summer 2011.

OBS: What was the process for choosing cover art for Mieradome?
Kate: Well, basically I asked my sister Shannon, (a professional graphic designer who graduated from SCAD ’09), to create it. She creates things more visually in pictures than I can. I am quite impressed with what she’s come up with.

OBS: What would you like to say that we did not ask?
Kate: Be sure to buy Mieradome on June 1st! or pre-order with major retailers very soon!

Thanks Kate for the awesome interview and telling us more about the fascinating world you created. Want to chat with Kate? Check out the links below.

You can check out more about Mieradome here:
mieradome.blogspot.com/

And even more on her Facebook here:
www.facebook.com/Mieradome-by-Kate-OHegarty/180095833998?ref=ts

You can also Twitter with Kate about Mieradome here:
twitter.com/mieradome