Tatyana’s birth as human being
Took place in 1982
In June, when weather was appealing
And sparkling with the morning dew.
As she grew up, too shy by nature,
Her friends were Pushkin, Dante, Wilde
Who wrote of love and of adventure
She dreamt of the vampire kind
As time went by, she took to versing
READ MORE ABOUT TATYANA HERE.
1. What made you decide to write the book in verse?
I never write in prose unless specifically required to.
2. Ordeal seems to be reminiscent of Shakespeare and Poe, did they have any influence on your writing? Did you do that intentionally?
The comparison is surprising. The plot of Ordeal has nothing in common with the themes featured by either of those classical authors. As for the versing style, it’s hardly the same with that of either William Shakespeare or Edgar Alan Poe. I really have no clue why people keep comparing Ordeal with their works. Besides I’ve never felt like considering them to have any influence on my worldview. If you still have to compare, the closest similarity of my verse style would be to Eugene Onegin (in the original) by A.S. Pushkin.
3. There are those who will compare your book to Twilight, the fact that Derek falls for a human girl or the fact that he’s been watching her from a distance. How do you feel about the comparison? How do you feel your book stands out with the currently popularity of Twilight, Vampire Diaries etc…?
Ordeal is nothing like Twilight or The Vampire Diaries or the like unless claiming any book mentioning vampires to be similar to the aforementioned titles, of course. Why not just as well claim Bram Stocker to have written his Dracula similar to Twilight or vice versa? Dracula (vampire) fell for a human girl who reciprocated his feelings and he did watch over her, didn’t he? First impressions are deceiving and so is judging a book by singling out some minor scenes. The story reveals a few secrets and is built the way to cast the light on what is really going on only upon covering the whole length of it. Moreover, my story was conceived before the world even heard of Twilight.
As for standing out from any popular series, Ordeal is more like classics – it’s beyond fashion and its mission is to break the widespread stereotype that poetry is something everyone is terrified of and understands little in, the tendency I’ve been bitterly observing in the recent years. You may call it a challenge, perhaps a challenge it is. Ordeal is here to revive the original euphony of poetic narration – that meeting the primary criteria of poetry: a steady rhythm, a regular meter and a perfect rhyme combined together to create an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities without any misleading allusions, without forcing the reader to figure out what hidden meaning, if any, lies behind every word.
4. Do you relate more to Derek or Allison?
They are all mine.
5. What made you want to write about vampires?
They just happened to be vampires. Moreover, Ordeal should be regarded as a prelude to my symphony, a piece of mosaic of my more large-scaled design, which, if you stay tuned, is sure to reveal some more paranormalities with vampires being but an integral component thereof.
6. Has the world of all things supernatural and paranormal always appealed to you? Do you want to write in other genres of fiction?
As I’ve said before, it was meant to be that way. I write for the pleasure of the process, which is self-driven, guided and inspired by the world of ideas or whatever you wish to name it. It is the verse that leads me, not the other way around.
7. Will there be a sequel to Ordeal?
There is another novel I’m working on at the moment, but it isn’t quite a sequel. The books are related to each other like, say, the New Testament and the Old Testament or the Eddas. Check out the News section on my site (on the Author’s Page) to have a glimpse on the plot.
8. Were you always determined to be a writer? Was it difficult to get your book published?
I’ve been versing and rhyming ever since I can recall. It’s an integral part of me. Those, however, were stand-alone personal poems that I have no intention to have published. But Ordeal is a story I watched in my visions-dreams that impressed me enough to write down and tell to the world. And no, it wasn’t difficult to have it published. Yet, I must say that I write by inspiration and not by contract.
9. What is the process you go through when creating a story? For example, do you outline first or do you start from the ending and work your way to the beginning?
Ordeal is a vision-based puzzle I have been piecing together since 1999 when I started having those visions-dreams of some separate scenes from the story with little in common but the main characters. As years went by, the visions-dreams continued and started to shape into a holistic picture and so did the novel itself.
10. If you could have dinner with any author, dead or alive, who would you choose?
None. I tend to appreciate the works and ideas and am rarely interested in people behind them. Like any other person, authors are but human, but unlike their creators, their works are immortal as are the ideas behind them.
11. What future projects are you working on? Can you tell us anything about them?
My future projects are featured on my site under the News section. And I’ve already given you a glimpse on the most recent one in my previous answers. It is a story a minor part of which Ordeal appears to be. And you’ll be pleasurably surprised how unlike anything you’ve come across before it is.
Thank you for the questions. See you at http://www.elfineness.com.
Make sure to check out Annabell’s review of Ordeal, here.
