Rebecca Enzor

Wisteria-covered Spear, the symbol of Kindra and Kaye.

I was tagged (or “tipped”) last week by Robbie MacNiven after we connected through #GUTGAA and our mutual love of Inverness, Scotland. Instead of being several random facts about me, it’s several facts about my book. Enjoy, and don’t forget to follow the lovely people I’ve tagged in return!

What is the working title of your book?

The Nameless Warrior

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was sitting in a work meeting one day *mumblings embarrassing number of years ago* bored out of my mind, and started daydreaming (as I usually do). I had been reading about the Ottawa Indian tribe in Michigan, and how they would torture their captives, and I saw a woman being whipped against a rock. I had no idea who this woman was, or why she was being whipped, but I kept watching on my hour-long drives to and from work as the story played out. That woman was Kindra, and she was being whipped as part of a ceremony to become a warrior.

What genre does your book fall under?

Fantasy I fought against that for years because I didn’t want to be a fantasy author, but now I fully embrace it.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Oh gosh, I don’t really know. I’ve never been able to find anyone who can get the right look for both Kindra and Kaye (they’re identical twins). Gar though, would be Eoin Macken (which is perfect, since Gar lives in Fie EOIN ;P), and Monk would be Alexander Skarsgård (Eric on True Blood). Oh, and Pike is Pyro from the X-men movies – that same exact greasy, bad boy look

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

“A warrior fighting for her sister’s freedom must choose between saving her sister or their tribe when the chief’s betrayal runs deeper than she imagined.”

But my favorite description of the book is the limerick I had to write for the Hot Seat interview last year:

Twin sisters: a priestess, a warrior
Torn apart by the Obsidian courier
One fights for the tribe
One just to survive
As their future becomes even gorier

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Don’t really know yet, but I’m going to shoot for an agent and traditional publication.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Why do you insist on asking embarrassing questions? The first draft took me three years – but I was just writing it for fun and because my boyfriend went to school an hour and a half away (I married him six years ago ;P). I put it away for a couple years after I finished, and when I got it back out I realized what utter crap it was. So I re-wrote it. I let it sit for another couple years while I worked on other books and short stories, but when I decided I actually wanted to get published and tried editing Phooka Tales I found myself drawn back to Fie Eoin instead. A lovely critique partner pointed out that it was still utter crap, so I re-wrote it again last year. Then an editor told me it was still utter crap, so I spent the last two months re-writing it again.

All in all it’s taken a little over ten years to write and edit the monster into something worth trying to get published.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There are horses! And people with wings! And sex! (I’ve been told I could have a second career in erotic fiction, so the sex must be good ;P) And quite a bit of violence, especially near the end. And a history that extends back so long that no one even remembers it anymore. But you can read it here.

And now to play tag! I’m tagging fellow #GUTGAA bloggers:

Juliana Brandt – this girl is amazing, and she’s one of my critters

Liz Hellebuyck – I’ve known this lovely lady since my first #writecampaign

Adriana Ryan – I’ve only just met Adriana through #GUTGAA, but she’s been super supportive (especially when I was freaking out about not getting into the pitch polish)

Speaking of the Pitch Polish, if you want to help me out by critiquing it, you can find my pitch here.