Thursday, September 6, 2012

Author Interview #111: The Sceptre of Zanafiar by Reno Charlton

The Sceptre of ZanafiarOur interview today is with Reno Charlton author of The Sceptre of Zanafiar. Before we get to the interview a brief book description: Cast across Zanafiar in different places, unknowingly guarded by all of its races, the seven gems will remain hidden there, until found by the rightful keeper and heir’.
Fourteen year old William Dolman has spent most of his life in children’s homes feeling like an outsider. However, his life changes when he receives a mysterious parcel – a book…but all the pages are blank. William starts to have weird dreams about the book and a stranger who seems to be willing him to use it. However, the book still remains a puzzle until one night, as he tries to dodge some of the bullies at the home, he finds himself transported to a strange new world. This is where William’s adventures really begin, as he – along with a selection of rather unusual companions that he meets along the way – sets out to complete a quest to restore a magical sceptre…the Sceptre of Zanafiar. In an adventure that is filled with excitement yet fraught with danger, William discovers not only a whole new world but also finds himself on a magical journey of self discovery where he learns who he really is and finally discovers his destiny.

Interview with Reno Charlton

Tell us about you: I am forty years of age, born and bred in the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. I currently live in a rented house with my two cats, which is where I spend most of my days writing. I’ve done quite a few interesting things in my life, one of which is writing several books for children. In addition to this I’ve had a number of interesting jobs, I do voluntary work for animal rescue centres, and I was even on a reality prime time TV show for eight weeks (the prize was a $1 million house that a team of 24 of us had to build ourselves with help from the experts. Unfortunately, I was voted off ¾ of the way through, so it was back to rented accommodation for me!). I now work as a professional copywriter for clients around the world as well as authoring children’s fiction and stories for older readers in my spare time.
How long have you been writing? I have been writing since the age of around 29, so I’ve been doing it now for eleven years. This includes writing in a professional capacity as a copywriter as well as in my capacity as an author.
Tell us about your book. My book, The Sceptre of Zanafiar, is a fantasy for kids of all ages and it has also been enjoyed by many adults. The story is based mainly in its own world although it starts off in the human world. It is filled with fantastical creatures, action and adventure, and magic. Readers can enjoy following the main character and his unusual friends on a magical quest. The main character, fourteen year old William Dolman has spent most of his life in children’s homes feeling like an outsider. However, his life changes when he receives a mysterious parcel – a book…but all the pages are blank. William starts to have weird dreams about the book and a stranger who seems to be willing him to use it. However, the book still remains a puzzle until one night, as he tries to dodge some of the bullies at the home, he finds himself transported to a strange new world. This is where William’s adventures really begin, as he – along with a selection of rather unusual companions that he meets along the way – sets out to complete a quest to restore a magical sceptre…The Sceptre of Zanafiar.
What made you write this book? I was brought up on Enid Blyton books as a child and have always had a love of children’s fantasy and magic books. I never really planned to write a book even though I always loved writing, even at school. However, as I was browsing through some writing sites one day I saw a competition for short story writers, which was being judged by Curtis Brown Literary Agency. I decided to write a story and enter, penning a short story called The Journey Home in one afternoon and entering it. To my surprise, I won the competition and this gave me the confidence to think about writing more seriously. Since I loved (and still love) magic and fantasy, this was the genre I chose to write in, although I have also expanded to other genres now in addition to my children’s fantasy fiction.
What age is your target for this book? I believe the age range for this book is quite wide, from around 7 or 8 upwards. I have even had lots of adults say that they have enjoyed reading it, so I do not believe that there is really any upper age limit even though it is in the children’s fantasy/adventure genre.
Have you always seen yourself as becoming a writer? As a youngster and even in my late teens, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living – in fact, my cousins, sisters, and other family members who all went on to become head teachers, doctors, lawyers and the like, were always having a go at me for not having any sense of direction in my life. It was only in my late twenties that I decided that 9-5 office work really wasn’t for me, which was when I started to turn my love of reading into a love of writing.
Do you write fulltime or do you have another job as well? At the moment I work many hours a week as a copywriter, so I do work full time as a writer. However, when it comes to fiction writing, this is something I do as and when I am able to and something that I love doing – fiction is where my passion lies. My ultimate goal is to become a full time author rather than a full time writer.
How long did it take you to finish this book? This particular book took me a total of around three months to finish in terms of the first draft. It took me another couple of months to type it all up, edit it and get it polished and ready for publication – I spent a good couple of months doing this.
Was it easy for you to write or did you ever get writers block? With this particular book I never got writer’s block at all – in fact, the ideas and words were practically tumbling out, which is probably why I managed to write it relatively quickly. This isn’t always the case, but they say that everyone has at least one book inside them that is bursting to get out – I think this was mine!
Read us your favorite feedback or review for your book: I have had a number of excellent reviews for this book, which I was really chuffed with. My favourite was from an Amazon reader who actually bought it for his/her nephews and ended up reading it instead! The reviewer said: “This is a delightful tale and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting book for young people. Although I initially downloaded it to see if I would suggest it as a summer read for my pre-teen nephews, I quickly became enthralled with the story myself! It is compelling and carries a lot of action. I found it hard to put down and was eager to pick it back up!”
Get your copy of The Sceptre of Zanafiar on Amazon.
Links
Twitter name: @magicalsceptre

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