1 What is the title of your series?

First off, I want to say thank you for reading my interview! I appreciate your time. I have two series, the first is called In My Head, and you can read my other interview by @BooksbyLwordpress to learn more about that book series. Today I want to talk about Fragments of Alchemy, my teen fantasy series.

2 What inspired the idea of your series? 

 Readers of my series may find my answer to this question to be very spoilerific.... But I will share anyways! Read at your own discretion... When I was in middle school, I read a book by Anne McCaffrey that had a long prologue that detailed a complex chain of events resulting in the creation of the world. I remember sitting in the library and saying out loud, "Why didn't she write THAT book?" So Fragments of Alchemy is the product of my efforts to show how my fantastical world of Ciridia came to be. The series is about three teenagers who are destined to save the world, and by the end of the book series something happens that no one expected, and I won't give away the end to my series, but it is an origin story for Ciridia, a fantasy world of my own creation.

3 How many books are in your series? 

 My series has 4 books. I have completely finished drafting the entire series and I'm currently working on revising the second book, The Code Breaker, as I post it. You can find the first two books in my series on Wattpad. You can also pre-order the first book, The Code Keeper, on Amazon Kindle right now. I'm going to be leaving up a few sample chapters for the book once the e-book goes live on Kindle (on June 8th 2023!), so you'll only be able to read it on Kindle! Find the link on my profile. Thanks! Of course, if you start reading it and leave me wonderful comments, I will have to keep the book up until you finish reading it. =D

4 Is it the only series on your profile?

I do have another series with only one book posted right now. One of my goals with posting my books on Wattpad is to gain some followers who will purchase my books on Amazon. I'd really appreciate it if you could support me as a writer and purchase my trilogy In My Head! You can find the links on my Wattpad Profile. And of course, you can give the book a try for free on Wattpad first to make sure you will enjoy the story.

5 What do you desire readers take away from your series? 

Both of my book series are about teenagers who learn the true value of friendship. I'd love for readers to enjoy my books, but also to take away the message that as teenagers, you should make the effort to make great friends. You can't sit around waiting for good friends to find you! (In other words, there's no destiny in real life that will make sure you find your true friends. You have to go out and find them. You also need to know when your friends are not truly meant to be your friends, and when to walk away and make new friends that will be better for you.)

6 Is your series complete or ongoing?

Technically, Fragments of Alchemy is ongoing, as I haven't posted it all yet, but it is currently completely written and ready for readers. Though I'd love to get some beta readers to read the third and fourth books before I post them. PM me if you're interested!

7 What are your future plans for your series?

I already mentioned trying to create some sales for my book on Kindle. (Spoilers ahead!) But I'd also love to start writing books in my new fantasy world of Ciridia, the world that gets created as a result of my Fragments of Alchemy series. My ONC novella is about a country in Ciridia, and I'd love to write more books in that world and find an agent who will help me publish them.

8 What would be a good piece of advice for someone who desires beginning to write a series?

When I wrote my first series, In My Head, I had no idea how it would end and I didn't know it would be a series. I just wrote and wrote and wrote, and of course, I was pants-ing it big time, so considering all that, I created a monstrosity of a book I needed to somehow cut into smaller parts. I had to rewrite the book series several times to give each of the three books its own story arc. I made a lot of revisions that could have been avoided.

So my advice to you if you want to write a series is to plot it out first with your ending in mind from the very beginning of the writing process. 

When I first started writing my Fragments of Alchemy series, I thought it was going to be three books and I knew exactly how it would end. I used a hero's journey outline to completely plot out the books and realized it would be a quadrilogy. I was then able to create four books that each had their own story arc and could stand alone as individual books. And of course, because I planned it in advance, each book ends with a great hook to get readers to come back for the next book in the series.

I would strongly recommend checking out the book 45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt so you can use her hero's journey and heroine's journey outlines to help you plot out your books. That way, instead of getting one LOOOONG book that only has one story arc, you can plan out your series to have books with separate story arcs that all go together to make an epic conclusion that you planned from the beginning.

9 Do you prefer writing a series over a standalone novel?

Up until about a year ago, I had only ever written series. But then I started writing short stories to enter into competitions, and I found how great it can feel to wrap up a neat little story in one go. Then I decided to write a novella for the ONC and I found out that I really do like to write one-off books. Of course, my ONC Soulmates Across Borders could have a sequel, which would be very compelling, and maybe even a companion novella, or I could add chapters to create a full novel from the 40K words I already wrote. So in my heart and soul, I may be a series writer, but I like the idea of writing a one-off. The nice thing about writing series is that you can create great characters and keep them around for a while by writing more books about them. I think that is why I lean more towards writing series.

10 Who is your main character? Are there any similarities between you and your main character? 

 I have three main characters in my Fragments of Alchemy series. Each character has his or her own book, and then in the last book in the quadrilogy, I switch points of view every three chapters. Each character has parts of me in them, so for example, Thea loves to write, Tajana loves to read, and Chadwick loves to hear himself talk. LOL 

11 What does your character go through in the series?

Without giving away too much, the theme of my book series is finding your own path in life and choosing the friends you want to take with you on your journey. The first book is about Thea, and she learns that she is special enough for the Keeper of the Code to be manipulating her, and for the last half of the book, she deals with the betrayal of her parents, who allowed a complete stranger to manipulate her life. The whole rest of the series, she fights to make her own future for herself and fulfil her destiny on her own terms.

12 What does having readers for any of your stories mean to you?

I say this to my students. Without readers, writers are just talking to themselves. Without writers, there'd be no books to read. I'd love to share my books with you, because at the end of the day, it entertained me to write the stories, and I hope it would entertain you to read them. My Fragments of Alchemy book, the Code Keeper, was shortlisted in the Wattys in 2021. Give it a chance and see for yourself why I made the shortlist.

1 What type of stories do you like to read?

I am currently on a huge kick of reading twisted fairy tale chapter books for middle grade readers, because I teach in a library where we do STEM challenges. So every year I pick a fairy tale, find a chapter book that is a twisted version of the tale, and then we do an engineering challenge based on the book. This year, my kids made castles for Cinderella after researching about castles, and I read aloud Seeing Cinderella and Whatever After: If the Shoe Fits. Last year, we made towers for Rapunzel, read a fantastic graphic novel called Rapunzel's Revenge, and then created zip wires to help Rapunzel escape from the students' towers. I love my job!

2 What type of music do you like to listen to?

I am a one trick pony, and every time I tell Alexa to play music for me, it is from the 90's. I am partial to Metallica, Green Day, and Imagine Dragons.

3 What is one of your favorite stories that you've read on Wattpad?

I am currently reading the Wattys winner Quill of Thieves by @HeyLookTheSnitch. It definitely deserves the Watty award, and I cannot wait to finish it so I can read the sequel! Check it out!

4 What do you believe is better for a story? {Quality or Quantity}

I think a good story needs a combination of both. Of course, a great short story is fantastic, as I can finish it in one sitting. But for novels or novellas, I think you need a combination of quality chapters that are long enough to really paint a picture of the world and get to know the characters, so you care about them. That takes lots of words to achieve but also requires quality writing.

5 Are you more likely to check out an ongoing or completed story?

Honestly, I am most likely to check out a story one of my readers wrote, regardless of if it is complete or not. I pick books based off of who is leaving me great comments. I do have a backlog, but in the summer I tend to read a lot more, so if you want an informal read for read, just start reading my book and leaving me fantastic comments, and I will come check out your work in return.

Thanks so much for reading my interview! I'd love to meet you in the comments of my book, or on my message board. I hope to see you soon!

~A.C.