Our SPFBOX interviews continue with G. Terral, author of Bloodwoven.
SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) is a free online contest run by author Mark Lawrence. 300 authors compete across ten judging teams to see who will be the winner! You can read more about the contest here.
INTERVIEW WITH G. TERRAL
Tell us a little about yourself and let our readers know which blog you’ve been assigned to for SPFBOX!
Hello! I’ve been writing for at least five years now and this was my first attempt at making it into SPFBO. (Yay!) I’ve worked in the solar industry for the last 7+ years and spend most of my time relaxing with my wife and fur babies. I’ve been assigned to Queen’s Book Asylum.
What inspired you to write this book?
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing or editing process? What’s most exciting to you about writing or editing?
I tend to draft fairly cleanly. My go-to process since being called out for being a pantser has actually been to outline somewhat heavily, then let the scenes breathe from there. I love editing after the first draft. Like I said, it’s often a pretty clean draft one, so most of the editing is about replacing the right words with the best versions of themselves and checking for continuity.
I grew up on most of the old classics but the two modern authors who have influenced me most are likely Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson. Though Brandon could be replaced by Jim Butcher.
I think no matter what you’re taught, what rigid belief structures you’ve been latticed onto to grow, that a person can change. Self-love and acceptance is so important and it’s something the main character struggles with.
What makes your SPFBOX book unique?
Do you have a favourite character from your SPFBOX entry? Tell us about them!
Lin is the main character and I love his journey. But my favorite is probably a secondary character named Pael. An older man with enough bark that he doesn’t need to show his bite too often. Full of (what he thinks to be) witty one-liners and anecdotal musings. But he’s got some layers too him and his mood shifts like a breeze, so he’s really fun to write.
Bloodwoven is very intimately character driven in ways that a lot of the current fantasy I’ve read doesn’t quite get while still having an overarching plot.
How does your work fit into (or challenge) its genre?
What do you hope readers take away from your SPFBOX entry?
There are some deep themes running throughout and one that I haven’t really seen touched on is self-acceptance. I think no matter what you’re taught, what rigid belief structures you’ve been latticed onto to grow, that a person can change. Self-love and acceptance is so important and it’s something the main character struggles with.
What are you currently working on?
I just released a complimentary novella that shows some background for some of the more menacing sub-antagonists of Bloodwoven, so that’s taken a lot of my time. Book 2 in this series is with betas and book 3 is being written. (I should actually be doing that quite literally now)
Bloodwoven
Lies woven in blood are lines waiting to be crossed.
Lin is a competent, dedicated soldier but his mission takes a drastic turn when one of his charges is found murdered. Soon after, he is ambushed by magic-twisted monsters, gravely wounded, and abandoned by his one remaining ally.
Waking to find his injuries healed by forbidden magic, Lin is marked as an oathbreaker by the very laws and beliefs he upholds.
Lin soon finds his faith in the faction he’s lived his life upholding tested by the woman who saved him from the brink of death. With his fate hanging by a thread, he faces an impossible choice: stand by his new ally and seek vengeance for his murdered charge or betray her for amnesty from those who’d execute him.
Purchase Bloodwoven on Amazon.
ABOUT G. TERRAL
Captivated by fantasy from a young age, I’ve taken that love and have attempted to translate it into compelling stories that blend magic with the mundane.
