Indie Interview: The author of the Half-Orcs series, David Dalglish. #fantasy
Conversations with authors and writers from the self-publishing world.
Meet David Dalglish
Genre: Fantasy
Best Known for: The Half-Orcs Series
He also has a lovely wife and two beautiful daughters, with all three being far better than he deserves. visit his blog.
Today in the Indie Interview we have a very special guest, David Dalglish, author of the Half-Orcs
Series. David, thank you very much for
agreeing to participate in the Indie Author Spotlight.
Well, I think I’ve been writing since
about first grade, though probably nothing better than See Spot
Run…but in terms of serious, trying to be published writing, I’ve
been doing this for about seven years. As for how I got started, it
wasn’t like I just decided one day. I’d been writing fantasy
novels since high school, and at some point I decided to see if I
could take one of these rambling manuscripts and turn them into
something worthwhile.
Cover links to Amazon.com
Your Half-Orcs series is doing
exceptionally well, were these your first books? If not, what was
your first published book and did it do well?
The very first book I self-published
was the first in the Half-Orcs, the Weight of Blood. Let’s just say
I didn’t have too high expectations, and more than anything I
wanted to at least take a shot at catching the Kindle explosion I
knew was soon to happen.
Tell us a little bit about the
series…
It’s about two brothers, Harruq and
Qurrah, who grow up in squalid conditions, hated by others for their
mixed race. They fall in with a prophet of a dark god, who uses their
hurtful past as a means of winning them over, heart and mind. Except
Harruq falls in love with an elf named Aurelia, and suddenly he finds
himself with those he wishes to protect, and sees the world as beyond
the hateful thing the prophet would have him believe it to be. From
the fall-out of those two brothers I expand outward, until their
conflict begins to destroy kingdoms and summon gods.
How does this series differ from
other fantasy novels?
Well, it’s probably not as
well-written…
It’s also far, far less focused on
world-building than most. My strengths are characters and combat, and
I stick to them to a fault. I’ve got a nice rapid pace, and I’m
willing to go to some dark places to ensure that when something good
happens, when a character turns their back on the evil they’ve
done, it truly means something.
You have achieved what many indie
fantasy authors dream of- how did your success come about?
Two things: a book cover, and Brent
Weeks. My Half-Orcs series was doing just fine, but it was the
Shadowdance Trilogy, A Dance of Cloaks in particular, that took
things to a whole drastically new level. The cover of that book is
one of my favorites, and incredibly eye-catching. Combine that with a
sudden interest in assassins thanks to Brent Weeks’s Night Angel
Trilogy, and I grabbed a hold of that wave and rode it for all its
worth.
Do you have any special tips that
you’d like to share with other authors, regarding writing,
marketing or publishing?
You’re not competing with other
indies. You’re competing with the giants of your genre. So go in
ready to work hard, to put out a good product, to edit it best you
can, with the best cover you can, and the best story you can. If
you’re writing fantasy, people need to be able to choose to read
you over GRR Martin, RA Salvatore, Joe Abercrombie, JRR Tolkien, and
dozens of other phenomenal writers. You’ll sit on their same
bookshelf. If you have the confidence, or insanity, to think you just
might belong, then act like it, and put in the effort.
Is there anything you’d like to
say to your readers?
Thanks guys. I’m living a dream
because of you.
Why did you choose to write in the
fantasy genre?
It’s always been the genre I read the
most growing up, and the one I have the most fondness for. Nothing
really tops a hero standing before a horde of enemies with just a
single sword and maybe a spell or two up his sleeve.
Do you also read? What sort of
books?
I actually don’t read as much fantasy
now as I know I should. I tend to read more horror and short stories,
but every few months I grab a new title by someone highly recommended
to me to see what I might be missing out on (just started on The
Blade Itself this month, for example).
What are your thoughts on
self-publishing vs. traditional publishing?
It shouldn’t be a ‘vs’ scenario
in the first place? There’s tons of benefits for self-publishing.
Mainly, anyone can do it. Of course there’s problems with it
too…such as that anyone can do it. If you have a mind for business,
or just a nice touch of luck, you can do great with self-publishing.
But it’s all on you. Every edit, every cover, every story decision.
Me? I know myself. I know I need pushed, because I’ll slack off and take shortcuts. Having a chance to republish the Shadowdance series with Orbit has so far been a dream, and I couldn’t be happier. Am I glad I got to skip all the query and agent hunting nonsense because of my indie success? Absolutely. But this publishing landscape is changing, and right now I’d like to take a step into the traditional world, see what I think of it. I’ve also got a series being published by Amazon’s 47North, so another toe dipped into the water there as well.
And if it all blows up in my face, well, self-publishing will always be there, waiting for me.
Do you have any more books being
released soon?
The closest should be A Dance of Cloaks
in October, the first of a three month barrage by Orbit (with A Dance
of Blades and A Dance of Mirrors hitting Nov/Dec). After that, in
January is the first of The Breaking World books, the first being
Dawn of Swords.
Is there anything else you’d like
to tell us about yourself or your books?
I’ll never claim to be perfect, but I
like to think I respect my reader’s time, and bend over backwards
to keep them entertained. Anyone up for a nice easy read full of
bloodshed and sword fights, I’m probably right up your alley. Just
don’t take me too seriously. I rarely do.
Haha, well if this interview is
anything to go by David’s books should be a blast!
