Victoria Aveyard: book tour (yes, I had a fangirl moment)
For those who know me, I’ve never been too shy to talk about the authors who have inspired me (or too shy to talk at all – I was described as ‘bubbly’ in every school report, so read into that what you will). That said, I’ve only had a few opportunities to meet those authors in real life, and with ME/CFS throwing a spanner in the works for the last two years, I’ve had to be more selective about how far I travel, where and when. So, you can imagine my absolute elation when I learned that THE Victoria Aveyard was going to be in Nottingham to talk about her next book: an adult fantasy novel called Tempest.
What’s the book about?
A high-seas fantasy novel, it follows a dual timeline structure and has oodles of betrayal, war, love and all those juicy elements I completely devour in fantasy. If you liked Pirates of the Caribbean (the first three films; I like to forget what came after), then this novel may be just what floats your boat! See what I did there? It follows Cat Rose, a former Lady of the Meridian Empire, now queen of a pirate tavern, who has to track down an old flame if she wants to save her own life. Yearning. Banter. Romance. All the tastiness I love to find in a novel!
My personal takeaways
What was really interesting was hearing about how Victoria’s experience with screenwriting has influenced and inspired her writing process. Like me, she’s a cinematic/visual writer, imagining scenes like a film reel in her head and using that to help create the story and to get the right words down. She’s also keen on research and accuracy, and spent a lot of time researching piracy lore and history, and balancing it with genre expectations and a certain amount of darkness.
And Victoria’s favourite quote from her novel: ‘He looks like a broken doll mended by a neglectful mother’… oof… chills!
What did she share about writing in general?
In two words: SO MUCH!
Not only did she cover her writing process, her thoughts on the industry, and her novel itself, but I captured some delightful quotes:
‘Write books set in places you want to go on vacation to’ – half-said in jest, but a good tip!
‘You know when you find the right title’ – absolutely true. I stumbled upon my own after playing a word association game and it’s stuck all these years.
‘You have to show how characters have changed but are also the same person’ – a gem of advice right there. With some manuscripts I’ve worked on, it can seem like the characters have changed so much that there’s nothing recognisable in them; or they don’t change at all, which is a different issue to tackle.
‘Write the dialogue first, then go back and add the narrative’ – this, this and always this! If you’re stuck on a scene and want to make it feel like a natural conversation, right it dialogue first and then add the rest around it. It could be just what you need if you’re hitting a wall.
Some photos of me reining in my inner fan girl as Victoria kindly signed my book. I had the pleasure of meeting her for a 15-minute chat at a previous event in London a few years ago. Back then, I had almost given up on writing myself, and she shared some fantastic insights and gave me advice, and now I have a finished novel ready to go! I just had to thank her in person.
Photos by me (in order): telling Victoria how much our meeting a few years ago helped me get back into writing; telling Victoria about my editorial consultancy; thanking Victoria for speaking out against the damaging impacts of generative AI; letting Victoria know my own novel is due out next year and she helped me gain some confidence to finally do it!
I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this book. I hope you do too!
Heather