Book Tour + Interview: Broken Arrow by Azaria M.J Durant + Giveaway
Broken Arrow
by Azaria M.J. Durant
(Darkened Destiny Saga #1)
Publication date: July 29th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis
An ancient power long kept dormant stirs in the shadows once more as one boy embarks on a quest to earn his freedom and the freedom of his world!
Magic has turned to myth, the Vaelhyreans of old to legend, and the power wielded by the ancients has long been forgotten. However, with Ealdred, a mere half-breed slave boy, myth becomes real, the forgotten remembered, and the power of legend is reborn within him.
Ealdred is merged into a world of mystery, brimming with deceit, where the remaining Vaelhyreans are in a desperate fight for their very survival. When Ealdred is kidnapped by the power-mongering dark lord Zeldek himself, he must make a choice; to commit his newfound magic to Zeldek’s service or die. But when he meets Bellator, clever yet treacherous servant of Zeldek, an alternative is presented to him: to escape from Zeldek’s stronghold and embark on a quest to find a cursed arrow and free the Vaelhyreans from the spell that keeps their powers at bay.
Yet how can he survive in a world where magic is illegal, half-breeds are hated, and the four countries are on the brink of war?
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AUTHOR BIO
Azaria lives in Atlantic Canada with her family, cats, and dogs, and her big dreams to travel the world. In the moments when she isn’t writing, she is sketching concept art for her stories, participating in community theatre, or curled up with a good book and a bag of mint chocolates.
Author Interview
1) Are there any authors, genres, or works of literature that have influenced your writing?
Everything I’ve read has influenced my writing in little ways little, but there are a few authors that stand above the rest. Suzanne Collins is the first that comes to mind, not only because of The Hunger Games, which inspired the first idea for Broken Arrow, but also for her Gregor the Overlander series. Her writing style very much influenced the way I write, and her stories and characters have influenced mine in many ways as well. Another writer is Jennifer A. Neilson, author of The False Prince. This story was revolutionary for me because not only is Sage very much like Ealdred, but he also did something I hadn’t seen before in writing; he lied to the readers. Literally, blatantly lied. It was awesome, and although I didn’t give Ealdred that tendency, it did very much influence the writing of Bellator.
2) What is your creative process when bringing your worlds or characters to life?
Being mostly a world driven author -- which means that I come up with the concept for the story world first, and enjoy fleshing it out most -- the creation of the world was very fascinating to me. However, the first thing I did come up with for this series was the concept for the character Bellator, who was originally my protagonist. The next thing that came was the world, which I vastly fleshed out as I slowly added more and more characters. It was only when I was two or three years into the story that magic was introduced to the world, and then I had to re-imagine everything. The characters were fleshed out slowly the more I talked about and thought about them, and the more drafts I’d pile up. It was a very slow process, to be honest. A big thing I do to flesh out my characters is to draw them, as I’m also an artist. Once I get their faces right, it’s pretty easy to figure out their personality from there.
3) What were your inspirations behind the Darkened Destiny Saga?
The thing that inspired me to write the Darkened Destiny saga to begin with was a combination of reading The Hunger Games, and my decision to become a writer. Nothing that I was writing at the time really was resonating with me, so I decided to come up with something new. A fantasy story, because I’d always loved the fantasy genre, but hadn’t attempted to write one since I was eight. So, at the young age of fourteen, I sat down and thought up ideas. I wanted to write something like The Hunger Games, not only because it was super big at the time, but also because the story itself had really resonated with me. Obviously, my story turned out nothing like it, but that’s the foundation on which the entire series was built.
4) Is there a character from your work that you feel a special connection with?
This is really hard to figure, because I have a special connection to each of my six main characters as well as the villain. They’ve been with me for a long time, many of them all six years that I’ve been working on this story and its sequels. Narrowing it down, I’d say that Bellator, Ealdred, and Marianna are the characters that have the most of me in them. Bellator has my driven, angry side; Ealdred has my mindset, and Marianna has my quiet thoughtfulness. Bellator is definitely the coolest character of these three, but Ealdred and Marianna have their own charms as well.
5) What lead you to writing and later publishing your first book?
I enjoyed writing and I really wanted to write something worthwhile. I worked on a couple of ideas first, but this was the one that stood out to me most, so I picked it and worked on it until it was finished. The end goal was always to get it published. I’m definitely going about it in a different way than I thought I would, but I’m still reaching as high as I can.
6) Is there any advice you would like to give to writers who are just starting out?
Keep at it, and do everything with quality and excellence. Don’t be afraid to put in the money required to hire a good editor, or to put your work out there for critiques and beta reads. Listen to people who are more experienced than you, but don’t let them discourage you either. Writing is a process and everyone’s process is different.
Giveaway
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
2x eBook copies of Broken Arrow
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