So, this may be my biggest blogging thrill so far… It’s my first ever (but hopefully not last), Anne Bishop Interview! Originally this was planned for favorites month but now it’s a bonus to help ease the transition into the colder weather. So, without further ado…

Kellie– What has your favorite thing about being a writer so far?

Anne Bishop– Tagging along with a group of magical people who can’t exist in this world but feel like they could, and watching them laugh and love and struggle to overcome the dangers they face. My other favorite thing is building the fantasy world and the excitement that comes when small pieces click into place and suddenly there’s a place that I can visit.

Kellie– For you, what is the most difficult part of the writing process?

Anne Bishop– I find the last stage of revisions the most difficult because that is
when all the blurry parts of the story have to be polished so that the words
become invisible and the story shines through.

Kellie– If you hadn’t been able to write professionally which career would you have
chosen for yourself?

Anne Bishop– I’ve worked in the advertising business as a proofreader for a lot of years. Most professional writers have a day job because it takes a long time before you can make a living from your writing. I still put in a few hours at the day job, but I am very fortunate that I’ve reached a point where I can devote most of my working hours to writing.

Kellie– How did you know it was time to leave The Black Jewels world and characters behind?

Anne Bishop– There is a sense that the characters have nothing else to share for the time being, that the heart needs time to process whatever has happened in the story. When I reach the point when I have vague ideas but no real sense of a story, then it’s time to move on and explore other kinds of stories.

Kellie– Is there any part of the Black Jewels universe you wish you had been able to explore more thoroughly?

Anne Bishop– No, because stories don’t have to be linear. If an idea begins to intrigue me and gains enough substance to be a story, I can explore it regardless of when it happened in the Blood’s history–or future.

Kellie– I’m so excited that your next book will be set in Ephemera and cannot wait for Bridge of Dreams to come out. It has been a few years since you’ve visited Ephemera–what was it like going back into that world?

Anne Bishop– Ephemera is always a challenging world to write about. I listened to the audio books to get reacquainted with the world and characters. That was fun because hearing the story made different bits pop to my attention than when I read it. And because so much of Bridge of Dreams takes place in a new landscape, it was pretty easy to settle back into that world.

Kellie– How did you decided which character to delve into for this book? Why Lee?

Anne Bishop– Stories can simmer in the background for years, so I tend to circle around every so often to see if anything is happening with the world or characters I’ve created. When a story is ready for me to actively work on shaping it, it resonates for me. I had told Sebastian’s story and Glorianna’s story. Lee seemed the logical choice as the main character of the next Ephemera book, and when I started thinking about a story for him all kinds of possibilities opened up. But it turned out that this is also Danyal’s story and Zhahar’s story, and Lee is the bridge between the old and the new.

Kellie– And finally, what are you working on now? Will you continue to go back to series you’ve worked on in the past or is there something new brewing?

Anne Bishop– I’m currently working on the first book of a new dark fantasy series that has a contemporary setting even though it isn’t Earth. It’s fun to play in a world that has televisions, cars, bookstores and coffee shops, as well as
vampires, shape shifters, prophets and regular humans. So far I’m having a lot
of fun because I’m never quite sure what the Others are going to do until I
type the words.

Kellie– Thank you again, Anne. This was really such a highlight for me! Plus this new contemporary dark fantasy sounds like it could be something pretty spectacular… I’m excited!

You can visit Anne on her website, here.