Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates
Please welcome L.A. Morton-Yates author of Bittersouls
L.A. Morton-Yates will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Bittersouls
by L.A. Morton-Yates
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GENRE: YA Fantasy
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INTERVIEW
- What or who inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always been a writer, since my very first memories. I think of almost everything in terms of narrative and worldbuilding, often to the chagrin of my wife, who has to hear my sometimes unorthodox perspective on a regular basis. I can’t imagine not writing, and will tend to get very grumpy when I’m in between projects.
- How did you come up with ideas for your books?
Like most writers, I get inspiration from all over the place. I often get ideas for stories, characters, or worldbuilding elements from songs. Most of my stories have at least one playlist constructed for them, either for inspiration or to use as background music when writing. I also routinely scroll Art Station and Deviant Art for environmental and character art to help give me direction or inspire new elements. These are likewise compiled in moodboards for my various projects to help keep me focused and in the right “mode” for a given story.
- What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
It might not be too surprising, but I’m a total nerd! I enjoy playing chess, board games, and video games when I get the chance. Sometimes I’ll even draw inspiration from these things! And like anyone else, I have to figure out how to balance life, work, and entertainment to try to find a healthy balance.
- As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’ve got several projects in the works. The next to release is a sci-fi book called The Damned Earth, which follows a lone explorer as he tries to make an alien world habitable for the last remnant of humanity. All the while, the mystery and the threat of what happened to the planet’s original inhabitants looms over him. Following that, I’ve got a steampunk series and a cyberpunk fantasy trilogy in the works. If I have my way, I will release a new book every year for the foreseeable future!
- If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?
Sort of a tricky question, since most of my characters (and most characters in many stories) really go through a lot over the course of the story. That said, I do think it would be incredibly cool to work on an airship, like some of the characters of my upcoming steampunk series, The Shattered Heavens. If I had to chose, I would probably want that to be my life.
- Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?
I’ve tried to participate in a few groups like this, but have always had trouble finding one where people were in the same place as me, as far as aspirations and process. Usually people would have a chapter or two of a story—an excellent start, no doubt—but would always peter out before making much more progress than that. Additionally, no one in these groups had the bandwidth to read through a full book from me to give me critiques, so things always ended up being pretty one-sided. In the end, I decided they were more hassle than they were worth, but I do like the idea of finding one that gels better with my process and where I am at as a writer.
- What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
The best advice I’ve ever received is to set manageable goals for myself. While it’s nice to think you could be as prolific as Steven King and write 2k words a day, these lofty goals can often result in burnout after a few unsuccessful days in a row. Alternatively, if you set a more modest goal like 500 words a day, you can more reasonably hit that goal consistently. When you consistently reach your goal, you build up your confidence and your morale about your writing, which in my experience results in a lot more writing output in the long-term.
The worst advice I’ve ever received was to write what I know. While it sounds like good advice, since no one wants to read the opinions of someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it can be misinterpreted in some pretty critical ways. Basically, this advice should mean is that the writer has a responsibility to research what it is possible to research when it comes to their work. What it doesn’t mean—and this is what I took it to mean as a young writer—is that every story you write essentially has to be about your life and/or your personal experiences and struggles. In fact, the point of fiction is to give both the writer and the reader a chance to step outside of their own perspective so that they can glean some piece of insight that they can bring back and apply to their own lives.
- Do you outline your books or just start writing?
The first book I ever finished was not outlined, and it took me 1.5 years to complete the first draft. It was a disorganized, unreadable mess, but it was a huge milestone for me in terms of learning what I need to do to succeed in writing.
Most notably, I learned that I could not finish a book that made any sense in any reasonable amount of time without an outline. I know there are people who can do this, but I simply am not one of them. If I don’t take the time to do a bit of planning and figure out the course of the story, especially the middle, it’s simply not going to come together. No matter how much I try to convince myself that I’ll “figure it out when I get there”, it simply won’t happen for me.
- Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?
As I mentioned above, I enjoy playing chess. I think there is a lot of insight that can be taken from it to various other parts of life, including writing. The back and forth calculation and strategy between the players is in some ways similar to how dialogue works, where each of the speakers has their own agenda and tactics. The way that a chess opening sets the stage for the game that is going to be played is sort of like how genre, tropes, and archetypes lay the groundwork for a story to be told. Though the components (the first few moves, in chess) are something that have been seen before, the way it all plays out—the execution—is unique.
- What is your favorite reality show?
I don’t watch a lot of reality TV, but I do enjoy watching The Great British Baking Show from time to time. I can’t bake to save my life, but the mixture of competition and mutual support and positivity is just really nice to watch. It’s something that isn’t always present in creative communities, writing included, but it really makes a big difference for everyone involved and everyone watching to have that kind of mutual optimism.
BLURB:
A Shade. A Storm. A Soul.
Cursed with forbidden knowledge, 19-year-old Dela must hide her secret from her nomadic tribe or face exile into the frozen wasteland of the Bitters. When she becomes separated from her people during a blizzard, a mysterious and dangerous wanderer named Talon promises to help her find her way back to them. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, that her curse may actually be a gift, and that the Bitters are far more dangerous than she could have imagined.
Packed with unexpected twists, Bittersouls is a mixture of survival, adventure, and slow-burn romance that is sure to get your heart pounding.
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EXCERPT
A Shade
Something moved at the edge of the horizon. It was like a shadow, black as a cloud but moving fast across the snow plain. Time seemed to stop, but Dela could feel herself sliding forward as if she were standing on a lake of ice. Freja was still yelling, but she couldn’t hear her. Her arms were flailing, but Dela hardly noticed.
A wave of lights moved in front of the thing, jumping and turning, quick as sparks. It was like a field of quails fleeing into the sky before a coming wolf, but the wolf—the shadow—followed them. The closer it got, the more the shiver racked her spine. She knew exactly what it was, though she’d never seen one. No one in the congregation had. There were no stories. No whisperings. Only a name.
“Shade.”
Freja stared at her, bewildered into silence. Perhaps she was going to speak, but then—
“Shade!”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
A life-long lover of the magic of storytelling, L.A. wrote his first story at the age of 7 and has been writing ever since. Speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, has always held a special place in his heart for the uniqueness of the places and the questions it can address. Though veiled by apparent strangeness, he has always seen it as capable of revealing deeper truth about our own reality.
L.A. graduated from Montana State University in 2015 with Honors in Biochemistry and a minor in Music Composition. This helped nurture his critical thinking and research skills which continue to be instrumental to his writing. During his collegiate years, he also met the love of his life, Julie, whom he later married. At once his greatest supporter and his staunchest critic (when he is wrong, which is more often than he’d like to admit), she has been an integral part of his creative process ever since.
In February of 2018, L.A. became the father of his first son, Griffin. His second son, Tiber, was born in December of 2019 and his third son, Malachi, was born in January of 2022. Though life has become considerably busier since he became a family man, L.A. continues to work on writing in what little spare time he can find. He hopes to one day pass on his love of literature to his sons.
Links:
Substack- lamortonyates.substack.com
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lamortonyates/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorlamortonyates
Twitter – https://twitter.com/lamortonyates
Buy on Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQFLM7D4
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
L.A. Morton-Yates will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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