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About the author
Publishing under a pen name to keep his personal life separate from his writing life, Richard Blunt was raised in the heart of Europe, in a nation where English is not the native language. Like his heroes, Richard Blunt is nothing more than a shadow – a spectre that whispers a story for everyone to hear.
Book description
Lucas and the others shift into high gear to avenge their injured friend. But when an unexpected foe arrives at the scene they quickly find themselves in a life or death situation that not even their extraordinary skills can solve. Realizing that they have bitten off more than they can chew Lucas desperately starts looking for trustworthy allies, just to find out once again that things are never as easy as they appear at first. Can they survive the battles at hand? Will they be able to tell friend from foe? Or will the epic quest they have stumbled into be too much for them to handle? Follow Lucas Trent and his friends through an action-paced story of mysteries, secrets and deceptions and find out
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Interview
Would you call yourself a born writer?
Definitely not. I would maybe call myself a born storyteller, but even that is subject to debate.
What was your inspiration for “Lucas Trent – Grand Theft Magic”?
Well, the whole Lucas Trent storyline had been in my head for a long time. The actual writing was inspired by people that I told parts of the story to, who almost bullied me into writing it down. The current book, “Grand Theft Magic”, is part three of that story. And beside the inspiration that was there in the beginning this one is also inspired by a lot of feedback that I got over the years from my readers.
What themes do you like to explore in your writing?
I don’t explore anything in my writing, as in the end the writing is nothing more than persisting something that has already been explored in my head long before I even start. What it’s all about for me is something deeper. For me to write a story I must first know every detail about the characters. That part is the one I really like to explore most.
How long did it take you to complete the novel?
First word to final publishing? A little more than a year. But there is a lot of idle time in between, both during writing and during the final steps afterwards.
Are you disciplined? Describe a typical writing day.
No, I am for sure not. *laugh* And there is no typical writing day. I get up early in the morning, go to work, just like most other people do, have a normal social life, etc. Writing is just something that goes in between when I have time left, and am motivated to do so.
What did you find most challenging about writing this book?
There were two things this time. For one, this is the first book that incorporated feedback from readers and reviewers alike. Getting that many nuances in without compromising my own style was quite a hard thing to do. (And I am still not sure if I got it right…) For the other, there is this issue with sexuality that keeps coming up again and again. And why shouldn’t it? My main character is 16 years old. Which boy that age doesn’t think about girls most of the time? The challenge is in writing those thoughts and interactions in a way that is still feasible for young people to read. After all, I don’t want to get rated R…
What do you love most about being an author?
There is a lot that I love about it. First of all, I like the control. The book is exactly what I wanted it to be, from the story itself, via the cover, the trailer, the homepage, everything. So there is nobody else to blame when it goes wrong. I was in control all the time, the result is mine, top to bottom. But I think even more than the control in writing I like hearing people talk about my story. There is nothing better than that, especially when they don’t know that you are listening.
Did you go with a traditional publisher, small press, or did you self publish? What was the process like and are you happy with your decision?
I went down the self publishing route. (Like I did with my first two books.) The process is rough, it’s a lot of work and it’s not exactly cheap. But by now I have smoothened out most of the edges, so it’s not THAT bad. And yes, I am quite happy with that decision. I would maybe consider other options if they should pop up, but I will always happily go down the same path again as well.
Where can we find you on the web?
My homepage is http://www.lucastrent.com/ You will find the link to my blog there, and of course I am also on Facebook and Twitter, with the corresponding links also being there.
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