{"id":23213,"date":"2012-04-11T17:11:05","date_gmt":"2012-04-11T07:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=23213"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:48:38","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T23:48:38","slug":"carole-wilkinson-author-of-the-dragonkeeper-series-answers-ten-terrifying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2012\/04\/11\/carole-wilkinson-author-of-the-dragonkeeper-series-answers-ten-terrifying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Carole Wilkinson, author of the Dragonkeeper series, answers Ten Terrifying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Booktopia Book Guru<\/strong> <\/strong>asks<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carole Wilkinson<\/strong><\/h1>\n

author of\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>the\u00a0Dragonkeep<\/em>er series<\/a><\/strong>, including the latest volume in the series, Blood Brothers<\/em><\/a>,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten Terrifying Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

——————————
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born in Derby, England. My family emigrated to Adelaide when I was 12. I went to Woodville High School in suburban Adelaide. Though I had more of an interest in Arts, I somehow ended up studying Maths, Chemistry and Physics.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was twelve I had a vague idea I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. I have no idea why.<\/p>\n

When I was eighteen I wanted to travel, so I just wanted any job to earn money so I could save up.<\/p>\n

At 30, after 12 years as a laboratory technician, I decided it wasn’t the career for me. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be. It was almost another ten years before I worked out that I wanted to be a writer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believed in reincarnation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>4. What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many books.\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/a><\/em> took me to a place I had never been before.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Sunne in Splendour<\/a><\/em> by Sharon Kay Penman<\/a> enlightened me about thorough historical research.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Possession<\/a><\/em> by\u00a0A S Byatt<\/a> inspired me with its great writing and plot, and showed me that historical fiction can be literary and fun.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My artistic avenues were far from numerous. I can’t paint, sculpt or play a musical instrument. I can’t act or sing. My photography is less than average. I was quite good at macram\u00e9, but I couldn’t see me making a living from that. Writing is the only thing I have any talent for. I did try other forms of writing: scriptwriting, journalism, short story, but I prefer novel writing because of the length. I like having the space to braid a story together with themes and links and images.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>6. Please tell us about your latest novel\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blood Brothers<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0will be out in May. It is the fourth book in the Dragonkeep<\/em>er series<\/a><\/strong>. This one is set several centuries after the last book. The dragon Kai is 400-odd years old — a teenager in dragon terms. He is sick of his boring life with the other dragons and has gone off in search of adventure and human companionship. He thinks he’s found the right person in novice monk Tao, but Tao doesn’t agree.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to buy Blood Brothers<\/em> from Booktopia,
\nAustralia’s No.1 Online Bookshop<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Booktopia Administration’s note:<\/strong> The\u00a0Dragonkeep<\/em>er series<\/a><\/strong> has been rejacketed with brand-new artwork to coincide with the release of\u00a0Blood Brothers<\/a><\/em><\/strong> – check them out here<\/a>)
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The feeling that they have read an interesting book with a page-turning story. I hope that they might also be thinking about the importance of values such as equality, freedom and loyalty.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There isn’t one single person that I admire above all others. There are many authors including A S Byatt<\/a>, Margaret Atwood<\/a> and Tim Winton<\/a>. They are writers whose prose takes my breath away. Margo Lanagan<\/a> never ceases to amaze me with the originality of her stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not so ambitious, just to keep writing and to improve.<\/p>\n

10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Write, write and write some more. Take every opportunity to practice your writing skills. Practice makes perfect. Try different types of writing, different genres. Your talent might lie somewhere unexpected.<\/p>\n

Carole, thank you for playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to buy Blood Brothers<\/em> from Booktopia,
\nAustralia’s No.1 Online Bookshop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Carole Wilkinson author of\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0Dragonkeeper series, including the latest volume in the series, Blood Brothers, Ten Terrifying Questions —————————— 1. To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born in Derby, England. My family emigrated to Adelaide when I was 12. I went to Woodville High School in suburban Adelaide. Though I had more of an interest in Arts, I somehow ended up studying Maths, Chemistry and Physics. 2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why? When I was twelve I had a vague idea I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. I have no idea why. When I was eighteen I wanted to travel, so I just wanted any job to earn money so I could save up. At 30, after 12 years as a laboratory technician, I decided it wasn’t the career for me. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be. It was almost another ten years before I worked out that I wanted to be a writer. 3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[944,1159,5184,5466],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57323,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23213\/revisions\/57323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}