Victorian London, pickpockets, faeries, mystery and romance.
Who is your favorite
character to write?
Well, you don’t see a whole lot of her in this book, but I
love Larkin. She is so complicated. We haven’t even peeled back the first layer
yet.
My favorite time
period is Victorian England, the era which the Faerie Ring is set.
What is one of the reasons you were drawn to this era for the setting of
the book?
I
love the mystery of Victorian London. The dichotomy of knowledge between great
technological advances and the deep belief in mysticism. I also love the idea
of not knowing all the ‘facts’ of history – of the untold stories that have
either slipped through the cracks or not been told because if they were,
everything would change…
What type of faerie
myths and lore did you draw inspiration for the Faerie Ring from?
I did a lot of reading of
general faerie lore as well as myths from the British Isles. There are parts I
like and others I don’t, which is partly why I wrote this book – it was the
book I wanted to read, but couldn’t find.
What was your
favorite scene to write in the book?
I have to admit
one of my very favorite scenes occurs when Tiki is in the ballroom at Buckingham
Palace and involves William Richmond and Prince Leopold. I still laugh at the expression on Leo’s
face.
(That's my favorite scene as well!)
Do you outline or
just write and see where it takes you? Did you know the how the series was
going to end before you started writing?
I would love
to outline, but I don’t. When
writing fantasy I start at the beginning and write straight through. So far, I
haven’t even written scenes out of order – and while I know a few things that
are going to happen, for the most part I just follow my characters. Oddly enough, I just finished writing a
YA contemporary and my process was completely different. I had a playlist I
listened to when I wrote, I wrote the ending when I was only 1/3 through the
book and wrote scenes out of order.
What is harder to write,
the first sentence or the last?
The first sentence
changed a few times. The last sentence was always the same.
If you could spend a
day with a character from any book, who would it be and why?
I’m probably so predictable but it would totally be Harry Potter. SO MANY places to
explore! Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, the Burrow, the Dark Forest… and of course, there’s magic and flying brooms!
If you had a time
machine and could travel to any time and place, where would you go?
Well, it would definitely be someplace in Europe and most
likely in England. When I visited
London a couple of years ago we visited Windsor Castle, which has been
inhabited by English royalty for 1,000 years. I’ve read lots of stories, and
watched lots of movies set in England and as I stood on the parapet of Windsor
Castle, in the footsteps of kings, and looked out over England - I totally got it. It was fantastic!
What YA book do you
wish had been published when you were a teen?
I would
have loved Harry Potter at any age and I certainly would have been thrilled to
read those books as a teen.
Thank you so much for inviting me over, Dani!
I want to so thanks so much to Kiki Hamilton for stoping by and providing such lovely answers!
You can find out more about Kiki Hamilton over at her website: http://www.kikihamilton.com. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook as well.
Don't forget to check back this week for a review, a character interview and a giveaway of The Faerie Ring!
Great interview for an amazing author, and a genuinely wonderful woman - Hi Kiki! I'm excited to hit B&N tomorrow and Buy Your Book!
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