I was lucky to get an interview with Mitriel Faywood, the author of A Gamble Of Gods, and a semifinalist in this year’s #SPFBO9.

Please, tell us a bit about yourself…
It probably won’t come as a surprise when I tell you that Mitriel Faywood is a pen name. Under my real name (Agnes Meszaros), some people know me in the fantasy community for being Mark Lawrence’s long term beta-reader (around 10 years) and for creating and running his unofficial website, That Thorn Guy, where I used to organise annual flash-fiction competitions, fanart contests, giveaways, did interviews with authors, artists and bloggers, and wrote various other posts regarding Mark’s books. I’m Hungarian originally, but also British now, having lived in the UK for 21 years, mostly in North London.

“Be as active in the community as your time allows it. Read and review books by other authors. Make comments, chat, share posts on social media, do interviews, get involved in things, be generous and support others.”

— Mitriel Faywood

Why should I buy your SPFBO9 entry?
A Gamble Of Gods is a character-driven, fast paced and exuberant story, mixing fantasy, science-fiction, adventure and romance. You should buy it if you’d like to read something different, refreshing and fun. I was lucky to be favourably reviewed by quite a few blogs, including SPFBO judges since the book came out last November, so hopefully I can let them sell you on the book.

What got you into writing? And how long have you been doing it?
Writing is something I always had some talent for, but apart from school assignments I never really considered doing more with it. It was just something I could do well, when I needed it, but becoming an author was never something I considered. It was Mark Lawrence’s books that eventually inspired me to change my mind and see if I could write my own.

Have you participated in the SPFBO before and where did you hear about the competition?
No, this is my first book, and my first time in the contest. Mark came up with the idea early 2015, while I was organising my second flash-fiction contest where he was one of the judges, and which was a little similar to SPFBO in concept, just in a much smaller scale. So you could say, I’ve been aware of the competition from the start, but never really got involved in any part of it before.

Why did you choose to write fantasy?
Well, I’m blending various genres in my book, but it’s true that it’s mostly fantasy, and the reason for that would be that I enjoy the freedom the genre allows.

Which other author has had the biggest influence on your writing?
By this point everyone reading this interview can probably answer this question for me: Mark Lawrence. The books of J.R.R. Tolkien, Alexandre Dumas, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Clavell and Stephen King also had a big impact on me when I was younger.

If you were to win the SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?
I'd like to think that more readers would pick up my book and build my readership as the series progresses. Ultimately, I'd love to write full time.

What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?
Oh, boy, not even sure where to start with this one. First of all, like many other authors, I also struggle to balance writing with a full-time job and life in general. It’s hard to concentrate and still have creative energy after a full day’s work and unfortunately, I’m really not a morning person. Being made redundant during the pandemic fixed this problem for me: I wrote the remaining 60% (almost 100K words) of my book just in four months. But unless I start selling a LOT more of it, losing my job again isn’t necessarily the best solution for completing the second book.

In terms of the writing itself, writing in your second language is a lot harder than doing it in your mother tongue. It involves quite a bit of research sometimes in terms of what phrase would work best in a given situation, would a line come across funny, what can you do if an expression simply doesn’t exist in the English language and so on. I think this is something that you can only get better at with practice and more reading.

Then the process of self-publishing is a whole different minefield, of course. There are endless books, articles, posts, YouTube videos on the subject, but it takes quite a bit of navigation to figure out what works best for you. With the ever-changing opportunities and technical advances, it’s not even enough to just find out things at the start. It’s more a labyrinth of learning new apps, developing new skills, keeping an eye on what other authors are doing or bloggers and readers are excited about on social media, making connections, discussing your experiences with others, but also being mindful of your mental health, and not letting setbacks or negative reviews get the better of you. Is it something you can overcome? I’m not sure. It’s probably just part of the journey.

Do you have any tips or an author app, tool, or resource that you can really recommend we try?
Just be as active in the community as your time allows it. Read and review books by other authors. Make comments, chat, share posts on social media, do interviews, get involved in things, be generous and support others. Meet people at cons if you can. Make friends. This is how I found my beta-readers. This is how I had reviews from several SPFBO judges before the contest even started. This is how I’m in a group promotion this month, because a fellow author recommended my book and I got an invite to join them.

And now it's time to yank out your Palantir! Let’s talk about the future. What new projects are you working on?
I’m currently working on Book 2 of my series, The Order Of The Dragon, that I’m hoping to publish sometime next year.

Apps that are based on artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGTP and Midjourney, along with apps aimed specifically at authors, have caused quite a stir. Do you expect these new technologies will make your life as a self-published author easier or harder, and do you expect that they’ll mean you’ll earn more or less?
I was only aware of those two, actually and had to google what other AI apps are there that are specifically aimed at authors. Based on what I’m seeing, I’m sure that they already make writing books easier, although it remains to be seen how good novels produced this way are. Personally, I would not be interested in reading an AI written story, but I don’t think I would have a problem with AI being used for research and brainstorming. In my opinion, if you don’t enjoy writing and you find the process daunting, you should spend your time with something else. However, I imagine not everyone thinks this way, and will happily rely on machine writing to make some money, making it even harder to stand out for genuine authors only starting out.

Do you have any dreams you’d like to share?
It would be amazing to be a full-time author, even if the chances to achieve that are incredibly slim these days.

Anything else you would like to say before we close?
Please let me just highlight this group promotion, which I mentioned earlier. It starts on the 18th August and you can buy some great books for your kindle for pennies. I certainly have my eye on several titles I’m planning to purchase. You can find all details here.

I wish you the very best in the SPFBO. I hope a lot of readers discover your writing!
Thanks for doing the interview.

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