Book: The Fall Of The Phoenix
Q1. Hello Sir, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
Good evening sassy, and thank you for having me. My name is Daniel Kelly, I am from the village of Creeslough in Co.Donegal in Ireland. I am a chef by trade, but have always had a love of history and mythology, reading in my spare time, predominantly historical fiction and fantasy.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing ‘The Fall Of The Phoenix’ book?
The main thing I found was deciding how much you could take as real from original sources. The main source, obviously being Homer’s Illiad was only written around five hundred years after the events of troy. The stories had originally being passed down orally through generations and by the time of homer there were dozens of versions around Greece, homers became the most famous because the king of Sparta at the time liked it the most and heavily promoted it. But I think we can probably take it for granted that the gods didn’t actually start it over a beauty contest for a golden apple, so I removed most of the influence of the gods, writing instead about the individual humans making it more of a historical fiction story than Greek mythology.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Although a lot of authors have influenced my work, probably to some degree everything I have ever read and loved, from S.E.Hinton’s The Outsiders in contemporary, and Tom Lloyd’s The Stormcaller in fantasy, to Conn Iggulden and Christian Cameron in historical fiction. Everything you read and enjoy influences your voice as a writer, and your writing of conversations, descriptions, places etc. but I think, strangely, David Gammell’s Troy series influenced this book most. Strangly only because he is mostly a fantasy writer, but his final scene of how the city fell set me to thinking that things didn’t have to have happened as mythology had told us. That the stories can be completely changed through the misinterpretation of a single word. Having read this set thoughts moving through my head about potentially what actually had happened and eventually let to me sitting down to start writing my book.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
I am obviously biased, but I have now been living in Dublin for fifteen years for work, and my home in Donegal is still my favourite place to visit. It’s a beautiful area, soaked in history and ancient Irish mythology. Doe Castle where the legendary real Irish hero “Red Hugh o’Donnell” was held hostage as a young man is literally a stones through from where I consider home, with Glenveagh castle only a few miles up the road and all penned in by the beautiful north Atlantic cliff’s and coast. It inspires me every time I get there and is still what I consider home.
Q5. Is there lots to do before you drive in and start writing a book?
I don’t think I would say there is a lot to do before I start. I am whats referred to in writing as a pantser as apposed to a planner. I start with an idea and work a lot of it in my head, though writing like this involves alot of research during the writing process. Others do all their research prior to starting the writing process but I like to give the character freedom to grow organically during the writing process, growing and evolving with every conversation so even I don’t know what decisions they would make until they are deciding.
Q6. How long did it take you to write ‘A Hero’s Welcome’ book?
“A Hero’s Welcome” was written in a little under a year. This was unusual since it took me a few years to write “The Fall of The Phoenix”. This was because, with ‘A Hero’s Welcome’ being a sequel, I had actually planned out and researched most of the book while writing the first book.
Q7. On what all platforms readers can find your books to buy?
The Fall of The Phoenix is available on most platforms, though mostly through amazon, its also available through barnes and noble, whsmith and most other bookstores to order. A hero’s welcome though, for the minute is exclusive through amazon.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the cover and the title of your books?
I will always have a working title in my head while I am writing a book, this is what the file is saved under on my computer, but if while writing I decide it doesn’t suit the book, that will possibly change during the process. The cover will usually form out of an image I get in my head while writing it. This can be a single scene, or a single battle stroke that I feel embodies the story and when I move to talk to my cover designer we talk about what is in my mind until he gets some idea of what I am thinking. Then he works his magic and puts that idea on paper and designs the cover to suit the image.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
I don’t start writing unless I have thought of a way a previous story doesn’t make sense to me. I like a story to make sense so I can understand the why of how something happened. Sometimes though the characters surprise me though.
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
The end of my book, and a lot of historical mythology surrounding troy, ties it to the founding of Rome. That was where the Phoenix in the title comes from. But the Phoenix being an eastern mythological bird, carrying a golden Phoenix from troy to Rome, it would be recognised by the locals as an eagle. So when the eagle of rome is raised by the legions, its symbolically the rising of the phoenix from the ashes. And troy takes its revenge against Greece for the destruction of troy when rome invaids.
Book Is Available On Amazon
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