Author Robert Donohue Speaks with Denver Parent Magazine
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual, Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. As part of our love of books, Denver Parent Magazine interviewed Child of Creation author Robert Donohue about his process.
Child of Creation is about Lark, as he joins a group who teaches him that the world isn’t as simple as he was raised to believe. Larksoon learns that the fantastic stories he and his friends grew up hearing about a much bigger world where not just Elves and Dwarves, but Gnomes and Trolls,even magical Sprites could exist, are true. The author responded to questions from Denver Parent about his background and inspiration for the book:
What made you interested in writing a fantasy novel?
I felt that writing fantasy has allowed me more creativity and expanded the opportunities to create a world that could literally include everything and anything I could think of. The freedom of being able to establish a group of characters who have no limitations as to culture or how they view each other was the biggest draw. Of course, I have been a fan of fantasy novels since I picked up Terry Brook’s Sword of Shannara at an airport gift shop in my youth. I felt I could achieve my goals using the freedoms offered by the fantasy genre.
What is your favorite childhood book?
RikkiTikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling was one of my favorite books as a pre-teen youngster, and adventures like Huck Finn and other books along those lines. Once I found fantasy, I couldn’t get enough of authors such as Terry Brooks, David Eddings, and several others. Louis L’Amour and Franklin Dixon’s Hardy Boys Mystery Series were also important early influences.
What was your inspiration for Lark and the other characters? Did you create the“world” or the characters first?
When I was building the story I wanted to put it together piece by piece to carry readers from an entry point that would get their attention and then build a world around those initial characters that fit the story line. I had a few basic ideas of where I wanted the story to go, and I let the details flow out as they came to me.
What did you edit out of this book?
I started this book as a young man not too far out of college. Suffice it to say the original manuscript was quite a bit racier than the final product. As I got older and had children, I began to feel uncomfortable with whether or not I would want my children reading my work. I went back and edited every single page to create a work that I was proud for my children to read and that could be read by members of any age group.
Is there a sequel in the works?
I am proud of what I have written, and I look forward to publishing the sequel to Child of Creation, Coming of Age. I am working steadfastly toward that goal as we speak.
About Robert Donohue
Born in Chicago and raised in Syracuse,New York, Robert Donohue moved in his mid-teens to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he has been ever since, except for a few years of college, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in Organizational Management and is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Homeland Security at Mississippi College. He lives in Vicksburg with his wife and has two grown children.
