A fantasy author who began writing late in life but who has more stories in her mind than apples on a tree.
Please, introduce yourself. Tell us about your personal life, family, education.
Ruth Danes is a pen name I chose because I want to keep my writing separate from my public life. This allows me to express myself freely without worrying about what other people may say. Although I do not consider my novels to be controversial, I do not want them to come up if someone Googled my real name. People can be very nosy and judgmental!
However, I can tell you that I am approaching middle age and living in a city in England. I was born and raised in the UK, but I have briefly lived in Australia, France and Germany. I lived in Australia as a child when my father was transferred their due to his work, and I studied French and German at university, so I studied abroad as part of my degree.
Although I am happily settled where I am, I am glad I had those earlier experiences of living in other countries, experiencing different cultures and speaking different languages. It was hard at times, but my experiences were enjoyable and broadened my mind. I also met interesting people.
I think a broad mind and a curiosity about people and the world are vital for any writer.
What is your ultimate writing goal as you see it today?
I would like to be able to leave my day job and write full time. I would like to feature on bestseller lists and have the BBC adapt my work for the screen. I would like hundreds of positive reviews and to win awards. I think I am very like most writers in this.
As a rule, I take it one book at a time and always aim to produce a true version in words of what I have imagined.
How do you decide on the title of a book?
I have written eight books, seven of which are published, and I am currently editing my ninth. I have never decided upon a title until I have completed my first draft. I find it a struggle to find a word or phrase that fits the story, then it’s a challenge to find something that I like and which stands out.
Realistic or Fiction
How much of your books is realistic and experiences based on someone you know, or events in your life?
Although most of my work has been fantasy, I still keep it realistic by considering how people would react in the worlds I have built. I don’t think it is where a story is set that makes it unrealistic, it is if the characters behave in a way that is unlikely and with no explanation provided.
I have not based my books on anyone I have met or any experience I have had, but I take inspiration from people and events, both what I have experienced and what I have heard of. I have included themes that are universal such as choosing to follow your head or your heart, in North of the Azores.
North of the Azores was my first novel to be published. https://tinyurl.com/4dye89ma
It is alternate history and opens in the year 1780. The Devil’s Isles, a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, have recently been conquered by Britain after a brief war. The inhabitants of the Devil’s Isles practice magic and both human and animal sacrifice. Nebula, a young princess from the islands, struggles with this and is beginning to question what she has been taught.
Aware of a plot to kill everyone on the islands, Nebula defects to the British side where she takes on a new identity and a new life. Under the name Adeliza, she works in England as a maid for a Dr. Moon. Only two men know her real identity; the kind-hearted doctor and the seemingly terrifying Mr. Lastman.
The series continues with Life on Another Island and concludes with The Heiress to the Fairy Tales. I also wrote a spin-off called Transtime.
About Her Books
Tell us about your other books.
My latest work to be published is The Woldsheart Chronicles. The series opens with The Deadly Favour and the sequel is Another Green and Pleasant Land. https://tinyurl.com/5n8mnx4y
This is an alternate history series set both in our world and in a quasi-mediaeval world which exists in parallel to ours.
In The Deadly Favour, the House of Lothwold has been at war with the House of Malwarden for years. A truce is called and hostages from both houses must be exchanged in order to ensure it is kept.
Fun-loving, flirtatious Hawise of Lothwold is keen to avoid the nunnery and volunteers to go to Castle Malwarden as a hostage, hoping to make a second marriage afterwards. Meanwhile, her friend Bessy yearns to go to a local convent to be with her lover.
Both women soon get what they want – but not what they had imagined.
Another Green and Pleasant Land opens in our world. Twenty-nine-year-old Kate is dissatisfied with her life. Her half-sisters vanished many years ago in mysterious circumstances, and her best friend spoke of a supernatural world before disappearing, never to be heard from again.
Left behind in our world, Kate experiences puzzling glimpses of this other world in her dreams, while trying to find love and build a career as a solicitor. However, fate takes her away from the ex-boyfriend she pines for to a job at an archaeological dig, where she encounters more mysterious happenings and tight-lipped colleagues.
But what are her new co-workers hiding, and might Kate’s dreams come true in the world of the Westlands and the Woldsheart?
I have plans for more books in this series. I just need the time to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard!
Is there an author, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?
I would love to meet Anne Brontë because I enjoyed her novels, and I feel she is overlooked in favour of her sisters, but she would have a lot of interesting things to say if given the chance. Agnes Grey was based on her experiences as a governess, and it reveals a sensitive and intelligent observer.
If you could not write, how would you express what you wish to convey through any stories?
I cannot sing, play an instrument or act, so I cannot think of another way I could express myself. I have been making up stories to deal with my feelings and experiences, both happy and sad, since early childhood. If I could not write, I believe my mental health would suffer hugely because it is my main means of expressing myself and entertaining myself. Writing is my pleasure and my therapy.
When you see new authors struggling, what single piece of advice could you give them on a moment’s notice?
Do not give up either your dreams or your day job. Your dreams are what drive your forward. Your day job enables you to live in the meantime.
How do you want others to see you or remember you? Is it important to you?
As a writer, I want to be remembered as having made a positive impact on my readers, however brief. I want them to remember what I have written for the right reasons.
As a person, I want to be remembered as a person who had a positive impact on others. Someone who gave more than they took.
Many people say they don’t care what anyone else thinks of them, but I don’t think this is often true. Personally, I care about what people I respect think of me.
Do you have a blog or website viewers can visit for updates, events and special offers? Include links to any and all of your sites.
My website and blog can be found at ruthdanes.com and I am also active on Twitter as @DanesRuth
I regularly post on Twitter, but not so much on my blog. I prefer to spend my free time plotting novels, writing and editing!