You feel a great sense of pride whenever one of your critique partners does something awesome. Which is why I’m stoked to be kicking off the blog tour for E. Latimer’s new book, Frost, which is being released tomorrow by Patchwork Press. I had a chance to interview Erin about the book.
Q: So Frost got its start on Wattpad. How did that influence your writing process?
A: My writing process is something that’s always shifting and changing as I try new things. My process for Frost was, well…if I had to choose one word, it was long. I mean really bloody long. The book on Wattpad was nearly 200k words, and I sort of wrote each chapter with a “Well, let’s try going to this place and doing this thing next” type of attitude, to see how the readers responded. It was ridiculously fun, but I hated myself later on when I started editing it.
Q: Let’s talk about the Norse mythology that inspired the story. What did you enjoy about the mythology and what was challenging about using it?
A: I laugh when people ask me this question, because I really didn’t stick to any of the specific myths. I just sort of grabbed what I wanted and used different parts. Names, places, species. Nothing was safe. My jotun are very different than the traditional frost giants of Norse mythology, who were kind of a bunch of jerks, to be honest. It’s interesting to see what I get yelled at for. Loki is one. I’ve made him a fire giant, and people are pretty sure he’s a frost giant and I’ve got that one all wrong. Thanks for that one, Marvel.
Q: Did you have a favorite character to write? (I know I had a favorite character to read. Can you guess who? ;) )
A: Is it a certain mischievous fire jotun? I actually very much enjoyed writing about Leif and his “wolf pack” as they’re referred to. I really enjoy making the villains as repulsive as possible, so he was a fun one to write about.
Q: What was your revision process like? Did having the story posted on Wattpad affect the way you revised?
A: Um, yes. Most definitely. Mainly because the story was a complete mess. An absolute train wreck. Like I said, I just sort of wrote whatever popped up in my brain and it was four years ago, so my writing was quite different (that’s a nice way of saying indescribably BAD) so I ended up rewriting massive chunks of it. Revisions were a bit crazy.
Q: Would you encourage other writers to use Wattpad?
A: Absolutely. Frost wouldn’t exist without Wattpad. The readers are what kept me writing it, and they’re what motivated me to get through the painful slog of edits. The people on Wattpad are amazing, wonderful people.
Q: The cover is gorgeous. What was the design process like?
A: I really wasn’t very eloquent about what I wanted (I think I said ‘make it shiny’ and that was mainly it) and Jessica Allain just did the most unbelievable job on it.
Q: So what’s next for your writing career? What projects are you working on, and what can readers expect to see in the future?
A: At the moment, I’m doing more revisions on a different manuscript (that’s all I do now, revisions) and after that, I’ll be working on Frost 2 (which will have an amazingly clever name at some point, but it isn’t now).
Giveaway time!
Interested in winning an copy of Frost and other awesome swag? Follow the link below to a Rafflecopter giveaway.
Giveaway for E. Latimer’s Frost
You can also keep up with Erin on her website or on Twitter at @ELatimerWrites.
