Please give a warm welcome to author Alice Ivinya

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I live in wet and soggy Bristol, UK, with my husband, toddler and dog (oh and an immortal goldfish).

I have loved fantasy all my life. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Holly Black, Amy Harmon and Robert Jordan.

When I’m not off gallivanting in other worlds, you can normally find me climbing trees with my young son, working as a small animal vet for a charity that treats the pets of people who struggle to make ends meet, hanging out with my church family, or walking the best dog in the world. (And as a vet I feel qualified to say that!)

Have you always wanted to become an author?

I have written stories for as long as I can remember. My first book series was about a group of kids who ran away from home and became rulers of all the sharks in the sea. Worryingly they all got married at the age of 12-14 but that was old to my 8 year old self! 

I wrote my first full length novel at 11. It was about a magician’s apprentice who was bad at magic. 

Throughout my teenage years I wrote epic fantasy after epic fantasy that my poor parents had to read, even when they went over 200,000 words! As a child I was badly dyslexic and struggled with sentence structure and spelling to the extent that many of my early stories were illegible until I typed them up. It took me much longer than all the other children in my class to both write and type, but I just loved to write and have never been able to stop telling stories. Slowly, wth the support of my parents and teachers, I developed techniques to get around my dyslexia and now it never holds me back.

I now have ten published full length books and seven short stories.

What was your inspiration for your current book/series?

My current series starts with Feathers of Snow and is inspired by the German fairytale, The Goose Girl. I always loved how the original tale coupled gentleness and beauty with brutality and ruthlessness. To me, it is a very powerful tale of the power of goodness and perseverance. Though my tale flips the characters on their heads!

What are you working on now?

I am currently putting the final touches on Feathers of Blood which is the sequel to Feathers of Snow. This book has a lot more action and angst and has been great fun to write!

Do you have any quirks while working?

I often feel the need to pull the expressions my characters are making as I write them to try to work out how to describe them. I must look very strange, so it’s probably a good thing I don’t write in public!

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope to keep on doing what I love, which is being a mummy, writing and saving animals as a vet! It would be my dream to be able to earn a little more through my writing so I can devote whole days to it once my son is old enough to go to school.

Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?

My advice to authors who want to write fantasy is to read loads in your subgenre and keep writing. Never give up! Get as many fantasy lovers to read it as you can before you try to publish. Also start simple and master basic concepts in shorter books before your epic 12 book masterpiece!

Do you have anything to say to your followers?

I love you all so much! Every time I gain a follower or reader, I do a little happy dance. I couldn’t do it without you!