Today’s the day! Seth Haddon’s debut novel is finally out! Yes, it’s the fantasy gay romance which starts out with a scene extremely (and on purpose) reminiscent of a marriage ceremony. So a book of our dreams, I dare say.
So get to know Seth a little bit better, before you order yourself a copy of Reforged!
And don’t forget that you can follow Seth on twitter too!
Have you always known you wanted to be a writer? How old were you when you wrote your first story?
I’ve always wanted this. I used to tell my mother stories before bed every night as a small child. She would give me three things to frame the story around (character, item, place) and I would come up with something. The first story I wrote down was something to do with three cats and the sun. I believe they were sun agents. I’m not too sure, since I was maybe five. I wrote my first novella at eight. I’d just seen theatre production of The Lion King. So naturally I wrote a complete rip-off novella fanfiction, except they were tigers. Can you tell I like cats?
When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, what do you see? An actual apple, a sketch of one, a blackness? Do you think that impacts your writing process?
I can see the apple, but it’s murky. It’s more like I remember what an apple is supposed to look like. But it’s a similar feeling to when I’m reading. Even if I’ve never seen some Paladin shoot magic out of his gauntlets, I have this sense of what it should look like, and that’s what I write. Putting it like this, it sounds like I’m just writing down some unhinged hallucinations. Maybe that is a bit of what I do. I can ‘see’ my characters a lot of the time. I used to spend a lot of school hours in a very fleshed out imaginary scenario, so it’s a well-trained muscle.
Which three authors would you say influenced your writing the most?
C.S. Pacat was the first author I read as an adult where I felt like the writing dream was attainable. I’d read a lot of younger authors when I was convinced I would be published by sixteen (Alexandra Adornetto, Nancy Yi Fan). But I met C.S. Pacat in person and told them I wanted to be a writer. They told me to just do it, and that it was completely possible to make a living from writing. I ended up doing their Fantasy Intensive course a year later, and learnt a lot about the actual craft of writing.
I’d have to say Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) has really influenced me. Reforged is heavily inspired by danmei. I think a lot of Western BL novels have a restrained feeling about them, even in the fantasy genre. I’m not referring to the romance here, but the actual content. I used to try to write very serious narratives, and MXTX stories are so much fun I learned to let go in my writing.
David Gaider. This is my game development background coming through, but there’s no doubt that Dragon Age influenced so much of my life, not just my writing style. Thedas was David’s world, and I truly fell in love with the characters he wrote (namely Zevran and Fenris). I really lived vicariously through Hawke, so romancing Fenris and experiencing a queer romance as a teenager really shaped me. I knew I wanted to write those things.
What projects are you currently working on? Can you share any details yet?
I’m currently working on the second novel, which takes place in the same world as Reforged. I get to explore a different culture to Usleth’s, the country focused on in book one. And I’ve got a wonderful cast of characters already, which I’m really excited about!
Three images that capture the aesthetic of your book?
Three songs you would put in your book’s soundtrack?
“Kiss” by The Romanovs—#1 in my Reforged playlist (which I initially titled ‘Arcane Knight Project.’)
“King” by The Amazing Devil
“NFWMB” by Hozier
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
OBVIOUSLY ODRICA DZIOVE. She was based on Striga from Castlevania, the giant greatsword-wielding lesbian vampire. Odrica would easily take out the horde. I feel like she could get bitten and not turn just because of her sheer willpower.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Seth Haddon is a queer Australian writer of fantasy. He is a video game designer and producer, has a degree in Ancient History, and previously worked with cats. He lives in Sydney with his partner and their two furry children. Some of his previous adventures include exploring Pompeii with a famous archaeologist and being chased through a train station by a nun.
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