Interview with YA author L.T. Getty

Young adult author L.T. Getty chats with me about her new YA fantasy adventure, A Fable of Wood and String.

During her virtual book tour, L.T. will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
L.T. Getty is a paramedic living in southern Manitoba, Canada. She has been published several times under Champagne Books but started publishing books for younger readers through Black Unicorn Books.

Welcome, L.T. Please tell us about your current release.
A Fable of Wood and String is the first book of a high fantasy duology. The adventure centers around the O’Connell siblings, teenage children of former specialty game hunters – magical creatures are alluded to, notably a unicorn, wyverns but the story doesn’t delve into the specifics other than their team used to handle game other folk couldn’t.

Their father Elias leaves to go with the other men and drive out the wyvern, leaving the siblings to help the villagers in case the wyvern returns. Lily and Seth aren’t happy about the obligation of protecting the village as opposed to hunting the wyvern, and butt heads with their mother.

A stranger arrives and Tiffany, the youngest, is transformed into a living marionette along with several other teenagers, and Seth and Lily track the woman responsible to bring Tiffany and their other villagers back.

Aided by kitsunes, or celestial foxes, they travel across the sea to a seemingly abandoned castle where Tiffany and others are placed into a false world.

The book stands on its own but it’s implied that the story is far from over; I hate books that end in cliffhangers so there’s none of that. It’s a story about obedience vs duty, about being on the cusp of adulthood, and in my opinion, explores the four loves as described by CS Lewis: Storge (family), Philos (brotherhood/friendship), Eros (romantic, but it’s a YA novel and I don’t do spice) and Agape (Charity)

I’m finishing the second book but it’s got to percolate for a while.

What inspired you to write this book?
My oldest niece became an avid reader. I buy all my nieces and nephews books, be it graphic novels or non-fiction so it really wasn’t a surprise when she started to enjoy reading series.

My inspiration for this specific title was to tell a story for my niece that she could look back on and it mean something for her then as well as being a story for her now. The story is about a brother and sister going to save their sister from a cursed fate. It explores family roles and how they change as you transition from being the protected to the protector, of duty vs obedience, as well as exploring themes of friendship, hope and despair.

As for, “Why foxes?” quite simply they’re very fun creatures and my sister would tell me all about the ones that came into her yard to play. I see them occasionally near where I live but no where near as regularly, but then my parents moved to a more remote location from the big city and would tell me about the daily goings on of the local foxes.

Excerpt from A Fable of Wood and String:
“Got any more kitsunes or other surprises?” Caleb asked, squatting down without spilling his buckets. “I’d like to hear the story you were trying to tell me in the castle a little later. Right now it seems like you need help. I’ll take my sword back.”

Lily unbelted it, but Boscoe out of nowhere nabbed it from Lily, ran towards the lake, and pitched it in. Then he sat down, never breaking the squire’s gaze, and scratched behind his ears.

“Why did you do that?” Caleb demanded. “That was my father’s!” He tried to take his boots off, the lacing slowed him down.

“You’re cold, let me do it,” Lily said, sliding off her overdress. She shot Boscoe a sour look, who simply beamed at her. Caleb on the other hand turned around and shielded his eyes.

“Could you not?” he asked.

“I know you can see me, stop pretending like you can’t or I’m indecent.” Her chemise and trousers were dark, chosen for adventuring thank you very much; she’d learned what to wear to repel after a wayward ewe long ago. She hung her overdress on a low branch and waded into the cold water.

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to get these on?” Caleb asked the kitsune, who went, Yip yip! “Fine. To your left,” he offered. Part of her spitefully wanted to disobey him, but figured his father’s sword was important. “How’s the water?”

“Refreshing,” she called back, but paused when she got to about her navel. She didn’t think it was that deep. “Tell me this lake doesn’t have an overabundance of leeches.”

“I’ll help you pick them off,” Caleb offered.

“You’re very kind,” she told him. The water was murky and dark, she couldn’t see his sword so she felt around with her feet and finding it, resigned herself to the dive. Thankfully, she got the sword on her first attempt, and she brought it backup tip first.

Caleb had waded out anyway, but really had only gotten to his knees. He also looked at her with wide eyes, kind of like an idiot for a half-second. “What?” she asked, wading towards him, offering him the sword. “Go on, take it—make sure I didn’t find someone else’s sword.”

Caleb hesitated, but upon grasping the handle unsheathed it, then cast a glare back at the kitsune, who put a paw to his nose and stuck out his tongue. “You’re not a kitsune or a mermaid, are you?” he asked eventually.

Lily couldn’t stifle a guffaw. “You see a tail or scales?” she asked, brushing her hair behind her ears.

“Sounds like something a lake monster would say,” he said with just a hint of teasing.

She flicked water at him, but the way the way the water and sunlight reflected off the blade, she noticed engraving. “It’s got an inscription?”

He held it so she could read it. “Old language. Means ‘Do not unsheathe me without reason, do not wield me without valour.’ Hey, you got a little leech, right—” Caleb gestured to his own neck.

“Waaah!” Lily panicked and fell backwards, and upon getting up, seeing him chuckling and realizing it was a ruse, reached for the sword. “Give me that! Boscoe didn’t get it in far enough.” He had longer strides so she had to settle for splashing him.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m finishing up the sequel. It’s gonna sit on the back-burner and I’ll go back and edit it after a few months; I started it and it’s taking longer than normal because I edited Fable and two other books from Champagne at the same time. After this, my nephew has demanded a book so it’s going to be a humorous fantasy romp.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I wrote my first book when I was 14 between grade 8 and grade 9 finishing during the summer. I have been writing stories and had ideas when I was younger, so I can’t really answer that properly as I’m honestly not even sure.

I’ve been drawing since I can remember but I didn’t get ‘good’ at drawing until I was probably about twelve or thirteen, I don’t really concern myself with titles like artist or writer I create because I need an outlet. Or I draw all over the white board at work or make other silly little projects.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I am a paramedic. We have down time as well as can be pretty busy, I don’t tend to write as much at work as I used to I seem to be cursed and never see the station if I so much as think about opening up my laptop to answer emails.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Sometimes I’m just as surprised as the foreshadowing from an early scene. You’d be surprised how many times I’m like, “Ohhh, that’s whyyyyy.” Then I’m like bruh you’re the writer.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I thought our space program was more developed and I could be an astronaut. I always wanted to write books but I wanted an adventurous job – being a first responder filled that.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
If anyone’s wondering if they need to read The Mermaid the the Unicorns first, it’s not essential reading. Seth and Lily have no idea what transpired to bring the wyvern to their door. My niece wanted the characters from The Mermaid and the Unicorns to have little cameo appearances in the background, I decided to reuse the characters Larry and Catarina because Larry’s grumpy self is a hoot.

So if you want to know what happened, go for it but I aimed the story at a younger audience.

Can an advanced younger reader read up?

YES.

I don’t do spice but I do warn the audience in the very beginning that the story touches on themes of mental abuse and suicide. There’s ways to show an idea without being overt; the reference to an attempt at suicide is there because the story is about hope and despair, and triumphing over the bad.

Links:
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