Interview with J. Scott Savage

Today I'm happy to share my interview with J. Scott Savage, author of Far World: Water Keep. His blog is Find Your Magic. If you'd like to enter a contest to win an ARC of the book, read the details at the close of this post.

Tell us a little about yourself and your road to publication.

I guess my road to publication is not exactly the norm. I didn’t grow up knowing I wanted to be a writer. I always loved making up and telling stories, but it never even occurred to me that someone might pay me for them. I wrote my first book, Cutting Edge, about seven years ago as a way to relieve the stress of being a dot com CEO during the ups and downs of the NASDAQ collapse. The first publisher I sent it to accepted it and things just kind of went from there.

What inspired you to write Far World: Water Keep?

Actually, I didn’t choose to write Farworld. It chose me. I started writing this book at 2:00 AM one morning to exorcize a story that wouldn’t leave my head. I knew for a fact that I could not write fantasy, and yet I kept seeing these characters and hearing their dialog. I figured if I rolled out of bed and proved to myself that I couldn’t write it, the story would go away. That has actually worked for other projects in the past. But this time I found myself still writing five hours and five thousand words later. So I went with it. And I’ve actually enjoyed writing this more than anything I’ve ever written.

How long did it take to write and see through to the finished product? Were there any surprises along the way?

The first draft took less than three months. Editing progressed over the course of about a year. The biggest surprise was just how much I enjoyed writing fantasy. I’d always loved reading it. But writing it was just a blast.

Do you have a favorite character, a favorite scene, a favorite quote?

I really like the scene where Master Therapass explains to Kyja the importance of “real” magic. The magic that is inside everyone. I also likes when MT fights the wizards of The Dark Circle. As far as a character, I really got a kick out of writing Riph Raph. But I love them all.

What do you love about writing? What do you find the easiest? What do you find the hardest?

When the writing is going good, it’s a total high. It’s just such a kick to put down on paper the images in your head. The hardest part is when you can’t seem to capture the images the way you see them.

How do you find time—do you find time—to keep reading? Do you have any favorites of the year?
Oh definitely. I read every day. I can’t go to sleep without reading at least a little. I’ve been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman this year.

If you had twenty-four hours, a time machine, and a limitless supply of money, what would you want to do?
Well I always find it funny that people say they’d go meet a famous figure. What makes you think Plato would give you the time of day? Personally, I’d jump around to as many key events in history as I could and see if they really happened the way people said. I’d like to find out if there really was an Atlantis too. Or a city of gold.


If you'd like to win an ARC of Far World: Water Keep, then leave a comment on this post. Open only to residents of the U.S. or Canada. Please leave an email address. It's important that I be able to contact you if you should win in order to get your snail mail address. The winner will be selected randomly. (random.org) and announced on August 26th.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews