Ruby Red and Ailish Sinclair, authour of The Mermaid and The Bear.
Hello readers and welcome to a post that I loved creating so much! Collaborating with other bloggers is a lot of fun, and I have managed to find another amazing blogger by the name of Ailish Sinclair to do an interview with, although this time from the other side of the story. Not the readers, but the writers. Ailish has recently written a book called The Mermaid and The Bear, a story about a girl named Isobel in the times of the Scottish witch hunting. We hope you enjoy the interview and make sure to stick around to the end for a link to purchase the book! Happy reading!
1- What was your inspiration to write your book, The Mermaid and The Bear?
I was inspired by events that occurred in 1597 in Aberdeen when many people were accused, tried, and executed as witches.
2- On a scale of one to ten, how hard do you think writing it was? (1 is not hard at all)
This was a book that flowed out of me in its first draft. I got up early each day and over a thousand words poured onto the page. However, I had been researching the history for over a year and the story had been forming in my mind all that time, so it was pretty much written in my head! So, effort on the day: 1/10 but overall work probably 10/10!
3- What do you wish you knew before you started writing your first book?
To just let go and not worry about whether it’s good, what others will think, or publication, just to enjoy the actual writing of it. Your first book will not be very good in the early stages; you have to love it enough to not let that bother you.
4- Do you have any plans to write a second book?
Oh yes, many terrible things have happened in my area of Scotland and are deserving of being made into novels!
5- Do you think that you took language styles from any certain book or movie into your book?
No, I took the language from the world around me. The local dialect is called Doric and it is spoken in the book, along with plain English of course.
6- Finally, what is your favourite book, and why?
Precious Bane by Mary Webb. It’s a beautifully written story about a young woman with a harelip, set at a time when such things were not corrected. And the romantic hero of the piece has such a wonderful name: Kester Woodseaves!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you would like to be part of an interview or write a guest post please contact me and we will get right to it!
Love,
Ruby ♡
To buy a copy of The Mermaid and The Bear visit ://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07XH2FV98/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1567750532 or take a look at her blog at https://ailishsinclair.com
“Set in a fictional castle in Aberdeenshire, Ailish Sinclair’s debut novel, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR, blends an often overlooked period of history, the Scottish witchcraft accusations, in particular the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, with a love story.”
Bookly 