Could you share a
little about yourself and what led you to become a writer?
I was born
in Southern California but raised mostly in Kenya, where my parents were
missionaries. As an adult, I spent a
year teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Indonesia after college. Shortly after returning to the States, I
married my husband Floyd, and the two of us lived in the States for several
years. Eventually all the details worked
out for us to move overseas, and now we live in Taiwan. It’s not where I thought I’d end up, but I
love it here!
As far as
writing goes, I’ve always loved books.
When I was seven years old, I had a sudden inspiration for a story and
decided then and there that I was going to write a book and be the world's
youngest author! I ran to my room in
great excitement, found an old notebook and a pencil, and started in. Well, that first novel was never actually
finished, let alone published, but it got me started. After that I can't remember a time that I
wasn't working on at least one book, with lots of poetry and short stories on
the side as well. Now wouldn't it be interesting to read that first story. I hope you still have it squirreled away somewhere.
Do you write full
time? How much of your life is set aside for writing?
I’m actually
a full time teacher. While I love my day
job, unfortunately it doesn’t leave me with nearly as much time for writing as
I’d like. I mostly write on the weekends
and on summer vacation, plus sometimes in the evenings if I don’t feel too
brain-dead after a long day of teaching. I have yet to come across a writer who doesn't have writing/time constraints.
Could you tell us a
little about your novel?
In The Collar and the Cavvarach, Bensin, a
teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed.
But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will
allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing
in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how
can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse? As a martial artist, and MA instructor, I am so curious to see how you describe the tournament scenes :o)
Would you take us on
a brief tour of your novel and the world you’ve created?
The story takes place in a world almost
exactly like our own. Although most
aspects of the culture are just about what they are currently on Earth, a few
sports are different, such as the martial art known as cavvara shil (more about
that later). The main difference,
however, is that slavery is legal there.
The Krillonian Empire rules much of the
world. An emperor, who is never named,
governs from the capital city, Krillonia, on the continent known as
Imperia. Eight separate provinces
(independent nations before they were conquered) can be found on nearby
continents. Each province, plus Imperia,
is allowed to elect its own legislature and decide on many of its own laws, but
the emperor reserves the right to veto any of them and make changes as he sees
fit. This seldom happens, however, and
to most people the emperor is merely a vague and distant ceremonial figure.
Jarreon, where this story is set, is the
second-largest city on the continent of Imperia. It’s located on the coast and has a warm
climate most of the year, though winter nights are cool enough that you would
want at least a light jacket.
The prevalence of slavery is probably what
would stand out the most to visitors from Earth. There are nearly as many slaves in Jarreon as
free people, and they are easily identified by their steel collars. From each collar hangs a tag inscribed with
the slave’s name, their owner’s name, and a tiny copy of their owner’s
signature. On the back of the tag is
their owner’s phone number and a bar code that can be scanned to access
additional information.
Many families own one or more slaves who do
their housework and yardwork. Businesses
often own a large number of slaves, usually for manual labor, though some are
trained for more complex tasks. “Green
slaves,” or those who were born free and enslaved later in life for one reason
or another, are in high demand. Often
they have college degrees and the white-collar work experience so hard to find
in the enslaved population.
People or businesses who don’t own their
own slaves may “hire in” one belonging to someone else. The accepted rate for an hourly wage is
two-thirds the amount that a free person would earn for equivalent labor (the
money goes to the slave’s owner, of course).
How awesome is it that as an author you have created all this??? Seriously! It's not just a new character or original story line...but a whole new world -right down to the political situation and social rules. I love it.
Tell
us about the martial arts in the setting of your story.
A number of martial arts are popular there. One kind is called kickfighting, which is
similar to our kickboxing. Another is
cavvara dueling, in which fighters strike at each other with a sword-like
weapon called a cavvarach. The cavvarach
has a hook about halfway along the top edge of the blade, and you win a duel by
disarming your opponent: hooking or knocking the cavvarach out of his or her
hand. Contestants wear poncho-like
padding that protects their torso and groin.
Cavvara shil is the most widely respected
martial art in the Krillonian Empire. It
is difficult to master, since it is a combination of kickfighting and cavvara
dueling, with a little wrestling thrown in.
You can win a duel either by disarming your opponent or by pinning his
or her shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
In addition to the protective padding, you wear a narrow shield-like
guard on one forearm, with which you can block an opponent’s blows or kicks. Bensin, the main character, is particularly
skilled at cavvara shil. He and his
owner/coach, Steene, each have their own reasons for hoping he will qualify for
and eventually win the Grand Imperial Cavvara Shil Tourney.
Cavvarachs used by most martial artists are
unsharpened and not very dangerous, though minor injuries can and do
occur. Only professional gladiators, who
live and compete in Jarreon’s four huge arenas, use sharpened weapons and fight
without the protective padding. While
not usually intended to be to the death, these duels can nevertheless end in
serious injury, and all gladiators do die on the job eventually. (Barely mentioned in The Collar and the Cavvarach, gladiators and the whole arena system
play an important role in my not yet published book II: The Gladiator and the Guard.) Can't wait to read all about your martial art. I hold black belts in Kyokushin karate, Yoseikan karate and Tae Kwon Do. I am also a Tai CHi instructor....so I love everything martial arts!
What is the
message behind the story? Was it something you specifically wrote a story
around or did it develop as your characters came to life?
I hope this story will make
readers think about the value of human life and perhaps take a second look at
some of the practices we accept or choose to turn a blind eye to in our own
culture. Legalized slavery sounds so impossibly wrong that it’s easy to think
we could never let it happen in this day and age, but how many other wrongs do
we overlook just because it isn’t convenient to do anything about them? You Go Girl! How true...how sad.
I didn’t plan to focus on
this message ahead of time, but I think it developed naturally out of the setting
and the situation my enslaved characters have to deal with.
Do you work
from an outline or just go with the flow? If you use an outline, how detailed
is it?
I always use an outline. It starts off
as a brief summary of the whole book (a page or two long), then at some point I
usually divide it up chapter by chapter, with a few sentences about what will
happen in each. The details change as I go along, and I often end up
with more chapters than I originally planned, but I really need that structure
to get me started and keep me focused as I write. I prefer chasing my characters around as the story unfolds before me, but for my current WIP I will have to outline if I want to finish...and so NOW I regret not having done so in the beginning.
What is the
time span in your novel, weeks, months, years? How much research went into it?
The story takes place over
a period of about three months.
I had to do quite a bit of
research for this story, especially when it came to the martial art I invented,
cavvara shil. This was one of the most challenging aspects of
writing this book for me. I am not a martial artist myself, so it
was all the more difficult to make sure cavvara shil (and the necessary
training and practice for it, as well as rules of the tournaments) was feasible
and would make sense to readers who practice “real” martial arts. I
spent hours researching online and in books, as well as talking to athletes I
know, and I’ve been told that the end result in the book is believable and
realistic. Whew!
On a less complicated note,
I also learned a lot about cars. One of the main characters drives
an old pickup truck, and I needed it to have some kind of mechanical trouble at
one point. I found out all about what is involved when a transmission
needs to be replaced! LOL, better than having gone through it in this case.
Could you tell us how
you go about your research, how you ‘catalogue’ information to make it all
work?
When I come
to a part of the story where I have to write about something I don’t know, I
just stop writing for a while and research the issue. I type notes by each chapter (Scrivener makes
that easy), then when I’ve found out what I need to, I fit the facts into a
coherent scene or into bits of information to be used in various scenes.
How does this book
differ from what you have written in the past?
It’s
quite different. My first series, the Annals of Alasia, is action and
adventure/fantasy. True, The Collar and the Cavvarach involves
action and adventure too, and they both take place in different worlds, but the
similarities end there. The Collar and the Cavvarach is darker,
grittier, and intended for slightly older readers (I wouldn’t recommend it for
kids below middle school). Most elements
of the story could be considered realistic fiction.
How have the changes
in present day publishing impacted your schedule as a writer?
They
haven’t. My day job is the main thing
that impacts my schedule as a writer!
How do you handle
marketing? Do you have a plan, a publicist or just take one day at a time?
I’m learning
as I go along. When I released my first
book, my marketing was almost entirely word of mouth. Now I’m a part of several very helpful online
writers’ groups, and I know so much more about how marketing works than I did
at the beginning. Unfortunately, between
my writing and teaching, I still don’t have a lot of time to invest in
marketing. But I’ve put together blog
tours and giveaways and learned to harness the power of social media. I’ve also searched out a lot of sites that
will advertise for authors, some for free and some for a fee. Most importantly, I’ve learned how important
it is to work with other writers: tweeting for each other, sharing each other’s
books on our own Facebook pages, and so on. Most successful writers set aside up to 20 hours a week for marketing, which puts a serious dent in writing and life, so it is important to be part of a great network.
Do you have any
advice for aspiring authors?
Don’t try to
write a scene perfectly the first time or get frustrated if it doesn’t turn out
the way you hoped. Just get your ideas
on paper in whatever rough form you need to; never mind selecting just the
right words or fixing any mistakes.
Leave the scene alone for a few days, and when you come back to it, read
through it and smooth out the obvious errors.
Read through it again later and work on polishing it up a little more,
and then a little more the next time, and so on. If possible, read it aloud to someone; that
will help you hear errors or issues you may not notice otherwise. I’ve found that it usually takes lots of
passes before I’m satisfied with something I’ve written. Trying to make it
perfect the first time is stressful and next to impossible, at least for me. I use my Kindle (keyboard or Fire) and have it read aloud to me. Perfect for when I am cooking or driving...it allows me to multitask and edit. (And the Fire can read with a US, British or Aussie accent lol)
Could you tell us
what you’re working on now?
I’m
working on the sequel, The Gladiator and
the Guard, which I hope to have ready for publication in the next year or
so. In addition, I’m trying to finish up
the next book in the Annals of Alasia: King
of Malorn. If all goes well, it
should be done before the end of the summer.
About the Story:
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
What is the Collar for, and What is a Cavvarach?
The story is set in a world very much like our own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Any slave attempting to escape faces the dilemma of how and where to illegally get their collar removed (a crime punishable by enslavement for the remover).
Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil. It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with "have a rack"), an unsharpened weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
Want to Find out a Little More?
Click here to read a description of the setting and what life is like for slaves and others in that world.
Excerpt:
“Less than Legal”
Bensin took a deep breath.
“I’m the one who called awhile ago to ask for directions, sir. Bruno sent me to
ask for work.”
“Did he?” Wenn picked up a
Styrofoam cup from the ground nearby and rose to his feet. He worked a wad of betel
nut out from one cheek and spat it into the cup. “Well, do you know anything
about engines?”
“Um — not really, sir.” Was
it a legitimate question? Did the man expect him to actually do a job for him?
Or was he just being careful about what he said in front of his coworker?
“Well, you can wash this
other car for us.” Wenn indicated one of the two they weren’t working on. “Its
owner is coming back for it pretty soon. Supplies are in that cupboard;
faucet’s out front to your left. Make sure you dry it and give it a good wax
when you’re done.” He set the cup down again and disappeared back under the
car.
Maybe he’s
waiting to talk to me when the other guy leaves. Bensin found the supplies where indicated and started in. He hoped
this wouldn’t take too long; considering the length of the bus ride, he ought
to be starting back pretty soon.
Eventually both men finished
their tasks. Wenn propped open the hood of the other car and began to fiddle
around under it, and the second man hung his tools up on the wall and
disappeared through a doorway.
This is my
chance. Bensin set down the sponge he had been using and
approached Wenn again. “Sir,” he began, raising his voice above the blasting
music, “the reason I actually came —”
“Shut up!” The man glared at
him. Then he beckoned and pointed to something under the hood.
Uncertainly, Bensin stepped
closer and bent to see what Wenn was pointing at. He didn’t know much about car
parts, but he saw nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.
Wenn seized him by the collar
and tugged his head in there above the engine, leaning in himself until their
faces were only inches apart.
“We can’t talk here!” His
voice was almost inaudible under the music. Bensin, clutching the edge of the
engine compartment, stared at him in the gasoline-fumed shadows. “Didn’t you
see the cameras?” the man demanded.
“Cameras, sir?”
“The video cameras installed
up in the corners by the ceiling. No, don’t look now! They don’t pick up audio,
but someone could read our lips.” At Bensin’s blank expression, he went on. “We
have to have a special license because we keep tools like bolt cutters here
that could be used for — you know — less than legal purposes.” He gave the
collar a meaningful twitch. “So the government keeps an eye on us through the
cameras, or at least they could be watching at any given moment. They ever
suspect I use my tools to cut something I’m not supposed to and they take over
the business just like that; and everyone who works here ends up on the auction
block.” He released the collar. “So shut up. Be patient.”
Bensin nodded. Rubbing the
back of his neck where the steel had dug in, he straightened up and went back
to work on the waxing.
Wenn’s partner came in and
out a few times, puttering around, and a third man appeared and joined Wenn working
under the hood. Bensin wondered how long it would be until they left and where
Wenn was planning to bring him to talk to him. He wished he could see a clock;
it must be past time for him to head back. What am I supposed to tell Coach
Steene if I’m late?
About the Author:
Annie Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and novels since her childhood, and to date has published ten books (one YA action and adventure novel, four fantasies, a puppet script, and four anthologies of her students’ poetry). Besides writing, her hobbies include reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrapbooking, and international travel.
Connect with the Author Online:
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
