I really wanted to do an interview with C.E. Murphy About Practical Boots! Graciously, she sat down for an interview with me at the end of June but because of, you know…LIFE…it took this long to bring it to you. (FYI, links are affiliate links which means if you purchase off of this page, Amazon gives me a few pennies.)
Where to Begin The Story?
I really enjoyed Practical Boots! As a writer, one of the things that is hardest to do is figure out where to begin the story. You started with Cat in the Waste, taking no time to explain what it was, just weaving in the backstory into the plot so the reader had to figure it out. It worked well, but this is something that can go so terribly wrong. Did you struggle with this at all? Knowing when to start to the story? Or, was that obvious to you? Did you worry people wouldn’t understand what the Waste was by starting here?
“Practical Boots” was one of those “the beginning of the story just jumped wholesale into my head so I wrote it down” sorts of things, which I love. (My Negotiator Trilogy started the same way, in fact.) I looked at it a couple of times to decide whether I should be explaining more, but I have to say, I almost never worry about the reader having a hard time figuring it out. I trust you all! 🙂
Will there be a short story that tells Cat’s story before being dumped in the Waste? Or how she built a life in the World? Those elements seem ripe for short stories, maybe freebie for a newsletter sign up or perhaps a collection?
MAAAAAAYYYYYYBE (actually those are good ideas *takes a note*)
I don’t actually know, obviously. 🙂 I more or less know the second part of the story and vaguely expect there to be a third part, but I don’t yet know what light those (novellas, probably) will shed on those particular elements!
Artificer, Maker, Seven League Boots
I love her talent as an Artificer. It’s a great power to have. What inspired you to give her that ability and what inspired the Seven League boots?
Well, as you may have read, the cover art for this story was pre-made, which means I bought it as-is, and I loved the title that was part of the pre-made cover art: PRACTICAL BOOTS. The titles cover artists (in this case, the amazing Skyla at Indigo Chick Designs!) put on pre-made cover art are MEANT to give the viewer an idea of what title placement and fonts might look like, but I just loved the actual title she used.
So I started the story knowing that it had to have SOMETHING to do with practical boots, and then Cat was coming from a fairyland, so I thought: the practical boots are obviously 7 league boots, right out of fairy tales!
As for the Artificer power, I think it came organically from the above details. I wanted her to have a skill that wasn’t common to the Torn, and the idea that items of power, like the practical boots, were comparatively rare, led me to the Artificer skill.
And then I just thought it was a cool word for a maker, really. 🙂
Just Give Us A Hint
I’m assuming we will meet her half sibling at some point? Is that part of what is upcoming in the next books?
We’ll seeeeeeee! 😀 (I mean, I also assume so, but…my plans are not yet that clear. :))
Will she find her mother in the next book?
We’Ll SeEeEeEeEeEeE!!! 😀 😀 😀
How are things in Ireland these days?
Extremely weird, as they are everywhere. Ireland’s been tremendously shut down for the past 15 months, and restrictions have just been extended again, which I happen to strongly support, but it’s causing a lot of stress to a lot of people, of course. But this summer is at least warm, which last year’s was not, so that’s at least something. We’ve been fortunate to weather this whole thing fairly comfortably, but boy, what a year it’s been, huh? :}
Thanks for reading my interview with C.E. Murphy About Practical Boots. Faith Hunter and C.E. Murphy have a crossover called Easy Pickings. Click here if you want to revisit an interview I did with Faith on Shadow Rites ahead of True Dead.
