Heart of Time by Sky MacKinnon - Book Tour + Giveaway
Heart of Time
Ruined Heart, Book 1
by Sky MacKinnon
Genre: Fantasy, Lesbian Romance
For Eona, manipulating time is second
nature. It gives her an edge in her dramatic circus performances, but
it also separates her from the other artists in her troupe. She has
always known that her unique kind of magic could make her a target,
but she couldn’t have prepared for being kidnapped, manipulated and
imprisoned by a megalomaniac sorcerer.
nature. It gives her an edge in her dramatic circus performances, but
it also separates her from the other artists in her troupe. She has
always known that her unique kind of magic could make her a target,
but she couldn’t have prepared for being kidnapped, manipulated and
imprisoned by a megalomaniac sorcerer.
In order to figure out what he wants
from her, she needs to explore her own magic, the bond she feels with
a mythical creature, and the feelings she has for a certain beautiful
elven woman.
from her, she needs to explore her own magic, the bond she feels with
a mythical creature, and the feelings she has for a certain beautiful
elven woman.
There are about twenty illustrations
in the book, drawn by artists from all over the world.
in the book, drawn by artists from all over the world.
What can we expect from you in the future?
I’ve got
so much going on at the moment! In the past two months, I’ve been publishing my
Winter Princess serial, a paranormal reverse harem romance. It’s been extremely
popular (all four episodes have become instant bestsellers on Amazon) and I’m
looking forward to publish the final instalment, Arrival of Winter, on the 7th
October. If you’re not a fan of serials, you can get the omnibus edition on the
21st. Then, on the 4th November I’ve got a book coming
out called A Little Crazy, which is the first book I ever wrote. It’s quite a
dark tale about a young girl dealing with grief, but it’s very close to my
heart. I’m currently editing and rewriting it, but you can already pre-order
it.
Then
there are several anthologies that I’m part of, including one about fairy tales
and one featuring contemporary reverse harem. You can subscribe to my
newsletter to find out about upcoming releases: https://skyemackinnon.com/newsletter.html
What kind of world ruler would you be?
I’d hope
I’d be fair, generous and wise. But I guess many rulers start out with high
ideals and then end up turning evil. Muahahaaa (tries to hide evil lough –
guess you better don’t make me world ruler).
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Is it
really sad to say that I write? I have a full time job, and I write in my lunch
breaks and in the evening, so it’s a nice change from working. But there are so
many other things that go into being an author, like covers, editing,
marketing, so I also spend a lot of time doing that. Interacting with readers
on social media is one of the most amazing and relaxing things I can imagine.
Writing is like an addiction. I was on holiday for two weeks this month,
and because I was backpacking, I didn’t take my laptop with me. I got so many
story ideas during that time, and was devastated I couldn’t write them all. Of
course I made notes, but I missed writing a lot. Usually I write every day so
this was like going cold turkey. My head is full of the stories, and I’d
probably go crazy if I couldn’t get rid of them by putting them on paper.
I’m not a full time writer yet, I’m still having a day job. And I’m glad
that I do – it gives me the security to try if I can make my living with
writing alone, while still having a monthly income. I could live from my
current book sales, but I want to give it a few more months to see if it stays
this way before quitting my job to become a full time author. I’d recommend
this to all aspiring authors – try it first while having a regular income, I’ve
seen too many others fail and use up all their savings while trying to write
full time.
A day in the life of the author?
That’s easy as most of the day is taken up by my job. I work in
communications at a science institute, telling people about the research we do
and how it can help patients. But every lunch break, I write for at least half
an hour. Something that’s helped a lot is so-called sprinting, where you write
as fast and as much as you can in 25 minutes. Most of the time I do it at the
same time as a friend, so we race against each other. It’s very motivating and
keeps the inner editor at bay, who usually slows me down when I try writing at
a normal speed.
When I get back from work at about 6pm, I do another half hour or so of
writing, then dinner and any household chores I have to do (don’t remind me, I
need to do the washing tonight), then it’s time to go on social media. I’ve got
some very active fans on Facebook, and I regularly take part in takeovers,
Facebook parties and other fun stuff. In my group, I post teasers to show
readers what I’m currently working on. They love that, and I love interacting
with my readers. I still can’t believe how many people seem to love my books.
I’ve got a cover designer, but I sometimes like to do my own covers or
some other graphics on Photoshop, so I try to do some of that every few days.
And then of course there’s editing…
At weekends, I like to go to a café, switch off the wifi and write for a
few hours. Every 1,000 words, I get a treat – not good for my waistline, good
for my word count.
I’m hoping to become a full time writer next year when my current work
contract runs out.
What are you currently reading?
The My Winter Wolf serial by
my good friend Arizona Tape. She was a beta reader for Heart of Time, and after
she gave me a detailed analysis of my personality after reading it, I thought
it would be a good idea to keep her close (I don’t want anyone to know how
crazy I really am). Now we’re writing buddies and write together most days, and
critique each other’s work. She’s just sent me her final draft, so I can’t wait
to read it tonight.
How long
have you been writing?
Ever since I could hold a
pen, pretty much. When I turned 18, my mother gave me an album of stuff I had
drawn and written over the years – and apparently, I wrote little stories (with
terrible spelling) in my first year at primary school. I don’t think they were
any good, but I’ve never stopped writing since then. I always wanted to be an
author, but people told me that you can’t live from that, so I trained to
become a journalist instead. After all, that’s writing as well, just a
different kind. Then I went into communications, but my job there was so
stressful that I stopped writing in my free time for two years (which is why
Heart of Time took a total of four years to complete). I felt like all my
creativity was drained during work hours, and I didn’t have any left in the
evenings to write. But when I changed jobs earlier this year, I finally had the
energy again, and managed to finish Heart of Time, another book called Winter
Princess, and get started on several other writing projects. Now, I write every
day after work, and at least one day during the weekends, and I hope to start
writing full-time at some point next year.
What is your
writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the
chapters first?
I start with the first
sentence, I always find that really easy. I know other authors who start in the
middle of the story, or who rework their first few paragraphs again and again,
but somehow, mine always have to start at the very beginning. In fact, I’ve got
tons of first sentences lying around that are still missing their story.
I write linear, one scene
after the next. And no planning at all. Usually I know where I am at the
beginning and where I want the characters to end up at the end, but that’s it.
My characters are very vivid in my head and they run the show. They develop
while I’m writing, and often come up with things that I could never have
planned (for example, in my Winter Princess serial, I hadn’t planned to do any
sex scenes until the end of the first story arch – but somehow, those pesky
characters ended up having quite a steamy moment in the second instalment).
Heart of Time was never
supposed to have a romantic aspect – it was planned as a high fantasy novel.
Well, my main character Eona didn’t like that, and managed to get herself a
female love interest. And towards the end of the book, she meets some guys that
she’ll get very close to in book two.
Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
Most of them come to me
while I write. I usually have a picture of the main character formed in my
head, and maybe one or two others, but the rest just happen to stroll into the
book and demand to be heard. Those are actually the best ones, because they’re
part of the natural flow of the story, and somehow create themselves.
Sometimes, they don’t tell me their names at the start, so I just call them X
for a few paragraphs or even chapters until I find out their name. This sounds
slightly crazy, but these characters really have their own mind and don’t
always do what I tell them to. Okay, make that almost never. Sometimes that can
be quite annoying (recently, a character who I thought was Scottish suddenly
told me that he was from Norway – so now I had to find someone who speaks
Norwegian to tell me a few basic words I can use).
What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
Usually, I do my research
while writing a book. I’m not much of a planner, I just go with the flow and
write down what my characters tell me to. But when I come across a topic I need
to know more about, I do my very best to research it. For example, in Heart of
Time, Eona befriends a healer who specialises in herbs and candle making. I had
some basic knowledge of healing herbs, but I did a lot of research to make sure
that what was mentioned in the book was accurate. My other book, Winter
Princess, is full of Scottish mythology – there’s not as much material on those
Gods as there is on Greek or Roman ones, so it was interesting to find out what
people used to believe in here in Scotland.
How did you
come up with the concept and characters for the book?
This might be a bit cliché,
but the idea for Heart of Time came from a dream. A nightmare, to be precise,
in which I had my heart torn out. Not a pleasant feeling, I can assure you. And
somehow I survived the heart-tearing and ended up becoming evil because I was
missing empathy and love. So when I woke up, I wrote a little fairy tale
featuring a woman who looses her heart (quite literally) to the devil. But that
wasn’t the actual story – in the end, I wrote the story of the woman’s
daughter, who grows up as an orphan, not knowing that her inheritance might be
a very magical one.
Do you have any advice to give aspiring writers?
Never give up. Eona, my main character in
Heart of Time, spent two years in a dungeon because I couldn’t figure out how
she would escape. During that time, I wrote other stories and focussed on my
career in journalism, but Eona was always at the back of my mind, nagging me to
release her. And then, one morning at work, I suddenly knew the escape plan. It
was so obvious that I’m ashamed how I never figured it out. Eona didn’t have to
get out of the prison by herself – she was allowed to get help. And somehow she
fell in love with the man who rescued her. Figures.
But yes, never give up. Even if a story
evades you for a while, keep at it. Don’t let it go to waste. And nobody is
saying that you can only ever work on one project at the same time (you do NOT
want to see my spreadsheet where I track all the stories I’m currently
writing).
Skye MacKinnon is a bestselling author
who tells stories about science for a living - but at night she
writes fiction, mainly fantasy. When she's not writing, she's out and
about with her camera, or spends time with mythical creatures and the
odd vampire living in her kindle. Usually, there's tea and cake involved.
who tells stories about science for a living - but at night she
writes fiction, mainly fantasy. When she's not writing, she's out and
about with her camera, or spends time with mythical creatures and the
odd vampire living in her kindle. Usually, there's tea and cake involved.
She lives in Scotland with her two overly spoilt house rabbits and a few hundred self-obsessed
characters constantly asking her to tell their stories. One day she will. Promise.
characters constantly asking her to tell their stories. One day she will. Promise.
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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