Writing, // July 4, 2015
Cas Peace — WRITER
Cas Peace
Interview with writer Cas Peace —
1. Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Cas Peace, I’m from the UK, and I’m a fantasy and non-fiction author as well as a freelance editor/proofreader. I write and sing folk songs, and I’m also a qualified teacher of equestrianism. I’m married with two rescue dogs, and I have a large collection of cacti.
2. Why writing?
When I was younger I was quite a shy person. I often found it hard to express myself and would remain silent rather than speak up for fear of saying something foolish or being laughed at. The written word, however, always came easy to me and I found that writing helped free the flow of my thoughts, enabling me to express even the deepest of emotions or fears without restraint. It’s liberating and cathartic, and it’s also great fun.
“King’s Champion” cover
3. What is your earliest memory of wanting to be a writer?
This isn’t a simple question to answer because I never wanted to be a writer in the sense of putting my work into the public eye. I played around with writing, using it as a distraction and escape mechanism until one day in the early ʼ90s, when I decided to write out a little scene I’d had in my head since watching a kids’ TV programme in the ʼ70s. Somehow, this little scene burgeoned (eventually) into a fantasy triple-trilogy series, opening floodgates I never knew existed within me.
“Kings Envoy” cover
4. What are your favorite subject(s) and style(s)?
I write what I love to read; fantasy in all its guises. But I also like sci-fi, romance, mystery, thrillers and crime novels. I’d love to write a good crime novel one day. As for styles, my own is probably on the emotional side (I do like characters with deep emotions), but I enjoy any style that isn’t too technical. I have to pick my sci-fi novels carefully – I don’t have a scientific mind and hate getting bogged down in technology I can’t understand! Apart from that, I enjoy reading pretty much anything. I do have a penchant for archaic styles, though.
“The Circle” cover
5. How do you work and approach your subject?
Workwise I’m a bit of a pantster. I have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and then I will simply write. I rarely plan anything beyond that, although I will research a subject as thoroughly as I can. Once I’m confident I have all the knowledge I need and can realistically portray the atmosphere of whatever world or time-frame my characters are going to inhabit, I like to let the Muse loose. I’m often quite surprised when I read my work back the next day, and often catch myself thinking, “did I really write that?” – luckily, mainly in a good way!
6. What are your favorite written works, writers?
As a lover of fantasy, J. R. R. Tolkien has to be right up there. Elizabeth Goudge was one of my early favouties (The Little White Horse), and also Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn), C. S. Lewis (Narnia), Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern), Stephen Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant), Manda Scott (Boudicca), Mary Stewart (Merlin series), Sir Terry Pratchett (Discworld), and C. J. Cherryh (Morgaine). But now I’m associated with Janet and Chris Morris’ Perseid Press, I’m discovering a whole world of other, new authors, and it’s quite exciting.
7. What are the best responses you have had to your work?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have had many fantastic reviews and comments on my work, but I guess the best to date has to be when Janet Morris agreed to endorse my Artesans of Albia series. She wrote a wonderful passage that I use in various guises on the covers and inside my books. Here it is, and I think you’ll agree, it’s quite a paean of praise!
“Cas Peace’s Artesans of Albia trilogy immediately sweeps you away: the drama starts with King’s Envoy, continues unabated in King’s Champion, and climaxes in King’s Artesan, yet each volume is complete, satisfying. The Artesan series propels you into a world so deftly written that you see, feel, touch, and even smell each twist and turn. These nesting novels are evocative, hauntingly real. Smart. Powerful. Compelling. The trilogy teems with finely drawn characters, heroes and villains and societies worth knowing; with stories so organic and yet iconic you know you’ve found another home—in Albia. Now there’s a fourth book on Albia’s horizon: The Challenge, also Book One in Peace’s forthcoming sub-series, the Circle of Conspiracy trilogy, proof of more Albian tales on the way. So start reading now. I, for one, can’t wait to find out what will happen next.” — Janet Morris.
“King’s Artesan” cover
8. What do you like about your work?
What a narcissistic question! Still being a relatively shy person, I find this quite difficult to answer. But I’ll give it a go. I love the characters in my books, and never feel as though I created them. They are real, living people. I love spending time in Albia, and also Andaryon, the two main realms in my work. I guess they are places I’d inhabit in real life, given the chance. I feel like we are losing our connections to nature and to the earth we live in, in what I think is a completely disastrous way, and that’s why my characters are Artesans – people who connect strongly with the elements of their world. Our own earth would be a far better place, and its peoples nicer and more fulfilled if we acknowledged and realised exactly how much we depend upon our surroundings. Life should be a mutually beneficial symbiosis, not a case of man bending, breaking, overriding everything in his path to purely benefit himself. I fear it will destroy us in the end.
Wow. That turned into a bit of a rant – sorry!
“The Challenge” cover
9. What advice would you give to other writers?
Keep writing, keep learning, keep reading. Don’t get disheartened. Never give up. And never think you’ve gone as far as you can. Keep trying new things. And above all – respect the work of others.
“Full Circle” cover
10. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
5-10 years older? Sorry. Gosh – who can foresee the future? I’d love to still be writing and publishing, still finding new ideas, still editing, still enjoying life. My husband and I have just celebrated our silver wedding anniversary and these things make you think about life in general. When I finally finished the last book in my nine-novel Artesans series I worried that I’d never have such a fantastic experence again. And while I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the work I’ve done since, and the short stories I’ve written, I would really love to have the Muse strike me again in such an overpowering and irresitible way. Maybe there’s another triple-trilogy in me somewhere. I certainly hope so!
Cas Peace
Links—
Website: http://www.caspeace.com
Amazon Author Profile: http://www.amazon.com/Cas-Peace/e/B0098KMASI
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasPeace1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cas.peace
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ORbCO_wGI
Blog: http://www.peacewrites.blogspot.co.uk