SPFBO Author Interview: Brendan Noble
What inspired you to write your SPFBO entry? Is there a particular story, personal experience, or idea that sparked this book?
The Frostmarked Chronicles are inspired by Slavic mythology, and particularly the Polish and Ukrainian variations of it. I am half Polish through my mom, and when my grandparents on her side of the family died a few years back, I realized how little I knew about their heritage. Though I had experienced bits of Polish traditions being raised largely with my mom’s side of the family, I knew little beyond that. So, I became to research.
After a bit of searching, I discovered that like the well-known Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Norse mythologies, Slavs had their own mythos with many regional variations. Unfortunately, little was written about it in English, and almost nothing had it in fiction besides monsters mentioned in The Witcher. I decided that my next writing project, then, would venture into these myths, combining them with the epic fantasy genre that is my favorite to read. I also created a series of blog posts and videos called Slavic Saturday, where I discuss these myths in a more historical context.
How would you describe your writing process? How did it evolve during the creation of this book?
I have been a bit of a “pantser” through my first series, The Prism Files, and now The Frostmarked Chronicles. As my books have grown more complex over time, though, I have discovered the advantages of plotting at least certain sections of the book. This was big around A Dagger in the Winds, as I originally wrote it from just Wacław’s point of view before deciding that Otylia needed to be just as much a main character as him. It made the final product better by far, especially as Otylia takes the lead in some of the later books in the series, but it also took longer. That has convinced me to make sure I plan more ahead of time, even if it takes away a bit of the discovery process.
What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?
Like I talked about before, I originally intended to have just one POV, and I also wanted it to be historical fantasy. However, creativity becomes more restricted when you’re writing in a historical setting, and I didn’t want to deal with religious debates between Christian missionaries and Slavic pagans during the periods I was referencing. My goal was to take the myths and show them in a world inspired by them, so that required a lot of reworking from the original story as well. It was fun to create my own world for the first time, and that challenge was actually the most rewarding part of the book.
Publishing is its own can of worms. I had already published a series before, so I came into it with experience, but marketing an epic fantasy book in the Slavic niche has been difficult. I originally marketed to a lot of people interested in the history of Slavic myths through the Slavic Saturday series. Unfortunately, that group was largely different to those interested in epic fantasy, and those interested in the YA variant that I was writing. My focus has shifted to more of the epic fantasy and indie fantasy readerships, but I wish I’d made that pivot sooner.
Who are your biggest literary influences and how have they impacted your writing style?
My favorite authors by far are Brandon Sanderson and Brian McClellan. The latter I discovered after writing A Dagger in the Winds, so he’s impacting my next series a lot, but Sanderson helped show me how to write very in-depth worlds with approachable prose. I’ll commit a sin here by saying I don’t enjoy Tolkien-esque descriptions of everything describe in extremely pretty ways. Of course, there’s a place for that, and it’s just my personal preference. Sanderson, though, I took a lot of inspiration from with how to show enough without making the descriptions dragon on. I am definitely still learning in that area.
How do you approach world-building in your fantasy novel? What elements do you think are essential for a compelling fantasy setting?
I am a bit of a political nerd, so I actually start with what the government of the people is, and how their society evolved to make that feasible. In A Dagger in the Winds, I took most of the societal and governmental structure from historical tribes such as the Venedi, Ante, and Sclaveni as well as some later Polish tribes. I dove into the historical structures, customs, beliefs, war strategies, etc. to ensure that while this is a new world, it remains rooted in those Slavic traditions. It required a lot of translating things from Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian, but I learned a lot in the process.
The magic then evolved from this, thinking how would a magic system in this mythology work? I discovered that there are Slavic women called “szeptuchy” (whisperers) who are said to be magical healers, and I thought that would be a fun tradition to work off. I expanded both Slavic witches, who aren’t attached to a god or goddess, and then made a form of szeptuchy, who are bound to channel a deity’s power. Demons, dragons, and the rest of the creatures I pretty much based entirely in the actual legends of Slavic folklore, taking a few liberties when needed.
To me, the only thing essential to a fantasy series is something fantastical about it. A creature, magic, or artifact that changes things. There are so many possibilities for it, whether simple or complex, which is why it’s my favorite genre. You can have adventure fantasy, epic fantasy, dark fantasy, fantasy romance, fantastical mystery, etc., so there really is no genre it can’t overlap with. That’s awesome.
If you could give a piece of advice to the main character in your book at the start of their journey, what would it be?
I would tell Wacław that he doesn’t need to prove himself. By trying to change how he acts to please his father, he is just pushing away those that love him already. I’d also tell him to not take that stupid dagger, saving himself a lot of pain.
I would tell Otylia that it’s okay to trust again. She’d been betrayed by even her best friend, but choosing to ignore her feelings only makes things worse.
As a self-published author, how do you navigate marketing and promoting your work?
Pain. I post on social media, did those Slavic Saturday posts for a while, do a monthly newsletter, and occasionally run ads. I’m a “wide” author, since I don’t like Amazon’s exclusivity for KU (as much as the program itself is great), so I have A Dagger in the Winds permanently free on all eBook stores as well. That has been my best marketing tactic, and I’ve loved doing comic cons lately as well to sell in person. Marketing honestly is harder than writing the book. It can crush you or make your day depending on how it goes.
What made you decide to participate in the SPFBO competition? How do you think this experience will benefit you as an author?
I wanted to participate last year but missed the sign-up. I heard a lot about it on the Wizards, Warriors, and Words podcast and it seemed like a great way to market and get to know many writers, reviewers, and readers. My hope is just that more people will discover the series and that the story will do the rest. Anything else is a bonus. Next year, I plan on entering my WIP flintlock political fantasy novel. I think my writing is constantly improving, and I’m excited to keep that progress and be a part of the competition while I’m at it.
If you were to win SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?
I would keep doing what I’m doing, since I’ve loved writing in the fantasy genre. It would definitely be a huge push financially if it leads to more sales and exposure, which would be great, since I have the dream of continuing to put more artwork inside the books. I’ve done some of that in books 2 and on in The Frostmarked Chronicles, and working with illustrators has be so much fun.
What's next for you after SPFBO? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?
The fourth second-to-last book of The Frostmarked Chronicles, The Deathless Sons, will be coming out late autumn of this year. I’m also working on that flintlock political fantasy series that I’ve codenamed Project RR until I’m ready to announce the name. It’ll be my first adult fantasy book, and I’m loving being able to build a world from absolute scratch. This series takes inspiration politically from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but beyond that, it combines a few ideas I’ve had for years such as a realm-based magic system, a universe where there is no defined “material realm” and life is made by realms intermixing, and concepts like that. It’s a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to share more about it later this year.
