Author interview with Edward Cox

Author interview with Edward Cox

Author Bio:
Edward Cox began writing stories at school as a way to pass time in boring lessons. It was a hobby he dabbled with until the late 80's when he discovered the works of David Gemmell, which not only cemented his love of fantasy but also encouraged a hobby to become something much more serious.

With his first short story published in 2000, Edward spent much of the next decade earning a BA 1st class with honours in creative writing, and a Master degree in the same subject. He then went on to teach creative writing at the University of Bedfordshire. During the 2000's he published a host of short stories with the smaller presses of America, where he also worked as a reviewer.

Currently living in Essex with his wife and daughter, Edward is mostly surrounded by fine greenery and spiders the size of his hand. The Relic Guild is his first completed novel, and it is the result of more than ten years of obsessive writing.

THE RELIC GUILD out from Gollancz September 2014

-------------------------------------

Hi Edward, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us!

EC: Hello! My pleasure, and thank you for inviting me! 

BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Edward Cox is? What are your hobbies, likes and dislikes?

EC: I’m a huge technology dunce and massive geek. I’ve been blundering my way through life for 43 years now, and can’t remember half of what I’ve learned along the way. I’m a devoted husband and father. I read, watch movies, and try to be as lazy as I can. I hate TV adverts almost as much as I hate bullying.

BP: You have been writing short stories for a couple years already. Do you still know when and where you decided that you wanted to become an author?

EC: It was a gradual process that started at school. I’d win poetry competitions, or have to read little short stories I’d written at those weird inter-school functions that I’m positive were designed to see how kids coped with confusion. I remember my English teacher telling me that I should take writing more seriously, but I didn’t want to listen to anyone back then. After school, I continued to dabble aimlessly with writing until it slowly dawned on me that it was the thing that best defined me.

BP: You latest book, The Relic Guild will be published later this September. What gave you the idea of the story?

EC: I think it’s an amalgamation of ideas that I collected over the years. They all came together when I hit upon the idea of telling a story about a band of magickers set in a hidden city. I was also inspired by the tales from varying mythologies.  

BP: The Relic Guild is your first completed book. Writing such debut and new book in a series can be a hard task, how did you went about and plan your writing?

EC: I write extensively in notebooks, and I mostly use them to flesh out story ideas, plot and characters, landscape – whatever needs to be done. In a way, I think I use notebooks to talk to myself and order my thoughts, which are chaotic at the best of times. Most of what I’ve written over the past 15 years has begun life as a theory in a notebook.

BP: The Relic Guild is set to be released in September 18^th this year, if you would have to sell your book with a single sentence, how would it go?

EC: The Relic Guild: magic, monsters and mayhem!

BP: Even though you have written a few short stories prior to The Relic Guild did you still encounter any specific problems when you were writing The Relic Guild?

EC: It’s the same problem that I encounter with everything I’ve ever written. I’m not very good with plotting and planning, even though I keep trying. I know where I’m starting, and where I’m heading to, but to figure out the bit in the middle, I have to jump in and write it to discover what’s in there. Even the notebooks can’t help me there. 

BP: What was the hardest part in writing The Relic Guild?

EC: Balancing the split timelines, and ensuring they told a single tale.

BP: Besides the hardest part, which chapter or scene did you enjoy writing about the most?

EC: Well…there’s a character called Hamir. The first scene in the book where the story is told from his point of view was definitely one of my favourites to write. From the off, I was surprised by how well I knew Hamir, and I can’t wait for readers to meet him.

BP: If you would be able to retract The Relic Guild from publishing and make one final adjustment, would you do so? And if yes, which part and why?

EC: Interesting…not at this time. But ask me again when I’ve finished book 3!

BP: The Relic Guild is the first in a new series, have you already mapped out the big storyline and how many books will follow?

EC: There are three books to the story. They are mapped out, I know (roughly) where I’m going, and there is a BIG plan.

BP: Do you have any other projects that you wish to pursue in the near future now that The Relic Guild will be published?

EC: Editing book two and writing book 3 of The Relic Guild are my immediate projects. There might be one or two other projects looming in the future, but nothing I can tell you about yet.

BP: Everyone enjoys science fiction and fantasy in their own way, what do you like most about it?

EC: I think I’d have to say the adventure. The fun and intrigue and danger I experience in worlds that don’t exist.

BP: If you would have to give your top 5 favourite books, which would they be?

EC: Only 5? Okay, off the top of my head…

1.       Memory, Thorn and Sorrow – Tad Williams

2.       I am Legend – Richard Matheson

3.       The Magic Toyshop – Angela Carter

4.       Knights of Dark Renown – David Gemmell

5.       Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke

BP: And just lastly, can you tell us a bit more about what will be in store for the readers of The Relic Guild and a possible sneak preview of the sequel?

EC: Well, for the first book I’ve been trying to perfect a pitch. I currently have this: At the heart of a labyrinth, in a city surrounded by walls a hundred feet high, Clara knows that an age-old menace has returned to her home. Only the last magickers of the Relic Guild can help Clara save the lives of one million humans. Together they must find a way to contact the lost worlds that lay outside the boundary walls. As for the second book, I will tell you only this…All things are known in the end…

BP: Thank you for your time Edward and good luck with your future writing projects.

EC: Thank you and my pleasure! J