NEW READ ALERT: "Love is a Wistful Song"

It's a new school year, and the brisk morning air reminds us that summer is winding down. Beach reads turn into snuggling-in-your-blanket reads, so it's time to refresh your to-be-read list! Thankfully, I ran into an amazing indie author with a tasteful romantic fantasy that's sure to satisfy. Check out her story below and how she came to writing "Love is a Wistful Song". If you find you like Ava's style, I provided her social media links so that you may follow her.

Please welcome the very talented and wicked cool, Ava S. Quill!!!

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Title: Love is a Wistful Song
Author: Ava Quill
​Genre: Fantasy (romantic)

AMAZON LINK

Music-obsessed Aryen dreams of attending a prestigious conservatory and, sometimes, about her childhood friend Ryan. But when her dream to study with the masters comes true, it demands a high price—Aryen must agree to an arranged marriage with Ryan’s popular cousin Blaine. When she protests the arrangement, her grandfather threatens to destroy Ryan’s already challenging prospects, forcing Aryen to choose whether to pursue her feelings and sacrifice her lifelong dream or give up Ryan in order to protect him.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH AVA QUILL:

JE: "Love is a Wistful Song" is considered a fantasy romance. How would you describe this to your readers?
 
AQ: [The story] is a clean romance with elements of fantasy. If you enjoy "proper" romances, stories about royalty or similarly influential families, characters fighting for their love against all odds, friendships lasting from childhood and throughout lives, music, and alternate realities/worlds and societies, then this story is for you!

JE: Who is your primary audience?
 
AQ: When I started working on this book, my main goal was to write a fun, lighthearted romantic adventure that any teen [13-year-old and up] could read without their parents worrying about what she (or he) could encounter in the book when it came to intimacy, gore, or language.
 
JE: I think that's great! So, what inspired music to play a huge role in this story?
 
AQ: Uh-oh. This is where you’ve stepped into dangerous territory. * sinister laugh *
Music has been a part of my life for more than 20 years now. I love listening to it. I love singing. I love “noodling” with the instruments. I’m not a pro because I don’t practice enough. But I still love it. As a kid I attended a music school and tried to learn piano, and now I’m learning bass guitar. My protagonist’s obsession with music is definitely the case of “write what you know about.”

JE: What inspired the title “Love is a Wistful Song?” Do titles comes to you naturally or does it take some time (be honest!)
 
AQ: This is a quite a story, actually. Titles think I am their nemesis. I struggle insanely with them, going back and forth between what I think is cool (and catchy and captures the essence of my story) and feeling like everything I come up with is mediocre. My brain really hurts sometimes. I had many working titles for "Love Is a Wistful Song". Then, I wrote the story that follows another member of the Redwynn family, Aryen’s sister. I came up with a title for that book while I was concocting a query, started working on the third story, and realized that I could serialize them. Honestly, the moment felt like, “Oh, thank goodness! My job has become so much easier.”
 
If I break up my title into smaller bits, then “Love is a” hardly needs any explanation. It’s almost like hailing back to the times when that chewing gum with pictures of a cute little couple was popular. Love Is, remember that? It’s a tiny bit like that. “Wistful Song” was a little trickier. I had pages in a notebook where I wrote down different emotions and actions from the story and tried to combine them into something “cool” or tasteful. Since the book is about a musician, then “Song” part felt very fitting. And with “Wistful” I was hoping to encompass the overall feel of what my protagonist often feels.
 
JE: I struggle with titles myself. What a great story in itself! Anyway, is “Love is a Wistful Song” a standalone novel or part of a series?
 
AQ: "Love Is a Wistful Song" is the 1st book in a planned series. It wasn’t supposed to be a series when I started working on it, but it just evolved into one when I started to get to know my characters better.

JE: How do you go about creating your characters? Do you feel particularly close to one?
 
AQ: Each character sort of comes to life on its own. As I’ve gone through the drafts, my characters have changed, for sure. But I always knew that Aryen Redwynn had to be a gifted musician and a daughter of a wealthy politician, which introduced a set of particular challenges into her life. And Ryan, Mark, and Collin were always her neighbors and childhood friends.
 
When I get an idea for a story, I pretty much always know who my characters are as they stand in the world. What I love to learn about them as I write is who they are to themselves, what they like, what they hope for, what they are afraid of. This is my favorite part of writing—the people and me getting to know them.
 
As for the writing craft, there are many ways to figure out who your characters are and make them interesting. Mine is only one way to approach it, and I draw inspiration from everything I listen to, read, watch, and everyone I meet.
 
JE: How long did it take you to write this novel?
 
AQ: * sits whistling and spinning in the swivel chair *
 
JE: Ahaha! Okay, I got the hint! ;) What were your major challenges?
 
AQ: Ok, ok. It took me some years to go through a pile of drafts, ideas, plots, and finishing touches. I’ve lost some brave souls along the way. They did not survive the “budget cuts.”
 
The biggest challenge, I think, was being patient and learning that if your story doesn’t work right now, it doesn’t mean it will never work. I see this a lot in “new” writers. It’s so challenging to admit “defeat” when you wrote your first draft and it isn’t perfect. How dare it! And this is where I’ve learned to enjoy the process. Write no matter what comes out on the page. You can always change it. You never ruin anything. You never go down the path where you can’t do a u-turn and come back to your original idea. So what if you’ll have to rewrite 80 thousand words? I laugh now when I say this. It wasn’t so funny a couple of years ago.
 
JE: That's great advice. I struggled similarly- so thanks for sharing your experience!
What do you hope for your readers to experience in “Love is a Wistful Song?”
 
AQ: I really hope that when my readers finish this book , they’ll “This was fun!” I hope they have a good, relaxing time reading my story. That they will have a break from the mundane and enjoy themselves. I hope, that maybe, they’ll remember that song they loved so much, the one that made everything better, and go listen to it again. Maybe some part of Aryen’s story will inspire them to reach out to their friends or pursue their dream. I won’t mind that. But, first things first, I want them to have fun

JE: Time for a fun, random, writer-related question: are you a "pantser" or planner (aka. someone who just writes as they go OR someone who outlines the entire plot before writing)? 
 
AQ: I’m that “fortunate” soul who is a mix of both. I usually have an idea of who, where, and how it ends, but the middle is a mystery. So I start with my protagonists, throw them into their initial trouble, then labyrinth-write them into even more trouble and mischief. I end up writing a lot before I realize what really happens, but like I’ve said before, not a problem with me. While I prance around, so to speak, I figure out who my characters are, what they would or would not do. It’s great, I’m telling you.
 
I will admit. I am jealous of people who can outline their entire novel and just fill in the rest. My brain refuses to work this way. It rebels at the plan and goes off the rails, a-ha-ha!
 
JE: With a couple of novels under your belt, what’s next on the horizon?
 
AQ: For a couple months, I was worried I have gone dry as a writer. I had no new ideas, was afraid to try a new genre. Then I took a nap while listening to an old song. And it just happened. The ideas come to you at the most amusing moments and places. I love it! Currently working on a two-part (hopefully only two-part) sci-fi/fantasy hybrid with magic, advanced tech, and a subtle Romeo & Juliette theme. And, of course, there is the third book about the Redwynn sisters that’s still in the works. I definitely have my hands full. Happily so.

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A BIG thank you to Ava and her time to swing by for this interview and talking about her new novel, "Love is a Wistful Song"! I certainly can't wait to read it. Follow her on the social medial links below!

​Peace -- J.E. Klimov

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Before Ava decided to give this whole “writing thing” a serious go, she moved across the ocean, started a family, and got a degree in web design. In her "spare" time, she's also tackling a bass guitar. Because... Why not?

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