Interview: Scott Palmer Author of A Memory of Song
Hello Scott and thank you for taking the time to do an interview! To start things off, what is your book pitch for those who haven’t heard of it?
I’ve been pitching A Memory of Song as Braveheart and A Song of Ice and Fire meet Stephen King, or if I’m really trying to be brief it’s Braveheart with ghosts and a wizard. It’s the first in an epic fantasy series based in a fleshed out fantasy world where dark magics have killed the elements.There are heavy themes of love, loss, found family, and revenge.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
It all started around draft three, when I realized my original title (The Hallow King) was really bad. I wanted a title that fit the A / Of structure so it would naturally feel more appealing to people and give it a poetic rhythm (A game OF thrones, A court OF thorns and bootys) I knew from market research that the title of your book is almost just as important as the cover. I also wanted something that picked up on the musical theme of the book, and that is something you can expect from the rest of the titles in the series as well!
AMOS has a delightfully dark norse theme. What were some of your main inspirations for creating the world of Ardura?
I’ve been very open about being a George Martin fanboy so Westeros is definitely my biggest source of inspiration, along with the likes of Tolkien, Abercrombie, Lawrence, and Bakker. But outside of fantasy influences my biggest inspiration was Celtic mythology, particularly The Tain, which is a collection of Celtic myths. I also went deep into many aspects of ancient Celtic shamanism which is where a lot of the ghost imagery came from.
Following up on above, how do you handle moments when its difficult to find inspiration during your times of writing?
The funny thing about inspiration is that it is an unreliable prick. Inspiration is kind of like a bad parent—It only comes around every once and awhile, and is always gone before you have to change the diapers. So, I learned a few years ago from one of my favourite books on craft, The War of Art, that you can’t wait around for inspiration because if you did you would never finish your book. So, instead, I sit down every night from about 8-10pm after my daughter goes to sleep and I hammer out some words. Oftentimes it isn’t easy, but once I get going it’s fine. On those lucky days when inspiration meets my butt in the computer chair it feels like pure magic. But most days it's just blue collar work—work that satisfies my soul, mind you, but work nonetheless.
You have quite a diverse cast of characters who all experience tremendous character building throughout the story. Do you plan and outline your characters and their growth from start to finish, or do you make aspects up as you write?
I actually use a technique I learned from the great Joe Abercrombie called the “layer” method. So, essentially I have a rough outline of my characters (goal, flaw, rough backstory, stature, attitude) I then sit down with a rough plot outline and write two to four chapters with each character to get their dialogue down and try to understand what is really driving them. This is the first layer.
Once I have a good understanding of the characters I re-work the plot to ensure that the characters are always driving the story and not the other way around. Oftentimes I’ll read my original outline after having a better understanding of a character and the decisions I had the character making would be completely wrong. In that case I change the plot rather than the character. I write the whole first draft this way which is another layer.
I then use draft two to clean everything up and make it all make sense. At this point I'm layering in a lot of the foreshadowing through character’s thoughts, as well as strengthening character motivations, and focusing on making their character arcs really shine in tandem with the major plot points.
Now that I have the story laid out I can use the third draft to layer in extra lore and worldbuilding that may not be connected to the main story. I always try to do this through character thought or dialogue. That gives me a chance to connect the character to these deeper things in the world which grounds the reader in the familiarity of some of their own beliefs and traditions.
I do another draft to give depth to any side character who I may have brushed over. I try to find ways to bring them in earlier, or later, or sometimes I’ll just take characters out completely to make more room for the ones I already have. I try to find ways for each character to impact the story in some way, and give them an arc, even if it's just a very small one (like they refused to try mushrooms in the beginning, but at the end they ate mushrooms and ended up liking them)
I guess this was the long way of saying I make the characters up as I write, but I make them up in a way that is always serving the story.
Is there a book, author, media, or video game that has greatly influenced your own work?
I am definitely influenced by the old 8-bit nintendo games like Final Fantasy, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and I definitely played a lot of Skyrim in highschool, so those are absolutely huge influences in my work. I knew I wanted more magic than Game of Thrones because I loved the colours of those old nintendo games and the magics in my head were always those bright blues and greens and pinks, but I just imagined them on a much darker background. I liked the idea of the magic being the only bright colours.
But when it comes to prose and worldbuilding, George Martin is number one, Joe Abercrombie is number 2, and R. Scott Bakker is number 3. Honourable mention to the one and only king Tolkien. The Silmarillion helped me flesh out a lot of my own world’s history.
Out of all the lore you have created in AMOS, the Olds Gods and their symbolism pop up quite frequently. I found myself relating to one or two as you get to know them and what they stand for. Which one do you relate to the most?
I love The Owl (the god of wisdom and foresight). I am absolutely the nerd who watches too many documentaries and reads weird books and then spouts out random facts to strangers or loved ones who don’t care.
Time for an off topic fun question: if someone were to summon you via cauldron, what three ingredients would they need to have?
A leaf of spearmint, a shard of black coral, and a dram of the milky way. And only the Soothsayers will I answer to, hee hoo.
Another fun question I love to ask our authors: Out of all your book’s characters you can pick two to be your battle buddies. All the remaining characters are banded together and ready to fight you. Who are you picking to assist you in the fight and why?
Omg. Definitely Wulfee and Pike. Wulfee would be able to control a battle better than any other character, and Pike would never back down no matter what it came to and willingly sacrifice himself to be our shield.
What are you reading right now?
A Dance With Dragons by my guy Georgino Martino
Lastly, anything you wish to leave with the audience? Where to buy your book? Upcoming authors events?
You can find links to A Memory of Song and a bunch of other cool stuff like full colour high definition maps and my past youtube interviews at scottpalmerauthor.com
Blurb:
In a dying land, the armies of the dead hold sway. And those who rule them are more god than human.
James Culdaine, the last heir of the Northern Throne, was just a young man when the armies of the South murdered his parents and subjugated his lands. He has never forgotten those responsible, nor has he forgiven. He has spent the last ten years living in isolation with The Feldarra; a sacred Northern clan of fierce warriors, led by the fearless Wulfee who, still reeling from the loss of her own children, finds new meaning in protecting what only family she has left.
Now, an ancient order of warlocks has returned to the North, singing dark songs composed of blood magic that null the elements and threaten all that is living.
With nature depleted and the Southern armies returning to the North, James struggles to embrace the unique power he has long tried to repress; the ability to commune with the spirits of the dead. In the bitter heart of a growing war, with the world dying around them, James and Wulfee desperately seek answers, vengeance, and a way to save the ones they love... No matter the cost.
Fires refuse to burn. The skies are thirsty and breathless. The earth won't eat its rot...Welcome to Ardura.
Scott Palmer was born in London, Ontario, Canada, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and two cats, and they conjure up magic (love and happiness) daily. His whole life has been a journey of collecting stories and stowing them like a library of experiences.
Growing up in Middle Earth, Kanto, and Hyrule, before moving to darker worlds like Westeros, The Circle of The World, and The Randlands provided a sturdy foundation for Scott’s imagination to grow upon. He travelled to those other worlds and walked, and fought, and bled with the people that lived there. It was somewhere in those pages that he fell in love with the art of storytelling. Since taking those first steps out of reality, Scott has immersed himself in creating his own world. A place that could transport readers somewhere they could only dream of. A place of magic, and love, forgotten lore, and long history.
Scott started writing seriously in 2020 and now he cannot stop.
