I decided I wanted to do shout-out posts for some of my friends who have recently released or are releasing new books.

So today, I welcome author Andrew McDowell to the blog for an interview following the release of his newest book.

Check out the interview below and don’t forget to visit his links.

Q01 How did you come up with your book’s title?

It’s hard to really pinpoint how it came to mind. I knew from the start I wanted a sea-themed title (I decided that for the One with Nature trilogy, I would have titles connected to the three realms of Nature: Land, Sea, and Sky). but I suppose, like with my first book, I was thinking of familiar phrases but using alternate words.

Eventually, the phrases “beneath the waves” and “deep beneath the waves” were on my mind, which brought me to Beneath the Deep Wave. A different working title survives as the name of a song in the book (the same thing happened with Mystical Greenwood).

Q02 Was there a moment when you didn’t think this book would get completed?

Many times. It was a New Years’ Resolution a couple of times to get the book completed, but I didn’t finish it.

The pressure was even more stressful because people kept asking when it was going to come out. All I could do during those years was assure them I was working on it.

Q03 What has been your favourite part of writing/creating this book?

Perhaps this is no surprise, but getting it done was really my favorite part of creating it. After bouts of writers’ block, I applied a writing routine that I’d sort of had to use in a high-level novella-writing class in my final semester at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (this book was not part of that).

The professor had set us a weekly deadline of 1,000 words, so I tried to get around 200 words a day for at least five days a week. It really helped!

Q04 This is the sequel to your first book, can you tell us a little about that first book?

Yes. Beneath the Deep Wave is the sequel to Mystical Greenwood. Mystical Greenwood is where it all begins for my characters. Dermot and Brian are brothers who meet a gryphon and a healer, after which they embark upon a quest to find an ancient society of sorcerers to stop an evil one from conquering their homeland.

They spend a lot of time in forests, where they slowly realize that among the trees and wild animals, something deeper and magical exists, and they discover they have a greater role to play in this battle.

Beneath the Deep Wave picks up the story with even more adventure, greater stakes, a little romance, and more focus on aquatic life.

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Q05 How long did it take you to write Beneath The Deep Wave?

Years on and off. I never kept count.

Q06 Who is your favourite character in this book and why?

That’s a hard one. I like a lot of characters for varied reasons. But I’ve always liked my protagonist, Dermot, whom I see as the nature lover in me.

Q07 How much planning did you need to do for your book?

It was a mixture of plotting but also pantsing. I don’t like planning everything out before writing. I’m what you’d call a plantser.

I plant seeds and see where they grow. The process was also a bit like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Pieces would come to me and then I’d have to figure out how to put them together.

Q08 Are there more books coming in this series? (incl. more books, novellas and/or spin-offs etc)

There will be one more book in the One with Nature series. Yes, I intend for it to have a sky-themed title, but I’ve made it a habit to not release a book title until I’m sure it won’t change.

I’m still trying to work out the plot, but I do have an ending in mind. I do not intend to write in this world anymore afterwards.

Q09 What do you want people to know about this book?

I think we’ve pretty much covered it. I just hope readers enjoy it!

Q10 Finally, you have a short story in a Horror Anthology. Can you tell us about that?

It’s not a short story but a poem. But interestingly, it shares its title with a famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which I even reference in the poem.

“The Black Cat” was inspired by a real black cat I met a few times during my years at St. Mary’s. It will appear in Fae Corp Publishing’s upcoming anthology Nightmare Whiskers.

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About Andrew

Andrew McDowell is the author of the fantasy novels Mystical Greenwood and Beneath the Deep Wave, the former of which was a finalist in the 2019 American Fiction Awards, won the 2021 Maryland Writers’ Association Novel Contest, and was an honorable mention in the 2021 Top Shelf Magazine contest.

He studied at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park. Andrew has had poetry, short stories, and essays featured in anthologies and literary journals.

He was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. He is a member of the Maryland Writers’ Association. Visit andrewmcdowellauthor.com to learn more about him and his work.

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Beneath The Deep Wave

Dermot, Brian, Ruairí, and Ciara have been training for their role as the next generation of the coven of sorcerers known as the Dríacht. But their training will have to wait. War is upon Denú. Dark forces loyal to the evil sorcerer Taranis are on the rampage.

They make new allies, including Denú’s royal family, one of whom seems familiar to Dermot. The Dríacht must now take different paths to save lives and uphold the people’s morale.

For Dermot and his friends, they will embark upon a series of adventures that will teach them what it means to be a dríadór.

Meanwhile, Taranis has enslaved Dermot and Brian’s father. Will the brothers see him or their mother again? Before a tremendous battle begins, many secrets long kept deep shall finally surface

Buy This Book

Big thank you to Andrew, for joining me today on the blog.  Wish him all the best with his current new release and please take the time to check out his links above.

Happy reading