Interview with Victoria J. Price Author of The Third Sun 

Victoria lives in leafy Surrey, in the South East of England. She loves fairy tales, myths and legends, and grew up creating stories both in words and pictures. When she’s not writing you’ll find her exploring with her husband and their two dogs, searching for beautiful hidden places and secret picnic spots. 
In a chat with Mru's Books and Reviews, Victoria tells us about her love for story telling and writing.

Please introduce yourself for our readers in a few sentences.

Hello! I’m Victoria J. Price, YA fantasy author of the Daughter of the Phoenix series. I live just outside of London with my husband and our two dogs, Jessie and Blue.

What inspired you to writing? When did you start writing?

I started writing as a child – I was always writing something. A story, a whole magazine, a newspaper. In my early teens I started writing complete stories, but I stopped when I was fifteen/sixteen until my early twenties.

Everything was a story to me, so I used writing as a way to empty it all out of my head! I’ve always had a very vivid imagination, and writing started as a way to breathe life into the ideas and characters that seemed to follow me around everywhere I went!

When you’re writing an emotionally draining (or sexy, or sad, etc) scene, how do you get in the mood?

Music! I love a playlist! YouTube, Spotify, a movie soundtrack, it doesn’t matter, I just have to find the right vibe. I love a fantasy battle playlist for fight scenes, and sometimes I’ll listen to ambience music (no words), but for sad music I love to listen to regular sad songs with lyrics. I’m also a big fan of computer game soundtracks, like this one from Skyrim.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Most interesting? Ha, I can tell you all my worst quirks, hehe. I can’t write with anyone else around me – coffee shop writing is out, for me. If there’s any chance someone can see my screen, I lose all immersion. Even my husband gets ushered out of the room when I write. Only my dogs are allowed near me!

Is writing your full-time career? Or would you like it to be?

I run an IT business with my husband, but I’m very fortunate that I get to spend a lot of time writing. It’s not my full-time career, yet, but I’d love it to be.

About your book The Third Sun: Daughter of the Phoenix – It has a very interesting title. What is the significance of the title?

It’s a part of the origin story for the world of Ohinyan – a world parallel to Earth. The MC, Fia, falls from Earth to Ohinyan at the start of the series, and later learns of Ohinyan’s origin story from a witch.

The Third Sun is the first book in a series. When writing a series how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?

There’s a few plot threads that run across all three books (plus the little prequel novelette, too), so in a sense that’s the only part that isn’t “fresh.” Book two is set almost entirely on Ohinyan, whereas book two is set 50/50 on Earth and Ohinyan… and book three, well, that’s a surprise! So as well as introducing new settings, each book also introduces a couple of new characters, too.

What is the key theme and/or message in the book?

Grief is a big theme throughout – Fia is coming to terms with the death of her sister, and a lot of books seem to skim over death, so it was important to me to explore it more. In reality it takes months, years, decades for us to grieve someone, it’s not just a case of waking up one day and we’re fine. The series also explores the theme of belonging – of finding your place/your people. 

Tell us about the process for coming up with this beautiful cover.

I work with the incredible Natalia Sorokina (@jwitless_art on insta). I send her a PDF with a few notes – descriptions, eye colour, hair colour, some pose ideas. She sends me back a few sketches to choose a pose, and then once a pose is chosen she’ll work on a colour WIP and sends it back. Then if there are any tweaks, those are made before she produces the final piece.

I try not to be too prescriptive – I like Natalia to have as much creative control over the process as possible, even though that means this isn’t exactly how I picture the characters, (in my head they’re nowhere near as perfect – Fia is plainer/scruffier, Alexander has wavy hair, etc) I still adore the final outcome.

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

Ooh, tough one. A few do, but answers would be spoilers! The Lady Noor is a strong favourite – she’s a kick-ass witch, an excellent spy, she can fight, create illusions, and she flies her own glider. 

Writing can be a stressful pursuit. Any tips for aspiring writers.

Just begin! Try to write a little bit every day, and you’ll see an improvement. Even if it’s just 100 words. Reading often helps, too. But really it’s about experimenting and finding what works for you – everyone is different and there is no single answer to this question.

Lastly please tell us about

Thank You for your time and honest answers Victoria.  Thank you for having me on the tours BookTamins. 

On behalf of all the readers of Mru's Books I wish the author the very best for her future endeavors. 

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