Mikelyn Bolden Dishes About Her New Book

Fellow Dothan author, Mikelyn Bolden, just released Flight To Facilis, the second book in The Waiz Chronicles.

So I asked her to come give us a little insight into why she has to be so sickeningly industrious as to write ANOTHER book, have a baby, travel the world, and still maintain her sanity. Amazingly, she stuck around to answer the questions anyway.

BUT FIRST…

Now, on to Flight!

Summary: Joel’s achieved the impossible. He’s escaped from The Temple of Differe School, twice. His actions are seen as a scandalous crime in Differe, but on his second flight he discovers a city in the West End has the power to pardon his offense. He can be free of the headmaster forever . . . if only he can get there.

Disguised as a temple guard, Joel races to the capital city of Facilis with a band of rogue Differian soldiers. The group wreaks havoc along the way, as Joel learns Differe’s power stretches well beyond its borders and is controlling many of the villages in the West End.

As he nears Facilis, he begins to realize his quest for freedom will impact more than himself. That is, until the city falls under siege to Differe, and he gets caught.

Outside Joel’s prison walls a whole region is rooting for him, an entire army awaits his leadership, and his best friend has given him her heart, yet all he can hear in his head is the enemy’s victory cries. Hope calls to him, if only he will choose to hear it above the noise of his own voices.

Nathan: I hear voices sometimes in the early morning. It’s my kids in the monitor demanding that I get them out of bed early. Sometimes I choose to NOT hear it. Let’s hope Joel doesn’t follow my example. So, how is  Flight to Facilis different from the first book in your series, Escape from Differe?

Mikelyn: As far as overall writing style, I made the chapters shorter and cut all tag lines in the dialogue to make Flight read faster. There is a whole lot more back story on the characters in this book. The reader will discover why some characters have certain nuances and personality traits.

Nathan: Do you have a favorite new character?

Mikelyn:  Hm. That’s a tough one. I really like Dillon, who is very much Joel’s (main character) confidant and sidekick in this book. We haven’t seen Joel in a peer relationship with another guy, so it’s fun to see what it brings out in him. I also really like the younger version of Corwin – I loved writing his transformation story.

Nathan: Escape from Differe had some pretty exciting scenes. Any edge-of-your seat parts in Flight?

Mikelyn: There’s a great face-off scene between Joel, twenty of his young comrades, and hundreds of soldiers in the Differian Army. It has lightning, poisonous, dark smoke, and just overall chaos.

Nathan: What are the most important metaphors in your plot—the ones you hope inspire people to pursue God?

Mikelyn: Wow, there are so many hidden nuggets in this story. Hope is the main theme of this book – the characters fight for hope even if there is only the smallest glimmer of light in their dark circumstances. As Thad states, “Where there’s fight there’s light.” Without hope it’s difficult to have faith. Another key theme is the power of choice. My favorite line in the book is: “Joel is the only one who can set himself free.” Though the character speaking is referring to an actual prison cell, I think we, as believers, hold the keys to our own freedom.

Nathan: My brother tied me to a tree in the middle of summer once, and I had to get myself free. If only I had had your book then!

Nathan: If you could choose any current actor to play the main characters in your plot, who would it be?

Mikelyn: I’ve thought about this some and I really–

Nathan: Want me to do it?

Mikelyn: Uh, ahem…I can’t really place my three main characters (Joel, Augustine, Isabelle). I think they’d be new discoveries more than–

Nathan: I’m a new discovery. I’ve never–

Mikelyn: I do think with a little hair dye and mustache Leonardo Decaprio could do a pretty sinister Headmaster Dark.

Nathan: I’ll come over and do a reading for you later.

Nathan: Why do you write? Is it something you’ve always done? Or wanted to do?

Mikelyn: I write from a place of both inspiration and motivation. Inspired by so many books over the years, I decided if I ever had a good idea I’d want to take the opportunity to do what the written word has done for me! The thought that I could actually inspire someone else with my own stories is what motivates me to write. As a former speech-language pathologist, novel writing was definitely not on my radar, but I couldn’t pass up sharing this story.

Nathan: Do you have a work in progress ( I know it’s a bit soon since you JUST released Flight, but you never know)?

Mikelyn: Well, about a hundred and fifty pages were cut from Flight to go into Book Three. So, that’s definitely in the works, but I plan on taking some time off from writing to refuel at the beginning of 2015. 

Nathan: Will you be doing any book signings soon? And where (if you know)?

Mikelyn: With the holiday season being so busy, I decided to push book signings off until early spring. Stay tuned!

Nathan: What advice would you give aspiring authors?

Mikelyn: If you can, get a writing coach! Also, welcome constructive criticism!!! See each red ink stain as an opportunity to improve your story and your writing – stay positive! Lastly, network, network, network. Who you know can be pivotal in this field. Connect with other authors, writers, publishers, book bloggers, etc.

Nathan: Other authors? You mean…like me?

This is as good a place as any to remind you to either follow my blog, or sign-up for my newsletter to receive early updates about special offers, cover design, and PRE-ORDERING Daniel and the Sun Sword.

Thanks, Mikelyn for stopping by and sharing about your book!

If you’d like to learn EVEN MORE about Mikelyn and her books, you’ll find all you need to know at the links below:

Social Media

Website:  mikelynbolden.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWaizChronicles?ref=bookmarks

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6864321.Mikelyn_Bolden/blog

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/mikelynbolden

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mikelyn-Bolden/e/B00J9CZARI