Today I welcome Arthur Daigle to my blog. With his degree in biology, he’s had an interesting career working at such places as a zoo, a wildlife foundation, and an arboretum. But his love of fantasy and science fiction, along with his sense of humor, led him to publishing six books, with more on the way!

Linda Covella: Arthur, I’m so glad you could join us today! When and why did you decide to become a writer?

Arthur Daigle: It wasn’t really a conscious decision. I started writing as a hobby back in senior year high school and then college. After graduating I had free time and began writing books. It wasn’t until much later that relatives and friends encouraged me to try to publish them.

LC: What is your writing process: where do you write, how often do you write, are you a full-time or part-time writer, do you outline or do you plot as you go, etc.?

AD: I mostly write on my computer on my bed, no office or special place needed. I am most definitely a part time writer, as my books don’t generate enough money to cover my bills. This means for now my day job is essential (grumble) and writing is done in my free time.

I outline my books in a manner of speaking. I take long walks for relaxation and exercise. When I do this, I picture scenes of my books in my head. They’re like short movie clips running anywhere from ten seconds to a few minutes. Once I have enough of these mental clips together I sit down and start writing. I do come up with new bits while I write, but 90% or so is plotted out before I begin writing.

LC: Where do you find your inspiration for your stories? Do you draw from your own experiences?

AD: My primary interests come from the works of the filmmaker and puppeteer Jim Henson and the British artist Brian Froud. Other sources of ideas have included dreams, history books, TV shows, movies, video games, and more. Some ideas seem to just pop up without any obvious source.

LC: Who is one of your favorite characters from your story(ies), one that you enjoyed creating and writing about, and why?

AD: One of my characters is Vial the goblin alchemist. On his youth he saw a wizard casting spells and was so impressed that he begged many wizards to take him on as an apprentice. The all refused since goblins were notoriously crazy, stupid and troublesome. Vial stole books on alchemy as a close approximation to his dream job and set to work building ever larger and more complex bombs. Vial is calm, intelligent, and has a fascination with explosives that borders on pathological.

I like him because many of the other goblins in my books and both trolls need Will Bradshaw to guide them. Vial is happy to follow orders, but he is less dependent on Will. If Vial was alone and leaderless, he’d go his own way. He is also an example of how people can grow beyond what others expect of them. Goblins are supposed to be stupid, yet Vial can read, follow complex plans and build the tools he needs for his work.

LC: Do you incorporate (or inadvertently find) any of your own personality traits into your characters?

AD: People who know me say that I put a lot of myself into my main character, William Bradshaw.

LC: Do you find your stories are more plot driven or character driven? Please explain.

AD: My books tend toward plot driven. I want major events that could change the world taking place. This creates a lot of excitement and gives the heroes a good reason to get involved, even if it’s only for their own survival.

LC: Did you read much as a child?

Constantly. I spent a lot of time reading in my school’s library and bought books at book fairs. My father also had a lot of books at home to read. Many of them were about biology, gardening, wildlife and the like, which appealed to me.

LC: How important do you think reading is for writers?

AD: I feel if you’re going to be a good writer than you need to read ten pages for every page your write. And you need to read outside your genre. Books on botany, biology, geology and history help you create a believable world, and that is essential even for fantasy novels. Biographies and history books also have a wealth of story ideas so bizarre that you’d swear they were made up if they weren’t real.

LC: Who are some of your favorite authors and/or books? What draws you to them?

AD: I enjoy the Honor Harrington books by David Weber. His science fiction books tend to info dump, but given how large the world is and how advanced readers need to get the details. I also like Terry Pratchett’s Disc World books. Terry wrote great fantasy and very funny books. He did have a tendency towards elitism, where common people were so stupid and greedy that they needed tyrants, kings and witches to rule them, but otherwise his work is so exceptional that I can overlook that flaw.

LC: Anything new in the works?

AD: Lots. I have another book for William Bradshaw in rough draft stage and another coming up. I also have short stories in the Fellowship of Fantasy series available on Amazon.

LC: We’ll look forward to seeing those works. Thanks again for talking with us today!

Author Bio:

Arthur Daigle was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He received a degree in biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which sounded like a good idea at the time. This led to work as a zoo intern at Brookfield Zoo, an assistant fisheries biologist at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, and a research assistant at Morton Arboretum. Most recently he’s been employed grading high school essay tests and garden associate (yeah, the job market is that bad). In addition to writing, Arthur is an avid gardener and amateur artist.
Arthur is the author (no jokes, please, he’s heard them all) of six books. These include William Bradshaw King of the Goblins, William Bradshaw and a Faint Hope, William Bradshaw and War Unending, William Bradshaw and Fool’s Gold, Goblin Stories and Dr. Moratrayas Mad Scientist. These books were almost inevitable given that the author has been a fan of science fiction and fantasy since he was old enough to walk. Major influences include the works of the puppeteer and filmmaker Jim Henson and the British artist Brian Froud. Expect more books in the Will Bradshaw series, as all attempts to stop Arthur from writing have failed.

You can contact Arthur at the following links:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00JACHZNY/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arthur.daigle.52

Booksie: https://www.booksie.com/portfolio-view/ArthurD7000-131311

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-daigle-26674274/