I would love it if everyone would welcome back Tristan J Tarwater to Books N Beans. After being kind enough to have her book reviewed here and provided her author bio information, Tristan has agreed to return to do an interview and a book giveway!!! *dancing in my chair excitedly*

Today is Part 1 of Tristan's interview. I didn't realize just how many questions I had asked the poor thing, but she didn't hesitate and took them ALL on! Once I received the answers I knew I'd have to do a 2-day visit with her. Don't forget to check back for day 2 as there will be a surprise that day!

So, here's part 1:

I first became interested in writing as a child. I loved reading and don’t really remember not being excited about books and stories. The first book I wrote was in 2nd grade. It was about my brother.
Egads, since I was a child. As I recall, the first chapter book I wrote was actually a fantasy story called ‘Alexander and his Trip to Rinatage.’ I think I even illustrated it! The main characters besides Alexander was a family of goblins that wore vests and berets and Hammerpants. But they weren’t anything like MC Hammer.

c. What was it that drew you to writing?

I love stories and the ability to help someone else escape and pass the time is very exciting to me. I spent a lot of time in my room by myself as a kid and I just found stories kind of piling up in my head. I wanted to at least get them out there, since they take up a lot of space. The fact that other people seemed to enjoy them as well makes me very happy.

2. Your bio, included at the end of your book, mentioned that you've always had an interest in science fiction, watching it and reading it.
a.What is it about the science fiction genre that made it the genre for you as a writer?

Well, I love Sci-fi and fantasy both. I like fantasy because I’m a bit obsessed with elves and well, fantasy and elves kind of go hand in hand. I’m going to have to attribute my love for elves to being exposed to The Legend of Zelda at a very early age. And growing up in what is one of the quintessential cities and the typically agrarian nature of fantasies just adds to the mystery and fantastic nature of fantasy. I think farming is a kind of magic, to be honest. The intersect of what nature has wrought and what man has made, people’s natural tendencies versus the dictates of society.

b. What shows/movies and/or books do remember sparking that first interest?

I’d have to go with Star Trek, especially DS9. The Bajoran religion and their having to deal with the Cardassians was awesome to me. It dealt a lot with characters having to make moral decisions and it wasn’t black and white most of the time. It was people being people. In space. The Egypt Game was another book that really piqued my interest. Two little girls who lived in California, pretending they were in Ancient Egypt. The Curse of the Blue Figurine I remember as being written for children but still very creepy. I was totally in shock over the ending. And The Phantom Tollbooth. It was a riot as well as so fanciful, so different but still so literal. And the Crystal Cave. I was named after one of the knights of the Round Table so Arthurian legend and Merlin always is fun to read. And it presented Merlin as a kid, a child with no father who had to deal with the stigma of that in a culture that is. I grew up in the 80s so I remember watching so many fantasy films growing up. So many, like Dragonslayer and Legend and all those.

c. Do you have authors that you credit as being an inspiration to you?  

I really liked The Crystal Cave series. Again, it deals with the human aspects of things, of Merlin who is a very mythical and hyperbolic character, the Son of the Devil and all that. As a young boy, playing in his grandfather’s home. In a way, Zilpha Keatly Snyder who wrote The Egypt Game. I read that as a child and holy smokes, I’ve probably read it dozens of times over the course of my life. It sparked an obsession with Ancient Egypt and then mythology, religions, worlds...it kind of snowballed!

3. Do you remember when exactly the idea for Thieves at Heart started in your mind?

Hmm...it kind of came about through that whole snowball effect, to be totally honest. It started as one story and then it turned into over 200,000 words which is the scope of the series right now. It’ll probably be even more than that at the end, with all the editing and adding.

b. Was there a particular event or moment that first sparked the idea?

Yeah, my GM at the time was going to run a new RPG campaign and so I came up with a character. My first thought was, ‘A rogue, probably a half-elf...with part of one ear cut off.’ So then I started thinking, ‘Okay, half elf. Who are her parents? How did she become a thief? How did her ear get cut?’ And this turned into Tavera and then Derk came along to help her out.

c. How did it develop into the story it became?

Well, I wrote the first story just about how Tavera and Derk met up and for myself, started explaining the other stuff and why she was operating alone in the campaign. At some point the character I played and Tavera in the stories diverged.