We talk with indie writer and publisher, Randy Ellefson on And I Quote powered by Pod Decks. Use Promo ode RYAN10 for 10% off your order at PodDecks.com.
We will also be taking your questions!
Growing up playing AD&D and reading fantasy books like The DragonLance Series, the Gor Books, and Conan, I began writing stories in the 1980s and then completed my first book, which really turned me on to storytelling as a teenager. By 1991, TSR, Inc., the makers of AD&D games, had me draft a novel outline for their series, The Harpers, but rejected the book for having a similar theme to their unpublished Elfshadow book.
That same year, I embarked on serious world building of Llurien for the 1990s when unable to write, first due to college, after which I began writing The Tales of Llurien only to lose my typing ability to a tendonitis injury. Years passed before I could write stories with a dictation program, so I built Llurien in the meantime.
Starting in 1999, I authored Of Hauntings and Hunting (For Once & Ever More, #1) for Llurien, but it was too long for publishers and I shelved book two. By 2003 my music career took precedence through 2012, but in 2006 I did write The Dragon Gate and became a memoirist under another name in 2008, drafting a trilogy by 2012.
The Complete Art of World Building
By early 2013, I semi-retired from my music career to focus on parenthood and being an indie author. I wrote another six of The Tales of Llurien (three earned placement in the Writers of the Future contest), and partially retooled Of Hauntings and Hunting.
My publishing career began in earnest in 2016 with The Ever Fiend (Talon Stormbringer). The first two volumes in The Art of World Building series followed in 2017. A big success, this resulted in ten books by 2020, a blog, a podcast, audio books I recorded, and a YouTube channel.
During all of this, I sometimes let myself get distracted with other non-fantasy books, eight of them published under other names. Since then, I’ve tried to focus on fantasy or LitRPG but admittedly need to write some of my remaining memoirs. The struggle is real!
But after editing The Dragon Gate, I wrote/published two more in the series in 2021 while arranging Llurien for a LitRPG book, Death Singer. Aside from memoirs, The Dragon Gate series, Talon Stormbringer books, LitRPG will dominate my output for a while.
Follow Randy Ellefson on Social Media:
Website: https://fiction.randyellefson.com
https://artofworldbuilding.com
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