I am excited to be in a place where I’m able to begin using my website to introduce and promote some of my fellow Indie authors.
As long as I’m able, I hope to post a weekly interview with Indie writers I read, know, and/or admire. Writers who have set an example to me, and who have inspired me in some way. Some of these writers have decades of experience. Some are just getting started.
Each of these initial interviews are with authors I consider to be exceptional writers and incredible people!
To start off this new series, I am honored to introduce my friend Daan Katz. Now, my own memory being what it is, I honestly don’t recall where I met Daan, or how we initiated our friendship. I do remember the impressions of those initial encounters though. Daan stood out as someone I could instantly relate to. I’ve discovered that he and I share a great many essential attributes, a kinship, if you will. And over time, I am more and more honored to call him a friend.
Daan has written two novels, two poetry collections, plus a few short stories – one of which is included in the charity anthology Children of War.
So let us learn more about Daan:
•What book would you like to discuss?
Night’s Reign
•Is Night’s Reign the first book in a series?
Yes, Night’s Reign is the first in the “Curse of the Fathers” series and, frankly, I’ve no idea how many books I will end up with eventually.
•I know Night’s Reign is unique within the fantasy genre. So tell me, what sub-genre do you think it best falls into. How does it fall into that category?
Night’s Reign is a dark fantasy novel, set in a contemporary world. Our protagonists are the autistic priest Niels Bosch, and his wheelchair dependent cantor Beldenka Nadinov. Together they set out on a mission to lift an ancient curse that has upended lives, and destroyed kingdoms. Meanwhile, Niels’ own life—and the lives of his companions—hangs in the balance as he desperately tries to stay out of reach of the Royal Assassins of Ebaru.
The closer they come to unraveling the truth behind the curse, the greater their peril. If they fail, their world will be plunged into eternal darkness. Time is running out, but they cannot give up. Niels must reach the King’s court and end Night’s reign forever.
•Tell me, what inspired you to tell this particular story?
This story grew within me over the span of many years and eventually I just had to write it down.
•I can understand how a story grows in our minds. For a story to build for many years, as you say, when you decided to write it, was that an easy transition for you to get from your mind to paper?
Oh, I had bits and pieces written down already. Large bits and pieces, so it honestly wasn’t all that hard. All I needed to do was reorder some stuff, replace a few characters that no longer fit my vision, and make up the rest. The hardest part, honestly, was the editing.
•How long did it take you to get Niels and Bel’s story into novel form?
Somewhere during the first year of the pandemic I decided now was the time to finally write that novel, and with all the self-isolation and hardly anything happening in my daily life at all, it took me… I can’t remember. Less than a year, I think, to finish that first draft. Then, of course, came the editing, revising, editing… You know how it goes.
•Having read Night’s Reign, one thing that really stood out to me is how rich your characters are, that is, how fully developed they are. Tell me a little about how you developed Niels’ character? Was he a fully formed character before you started writing, or did writing his story help develop him?
Most of my characters come to me fully formed. Niels was no exception. Not that I already knew him well. That’s a different story entirely. I got to know him gradually, over the course of writing his story.
It’s not so different from how we get to know people in real life. They are already fully formed personalities (or so I would hope for their sakes), but when we first meet them we only get to see some surface stuff. That’s how it is with my characters, too.
•Are any of your characters inspired by someone you know in real life?
Yes and no.
•Can you give us a peek into what the second book is about?
The second book starts roughly one turning (a little longer, actually) after the end of Night’s Reign. A lot has happened, and if you’ve read Death and the Maiden you’ll already know some of it. However, I will make absolutely sure that readers who haven’t read Death and the Maiden will still be able to follow the story without feeling like they are missing something.
Anyway, book two starts with Lori, who has been staying with her parents ever since the dramatic events in Ebaru. She has not been doing well, therapy hasn’t worked so far, but a new therapist manages to finally get through to her, and the depression lifts just enough for Lori to be able to make a decision. She leaves her parents’ home and does not return.
Niels and Bel travel to Ingravia—which isn’t without risks for Bel, seeing that she is still a Reject—to find out what exactly happened to Lori. They discover that nothing is what it seems, and, as they are unearthing the truth about Lori’s fate, they become aware of other issues that need to be dealt with. An escaped prisoner, a series of murders…
Beyond that, I don’t really know all that much yet. I have a rough idea of the ending, but even that may still change. Nothing is set in stone until I finalise the novel, and that may still take a while.
•Who do you hope will read your book?
Fantasy lovers. People with disabilities. People who care about their disabled fellow humans. Thinkers. People who aren’t afraid to ask the big important questions in life.
•I love that you strive to reach people that most writers overlook. (Myself included.) And I love that you almost lay down a challenge to readers to ask big questions. As I said, I have overlooked readers whom I may not fully understand, specifically disabled and their caregivers and loved ones. What advice would you give another writer who, like me, wants to be inclusive without being offensive?
Stop being afraid. What kind of writer would you be if you managed to never offend anyone, anyway? You might as well not have written anything at all. You think I don’t offend people?
Part of being a writer is being a pain in the arse. If you never upset anyone, your words are powerless. There’s a reason why books get banned, and why writers are considered dangerous. Look at what happened to Salman Rushdie. Bonhoeffer. Niemöller.
Dare to write. Stick your neck out. Be that pain in the arse.
•How did you get into writing?
I just did. I think it was meant to be. It’s like breathing. You don’t stop to think about why you’re doing it. You just do it because it’s life.
•“You just do it because it’s life.” Man! That resonates! I might need to add that to my quotes somewhere. That said, has writing ever become hard for you? Like, have you ever just needed to walk away from it for a while? What motivated you to continue onward, or to come back to it?
Writing used to be easy, back when I was still in school. However, the better I got at it, the harder it became. These days, writing is always hard. But I don’t mind, because the better my prose—or my poetry, at that—the greater my reward. That heady feeling when you wrote something, you gave it your all, and now it’s at its current best. That makes it all worth it.
That said, there have absolutely been times when I’ve needed to walk away from my writing for a while, but that had nothing to do with the writing per se, but rather with the subject. Certain scenes are so brutal, so draining, I just really need time to recover from writing them once I’m done. Sometimes, I can’t even write them in one sitting. But that’s alright. Because it’s all about the final result, and when a reader later tells me they had to put the book down for a while after reading that particular scene, I know it was all worth it.
•How long have you been writing?
For as long as I can remember.
•Prior to Night’s Reign, have you always written fantasy, or have you written in other genres, for fun, or for work?
I don’t really think in genre. I simply write what wants to be written. The one thing all my stories have in common is that they dive deep into the characters’ minds.
Psychology is one of my Special Interests. The human mind and behaviour are so fascinating, and especially to me, as an autistic, it can be incredibly rewarding to try and untangle the threads of human emotion, behaviour, and cognition.
How do people learn, why do they act the way they do? What makes certain actions socially accepted, whereas others get condemned? How do we crack that code?
•Share a moment of inspiration that affected something you have written, even if it is not in your book.
Inspiration is such a big word. I just play with the stuff life throws at me. I pick it apart, reorder the bits and pieces, and turn it into something new. That’s really all there is to it.
•So, writing, for you, is also a bit therapeutic? Has taking the stuff from real life and turning it into something new helped you with real life problem solving?
No, I don’t think so. I only write about stuff that I have already worked through. That lends realism to my writing. So, it’s really rather the other way round. Having come to terms with real life stuff has helped me solve writing-related problems.
One of my children died when she was five. I cannot count on the fingers of my two hands how many times people have suggested I write a book about her life and death. It would help me, they reasoned, and I could help others with my book, too.
Except that it doesn’t work like that. It’s been well over twenty years now, and I still haven’t written that book. I also know that I probably never will. It cuts too deep. You can’t write when you’re bleeding.
•As indie writers, we rely on many tools (books, apps, programs, etc) to write and prepare to publish. What is the most useful tool you use when writing or preparing to launch your book? Why is it so valuable to you?
My brain. Try writing without one.
•LOL True. True. That would be quite challenging. Have you ever stumbled on advice or a tip that you found to be useful in your writing journey?
Don’t be afraid to use AI. It’s a tool and, like any tool, it can be used either for good or for bad. Used ethically, there’s nothing wrong with it.
•Ah – yes. Ever controversial AI usage. Like you, I believe it can be a beneficial tool when used, as you say: ethically. However, as it is part of this ongoing controversy, what do you believe ethical AI usage looks like to a writer today?
If I had to sum it up in one word: research. That’s basically how I use it.
While I excel at characterization, I’m not all that good at description. That’s partly because I honestly don’t care, but also because I have mild visual aphantasia. I can remember what my parents’ garden looks like, e.g., but I can’t create a mental image of it, no matter how hard I try.
So that’s one of the areas where I use AI to help me out. I ask it for a description of a certain location, e.g. a hunting cabin, and it comes up with something I can use. I will read and reread that description, pick out a few things that resonate with my vision and work those few things into my writing—in my own words, of course. The main thing is, it sparks ideas and gets my fingers moving.
Like I said, it’s just a tool. A tool that helps me overcome some of the restraints of my disability, just as the computer helps me overcome other restraints of my disability. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The main thing is that you should never, ever, ever succumb to the temptation to just copy and paste what AI puts out and then pass it off as your own. If you didn’t write it, don’t take credit for it. Because that would be unethical. (It would also be stupid, as AI puts out horrible prose, but that’s beside the point here.)
•What is one thing you wish to express to readers who might enjoy your book?
Don’t be afraid to explore the dark matter.
•When you say, “dark matter” what do you mean?
Some people read to escape reality. They want pink unicorns farting golden butterflies. Sugar and spice and all things nice. Roses without thorns. You get the picture.
That’s not what I write. I confront reality. I write about the hard things in life. Trauma. Poverty. Death. Mental illness, addiction, suicide. Violence and abuse, including sexual abuse. People die in my works. Children die. Cats and dogs, too. And my dragons might well eat your unicorns. Sorry, not sorry.
Life is cruel. Can’t deal with it? Then don’t read my work.
•You paint a bit of a dark image here, but I think most readers today appreciate books that deliberately choose not to sugar-coat the facets of life, shining light on both the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful. I do believe that is one of your strengths, and I think readers will find connection there.
What do you believe to be your greatest strength as a writer? Your greatest weakness?
As I already mentioned earlier, my greatest strength is characterisation, and my greatest weakness would be description. Unless we take peopling and marketing into account, as I’m even worse at those two.
•Tell me about any hobbies or activities you participate in that affect your writing.
I’m a passionate amateur musician. As a classical singer, I specialise in Baroque repertoire, which fits both my voice and my personality really well, but I also enjoy singing even earlier music, as well as Mozart, and Schubert.
I also dabble in graphic design, and enjoy creating graphics for social media, as well as covers for my short stories. I may not be the best out there, but I am getting better, so there’s still hope for me.
•Do you have a favorite song to get you “in the mood” to write? If yes, what is it?
Unlike most people, I’m not well versed in modern music and hardly ever listen to it. First and foremost, I’m a Baroque man. I listen to—and sing—a lot of Baroque repertoire. That’s where both my voice and my soul feel most at home. As such, I don’t get inspired by songs. But I do find inspiration in arias, chorales, etc.
When writing Bel, I drew heavily on my own experience as a classical singer, and even though the reader doesn’t get to see her in her capacity as a cantor much, it influenced how I wrote her. I am intimately acquainted with the kind of music she would sing; music that would be very similar to the baroque repertoire I myself am so familiar with and love so much.
The same goes for my other works.
Death and the Maiden literally takes its title from Schubert’s Lied (or art song as it’s often called in English, but that doesn’t feel quite right to me) “Der Tod und das Mädchen”. (This is not a Baroque work, BTW, but rather a Romantic Lied.)
My upcoming novella, which takes place in Ingravia, several turnings before Night’s Reign, takes its title from a classical hymn, “Dies Iræ” which has been set to music by many composers throughout musical history; often as part of a Requiem.
•I know you have written other things beyond Night’s Reign, books of poetry included. How do you manage writing across genres?
I just write what I feel like writing. That’s probably also the reason why it’s so hard to really pin down the exact genre of my stories, as they contain elements of several different genres.
Basically, it works like this: In my stories I focus on what goes on inside the minds of my characters. In my poetry, it’s all about what’s in the narrator’s mind. Not that different, really. And when I’m writing non fiction—well, that’s where I slip into full schoolmaster mode.
•As an Indie Fantasy Author, what role do you believe you play in shaping the expectations and boundaries of the genre?
A negligible one, I’m afraid. I am not well-known, and because 1) I suck at marketing, and 2) my literary style ensures that I will never be well-liked by a wide audience, my writing will never have much impact on a larger scale.
The best I can hope for is that my writing affects individual readers and touches their hearts.
•How do you navigate the balance between meeting reader expectations and pushing creative boundaries?
I don’t. I mean, I listen to the feedback I receive from my alpha and beta readers and do my best to incorporate their suggestions if they fit in with my own vision, but I refuse to compromise my work to attract more readers. I much prefer remaining true to myself.
•Looking forward as a writer, if you knew your books would have one lasting and beneficial impact on readers, what would you hope that would be, and why?
I would hope it would broaden their horizons and grant them a deeper understanding of humanity in all its complexities, and more empathy with and compassion for those who are “different”. I think that would make the world a better place for all.
•Now, just for fun:
What is your favorite fantasy novel?
Only one? Come now, you can’t be serious! I’ll do a series. OK, several series really, but it’s a series of series, so it still counts as one, deal?
Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings. I still need to collect and read The Liveship Traders and The Rain Wild Chronicle, but I read all Fitz and the Fool books and enjoyed them thoroughly.
•If you could give a shout-out to any fellow writers, now’s your chance. Give us their name, and a book by them that you read and enjoyed.
Two of my most recent reads come to mind. One is a historical fiction by M.J. Krause-Chivers: Katarina’s Dark Journey. I proofread it (which means I read it several times) and sometimes I got so caught up in the story, I had to go back to do my job properly. That’s saying quite something.
The second is a dark fantasy by Val Neil: Dark Apprentice, about a psychopathic mage and his autistic mentor. Really good stuff!
•I have been seeing buzz about Katarina’s Dark Journey. I will have to add it to my TBR pile. But I am not familiar with Dark Apprentice, so I will have to check that one out.
I definitely recommend it. It’s very character-focused, and just an incredibly good read. For me, personally, it was also great fun to see how the author focused on other aspects of autism with her autistic character than I did with Niels. That, to me, really brings out how broad the spectrum is.
•If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
London. And really, I know England is a harsh country and nasty stuff is happening there, just as it’s happening everywhere else. But I lost my heart to England, and more specifically to London. I’d go back there in a heartbeat if I could.
•If you could travel anywhere in the realms of your fantasy world, where would you go, and why?
I’m torn between Dorhedde, where Niels grew up, or the Barlows, where Niels met Bel. Two very different places, but they each speak to me on a different level.
•I know you have cattens – would you like to share pics (and names) of those sweet furbabies? (if so, include a pic or two.)
Absolutely!
My cats are 12-year-old Thalia, who is the smallest of the three, and also an absolute diva. Little though she may be, she bosses my two Norwegian Forest cats around. She has such a huge personality, it’s amazing!
My Norwegian Forest Cats Rafaela and Mozart are six years old. Although they are not related at all, I’ve had them since they were kittens, so they grew up together and are absolutely inseparable.
All three of them are very social beings, and love their human to smithereens. Every morning when I enter the living room, they come running, wanting hugs and cuddles—which I’m only too happy to provide, of course.
•Oh my goodness, what beautiful creatures! No doubt they offer you grat companionship, amusement, and no doubt a fair bit of distraction! Thank you for sharing these glorious floofs with us!
•What is your preferred method of communicating with your readers? (FB, Twitter, email, etc)
Smoke signals. I’d probably ignore them, so readers might have better success trying to contact me via the book of faces or by filling out the form on my website https://daankatz.com/
Thank you, Daan, for letting me get to pick your brain a bit for this interview. You know I am eager to read anything and everything you write next! I know other readers will too.
Readers:
Thank you for joining us for this first interview. I invite you to visit Daan’s website listed above, and also to seek him out on the social media links below.
https://www.facebook.com/DaanKatzAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/katzdaan/
If you enjoyed this interview, please let me know by leaving a comment below, or by sharing the link to this post on your favorite social media site.
Next Friday, I hope you come back to meet R.A. Lingenfelter, the award-winning author of End of Crows.