“I want to inspire my readers with my work. Ideally, I want to rock their worlds. I’m in this to make people feel the way I feel when I read or watch a great epic drama.”

Moses Siregar 25 September 2011

The Back Flap

Against the backdrop of epic warfare and the powers of ten mysterious gods, Lucia struggles to understand The Black One.

Her father-king wants war.

Her messianic brother wants peace.

The black god wants his due.

She suffers all the consequences.

About the Book

What is the book about?

The final days of an ancient war between two nations with radically different religious philosophies. One side reminds readers of ancient Greece or Rome, with elements of Judeo-Christian religions. The other side is like a Buddhist India.

When did you start writing the book? How long did it take you to write it?

August 2009, when I knew next to nothing about writing fiction. I studied and worked hard and published the novel two years later. It’s been an amazingly fun ride.

Where did you get the idea from?

The primary inspiration was Homer’s Iliad (which I’ve long loved), and my story is a bit of an homage to that tale. But the entire world and all of the characters sprung from my own head—not quite fully formed. 🙂

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

In too many places to mention. I had a lot to learn about how to write fiction. The romance and battle elements required the most work, but after some false starts I eventually started to hear positive feedback about these elements.

What came easily?

Huh. Now that’s an interesting question. Not much, I’m afraid, although the plotting itself comes close. I worked off a pretty good outline and that really helped.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

I’ve borrowed little things here and there from interesting people I’ve known, but none of my characters are copies of any live people.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

Through his own work, a new writer named Craig Saunders really showed me the power of shorter sentences and paragraphs. Michael A. Stackpole also inspired me in that way, though some comments he made on his DragonPage podcast; he pointed out that it’s easy to get fatigued as a reader when sentences and paragraphs too long. So when I rewrote my novel over the last year, I changed my style from a more ‘literary’ style to a simpler, more streamlined approach. I think that was a very good decision. I don’t get as many compliments about my lyrical prose, but overall readers seem to like my work much more.

Do you have a target reader?

Readers who want epic stories that are fairly deep and well paced at the same time. Also, people who enjoy a touch of the spiritual and metaphysical, but I make a very determined effort to not turn off people who aren’t interested in those things.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

Chip away, chip away, chip away. I’m not a binge writer or a particularly fast writer. I also NEED to listen to good music while I write. For example, you can see the music playlist for my next book here.

I know my next book will be good because the music I’ll be listening to while I write it will be great. I get a lot of inspiration and emotion from music.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just Chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

More like one paragraph summaries of the important things that need to happen in each chapter. Jumping off and discovering things from there is where the magic happens.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

Now I do a fair amount of editing as I go, although I wrote my first draft without editing it. I’m not sure what my process will be like for book 2, though.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Because I wanted my first book to be good, I hired three editors, plus a proofreader.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Oh yeah! See above.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

No, but I’d really like to work with Joshua Bilmes. One of his clients told him he might recommend me, so I’m hoping that works out. 🙂

What made you decide to go Indie? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

It was a gruesome, difficult decision. Ha! It started with J.A. Konrath’s blog and then persuasive arguments by Zoe Winters. My main concern is about what’s happening with bookstores, so I’ve so far placed my bets on a future when ebooks are king so that I can change and control my own prices to remain competitive.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did it you do it yourself?

I did it myself, but William Campbell helped me with a few things I couldn’t do myself. I also got a lot of feedback from friends who helped me make the cover better.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I’ve tried quite a few things. On David Gaughran’s excellent blog, I’ve talked about why I made a long excerpt from my novel free for about a year before my book came out (here and here). That’s probably the most interesting thing I’ve done and I think that strategy turned out to be fairly successful because I sold around 450 copies of my novel in the first month. That’s very good for a debut fantasy novel, so I’m sure the freebie helped me there.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

If you don’t think you’ll be able to write at least a couple novels a year, you might want to either turn back now or just go ahead and do it for the love of it. But more than anything, follow your muse.

About You

Where did you grow up?

First New Jersey, then around Atlanta, GA. I went to college at UGA in Athens, GA.

Where do you live now?

Prescott, AZ. We’re up at about 6,300 feet, living in a tall A-Frame in a pine forest with mountain views. Winters are actually cold, but I love the sunshine and the low humidity. Nice people around here, too.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I want to inspire my readers with my work. Ideally, I want to rock their worlds. I’m in this to make people feel the way I feel when I read or watch a great epic drama. That’s the most important goal to me. If readers will give me a chance to tell them a story, I promise to give them my best effort and to write a satisfying ending for each book I write.

What are you working on now?

The next book in my Splendor and Ruin series, tentatively titled The Gods Divided. It’s a lot of fun to plan out another book. The planning and plotting might be my favorite part of writing. Now I’m off to try to outdo my first effort! Thanks for having me on IndieView, Simon!

End of Interview

You can buy The Black God’s War at Amazon US, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. You can find Moses on his Blog here, Facebook here and follow him on Twitter, @MosesSiregar, here.

I’m reading The Black God’s War right now. It’s a tight, sweeping story. If you life epic fantasy, do yourself a favor, and click on one of the buy links above.