Interviewing Andi Ewington
Hellloooo!
Recently, I looked at the very very funny look at fantasy and D&D which is The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington where a young Loremaster meets all the famous archetypes (plus some new ones) that make up any Fantasy realm and then discovers all is not quite what it seems. I was very pleased to get to ask Andi some questions about this book – which if you enjoy fantasy then you really should take a look at!
How do you like to booktempt people to read The Hero Interviews?
As a rule, Twitter is my first port of call (even though it’s become something of a wretched hive thanks to a particular individual with too much money, time and not enough morals). I’ll also reach out to bloggers and reviewers to see if I can get someone to say nice things about The Hero Interviews—then use a pull quote or two on the book’s Amazon page. I’m also experimenting with some Amazon click-thru adverts to see what happens. Outside of the marketing, I’m attempting to appeal to the TTRPG audience with the promise of comedy gold (and gold dragons).
How did the format for this story evolve?
I’m something of a past master with this format—my first novel ‘Forty-Five’ was a Q&A-style graphic novel set in a superhero universe. Admittedly, The Hero Interviews is a behemoth in comparison; however, it still gives a little nod and a wink to my early work (it’s also why the number ‘45’ is referenced a lot within The Hero Interviews).
We get traditional fantasy archetypes but then we start to move a little outwards with Mime Warriors. Which ones did you enjoy writing the most and was there one character who we didn’t get to meet (yet)?)
The Mime Warrior was fabulous fun because Yarna’s origin story was practically writing itself. But, without a doubt, Seymour is my all-time favourite character. He’s appeared in numerous drafts in other unpublished scripts, so it was poetic to see him finally come to life in published form. As for any characters yet to make an ‘official’ appearance, one of my Beta Readers, Erica Marks, demanded an I write an interview for Uncle Bevan Barr… so, who knows, maybe I’ll include him somehow in book 2!
The humour moves from D&D, fanatsy specific to jokes with movies and more. Was there a tone you wanted to capture or is it a case of what works for a scene?
Absolutely, it was two-fold; firstly, I wanted to hit that ‘Blackadder’ vibe—I was and still am, a massive fan of the series. Edmund’s wit is second to none, and I used the show’s carefully crafted gags to inspire the humour found within The Hero Interviews’ pages. Secondly, the footnotes needed to feel like Elburn was breaking the fourth wall—and that’s where The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy came in. I wanted to emulate the book’s tone as it ‘speaks’ to the reader—informing them of the latest snippet of trivia, served with a thick slice of irony.
In comedy how important is still having a plot to latch everything onto?
Integral—without it, you have a bunch of seemingly random gags that could confuse and fatigue the average reader. I hope I found a good balance between jokes and plot.
What else can we look forward to in the future and where can we find out more?
Hopefully, The Hero Diaries—once I’ve managed to gather my thoughts and take a deep breath before daring to open a blank Word file again.
If there was one book, not your own, that you wish you could get everyone else to read, what would it be and why?
‘Notes from Small Planets’ by Nate Crowley—it’s a book that’s so well done that I can’t help but to go back and flick through a couple of pages, even if it’s only to read the comedic exchanges between the fictitious author and their editor in the footnotes.
