The Rivers Lead Home (Blog Tour)
Hello!
Today, I had the fun of participating in the blog tour for the release of Emily Hayse’s new novel, The Rivers Lead Home.
(Can we just take a second to admire how gosh darn beautiful that cover is?!)
“You see, Maki, that’s the thing about the rivers. They’re like the blood-lines in your hands…. If you lose your way, follow the river downstream and you’ll always find your way back.”
In The Rivers Lead Home, Emily Hayse explores new frontiers, digging deeper into the land and the characters first introduced in her award-winning novel Seventh City. This collection of twelve short stories features beloved characters like Maki, Tsanu, Willow, Ransom, Laramie, Rutter, and Jeremiah, as well as introducing new characters like Spruce Norman, Mollie at Heart’s End, and the mysteriously lucky dog-driver Epirvikk Heft. From lazy nights at the Pick and Collarbone to dog-races on the frozen tundra to the adventures of a young mapmaker in the jungles of Havast, these stories are full of laughter, surprises, brushes with glory, and heartwarmingly ordinary humanity.
And now, onto the interview!
What is your favorite thing about writing in general?
I just love the storytelling aspect. I love coming up with ideas and finding the best way to tell that particular story and then watch it unfold.
What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Feeling stuck. Sometimes it’s when I’m too busy to write and the story is kind of festering inside me, sometimes it’s when I’ve turned a plot problem every way I know to turn it and still the solution isn’t coming.
What is some advice you have for beginner writers?
Read good books, write a lot, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be good just yet. And what I mean by that is, write to enjoy it without worrying what anyone will say. Worry about what you think about it, make it as good as you can, but don’t let yourself get too hung up on whether someone else will like it or not. You can talk yourself out of really good things thinking that way.
What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?
Well, one, I would love to make it a long career, make it a living, but inside of that, looking at purpose, I want it to help people love truth and goodness. Fiction is one of the strongest tools for shaping a person’s tastes and loves and if I can spur people on to a love of the right things, I’ll feel that I’ve done my job well.
What are some things you have learned from past writing projects?
Probably some of the biggest things I’ve learned from past projects are how to write no matter how I’m feeling, how to look objectively at my work, and then just simply developing my style. I know no better resource for developing your voice than just writing and writing.
Are you a plotter or panster?
Pantser. That said, I will plan a little bit ahead to keep things from running off the rails. I just can’t plan the whole thing or the book is wrecked.
What was your inspiration for Seventh City and The Rivers Lead Home?
As with any project, dozens of little things went into the inspiration for these books. But I’d say that some major ones for Seventh City were the Iditarod, a book I was reading at the time titled The King’s Fifth about the search for El Dorado, and the song King and Lionheart. Then for The Rivers Lead Home it was Seventh City and the readers who latched onto that world and its characters who really propelled this story forward.
What are some of your favorite books/authors and why?
I love Tolkien, Rosemary Sutcliff, Armstrong Sperry, Eloise Jarvis McGraw, and Robert Louis Stevenson. I love their mastery of the English language and beautiful prose but straightforward storytelling.
And now for a few fun questions: if you had to live in one season for the rest of your life, what season would it be?
Spring or fall! I love the crisp air of autumn, but spring always feels like a sigh of relief after winter and the air is so clean. So one of those.
If you had to take three fictional characters on a quest with you, who would you pick?
Faramir, Captain America, and Blondie from The Good the Bad and the Ugly. I would be very safe and we would certainly survive it.
A huge thanks to Emily for doing this interview. It was lots of fun! Make sure to check out The Rivers Lead Home, along with her other books! Until next time!
-Hannah
