I'm absolutely thrilled to be hanging out with Juliane Weber today here on The Hippo. Juliane's debut historical novel, Under the Emerald Sky, is the first in The Irish Fortune Series and it's getting great reviews. You might also like to know that it's free to downoad today!
As always let's start by introducing you to the lovely lady behind the words.
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| Photo courtesy of Juliane Weber |
Juliane is actually a scientist. She holds degrees in physiology and zoology, including a PhD in physiology. During her studies she realised, however, that her passion lay not in conducting scientific research herself, but in writing about it. Thus began her career as a medical writer, where she took on all manner of writing and editing tasks, in the process honing her writing skills, until she finally plucked up the courage to write her first historical novel, Under the Emerald Sky. The book is the first in The Irish Fortune Series, which is set in 19th century Ireland around the time of the Great Famine.
Juliane is inspired by Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander Series of books, who also happens to be a scientist turned novelist.
Juliane lives with her husband and two sons in Hamelin, Germany, the town made famous by the story of the Pied Piper.
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Welcome to The HIppo Juliane! Grab a chair, make yourself at home and let's chat.
Hi Neats. Thank you for letting me hang out with you today!
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
Yes, and in
fact I do write under a pseudonym, at least sort of… Weber is actually my
maiden name. I studied science and later became a medical writer, and during
that time I published numerous articles using my maiden name. I therefore thought
I would continue using this name for my fiction writing, making it my
“professional” name or a pseudonym of sorts. Plus, I figured that Weber would
be easier to pronounce than my married name, which is Popović, thanks to my Serbian
husband 😊
Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing etc come from?
My love of
books and reading started very early on, with bedtime stories that were always
part of my bedtime routine when I was growing up. Both my parents are also avid
readers and as soon as I could read myself, I too started devouring all sorts
of books and never stopped. As for my love of writing, that only developed
during my studies, when I was writing research papers and other scientific
articles and found that I really enjoyed it. But it was only after I had worked
as a medical writer for several years that I started writing my first novel and
found that I loved storytelling too!
What did you edit out of your last book?
I edited out
a few of the later chapters of Under the Emerald Sky after somebody told me in
a very rude way that my book was too long to be considered for publication. I
found this quite annoying, as to me, a book is simply as long as it needs to be
in order to tell the story. There are any number of fantastic books that are
longer than mine and, in my opinion, wordcount as such has no bearing on the quality
of a book. But I suppose I should thank the person who said that to me, because
I did actually look at my book critically for the thousandth time, and the
story did in fact end up being better with the deletions, which are now in the
second book of The Irish Fortune Series, which is tentatively called Beneath
the Darkening Clouds. The overall wordcount of Under the Emerald Sky wasn’t
reduced all that much, though, but none of my readers have yet complained that
the book is too long, and most are eagerly awaiting the sequel!
What do you think is more important: characters or plot?
I think
it’s particularly important for a book to have well-developed,
three-dimensional characters that come alive on the page and that the reader
can relate to. Without that, even a good plot can fall somewhat flat. Having
said that, even the most life-like characters are unlikely to convince the
reader if the plot is not plausible or has obvious holes. Optimally, you want both
well-developed characters and a good plot.
If you could spend time with a character from your book who would it be
and why? What would you get up to?
I think I would
like to spend some time with Herbert Andrews, one of the characters in The
Irish Fortune Series. He’s a wealthy Anglo-Irishman who tends to put himself
above all others and in the first book, has plans of marrying the story’s
heroine, Alannah O’Neill (despite the fact that she has no interest in him).
Andrews is quite a complex character and even though I invented him, I’m not
always sure what he’s up to. In fact, in Under the Emerald Sky, he takes over a
courtroom scene, making all sorts of revelations that I had no idea about. I
guess he keeps me on my toes! But I would like to sit down with him and try to
figure him out to understand why he does what he does.
What character in your book are you least likely to get along with and
why?
That
would definitely be Martin Doyle! He’s a vile character who hates the English
for the centuries-long occupation of Ireland and their oppression of the Irish
people and is plotting a rebellion against the English Crown. While that may be
an understandable attitude for an Irishman of the times to take, he’s unafraid
to use any methods to achieve his aims—intimidation, violence and murder are
part of his repertoire in his quest to free Ireland. Given these qualities, we
wouldn’t get on at all!
I'm making a mental note to keep a beady eye on Martin when I read your book. 🤔
If a genie granted you three wishes what would they be?
Fun
question! My first wish would be to be able to eat as much chocolate as I want
without having to worry about any health or weight detriments (I’m a
chocoholic!). The second wish would be for the housework to do itself, so that
I can spend more time doing other things, including writing. As for the third
wish, like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, I feel obligated to say World Peace—although,
just like Sandra’s character, I really do want that too!
They're great wishes Juliane. I'm also a chocoholic (bars, biscuits or cake I'm not fussy as long as it's chocolatey!)
Do you have any bad habits?
I do,
probably several! One is that I eat too much chocolate, as mentioned. Another
is that I am extremely self-critical. I have the incredible ability to discover
hidden criticisms even in compliments…yes, I know, that takes some doing! It is
something I am working on, however, which is a good thing too, since publishing
a book does come with a fair bit of critique. I am learning to accept the fact
that I can’t make everybody happy and to take the positives out of people’s
comments and discard the rest. But it’s a work in progress!
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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Under the Emerald Sky is free to download today only so let me tell you a little bit more about it.
He’s come to Ireland to escape his past. She’s trying to run from her future.
It's 1843 and the English nobleman Quinton Williams has come to Ireland to oversee the running of his father’s ailing estate and escape his painful past. Here he meets the alluring Alannah O’Neill, whose Irish family is one of few to have retained ownership of their land, the rest having been supplanted by the English over the course of the country's bloody history. Finding herself drawn to the handsome Englishman, Alannah offers to help Quin communicate with the estate’s Gaelic-speaking tenants, as much to assist him as to counter her own ennui. Aware of her controlling brother’s hostility towards the English, she keeps her growing relationship with Quin a secret – a secret that cannot, however, be kept for long from those who dream of ridding Ireland of her English oppressors.
Among the stark contrasts that separate the rich few from the plentiful poor, Under the Emerald Sky is a tale of love and betrayal in a land teetering on the brink of disaster – the Great Famine that would forever change the course of Ireland's history.
I'm a big fan of historical novels so I've already downloaded my copy and I can't wait to read it, even if I am already a little wary of Martin Doyle - thanks for the heads up Juliane! 😉
You can find out more about Juliane, her book and connect with her using the links below:
Website
Blog
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Goodreads
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
I'd like to say a big thank you to Juliane for taking the time to stop by today. It's been great fun getting to know you and I wish you lots of success with Under the Emerald Sky! 😘
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