I'm delighted to welcome Effrosyni Moschoudi to my blog today as we share a special interest in Greece. We first connected through Twitter and have since become good Facebook friends. She is so hard working and is a great example of how social media can work at its best. I hope you take the time to read her fascinating interview and become a new fan of her writing.
About the writer
Effrosyni Moschoudi was
born and brought up in Athens, Greece. She has a BSc in Computer Science and
has worked for large companies for twenty years, mainly in the hotel and
airline business. Her work background has been diverse and has involved among
other things computer support, customer care, office management, aircraft
material purchasing, logistics as well as translations of airline magazines.
Effrosyni has been writing since childhood, starting with rhymes and poems and
moving on gradually to short stories, articles and novels. Recently, she
discovered the joys of blogging. Her future plans for her blog involve hosting
fellow authors with interviews and reviews of their books. She lives in a
quaint seaside town near Athens, Greece with her husband Andy and a naughty cat
called Felix. She is passionate about books and movies and suffers from a
strange fixation on Twilight and Robert Pattinson. She’s the author of ‘ The Necklace of Goddess Athena.’
About the book
Efimios is an ancient
Greek and an unsung hero of Athens. He has saved the city countless times by
undertaking time-travelling missions as instructed by Goddess Athena herself.
Now an elderly man, he sends his son Phevos and his adopted daughter Daphne on
a time-travelling quest to modern-day Athens. Mysterious as always, he only
advises his children to look out for the signs without offering any
explanations. Mystified, yet eager to obey their father’s will, Phevos and
Daphne settle down in this new world, having been offered assistance by two
orphaned siblings: Ksenia and Manos. New friendships and romantic love change
their lives while their father’s covert purpose is gradually revealed. As the
youngsters continue to unravel the secrets of their family past, inevitably
they get caught up in the ongoing conflict between two Gods, one of which
becomes their protector and the other, their worst nemesis. Who will prevail
when the rival Gods meet again and will the mortal bystanders survive to tell
the tale?
Welcome to the hot seat, Effrosyni –
I’m delighted to welcome you here today.
Can
you tell us what prompted you to first start writing? What was the first thing
you wrote?
I have clear
childhood memories of me sat down scribbling rhymes on a notebook about flowers
and butterflies or the night sky. I am guessing it was my way to express my
overwhelming sentiments and my mystification for the wonders of the world that
surrounded me.
Can
you summarise your latest work in just a few words?
“The Necklace of Goddess Athena” is a book
about love for country, God and family with a few time travelers and Greek
myths thrown in for good measure!
What
was the inspiration for this book?
The first character that ‘visited me’ was
Efimios. I recognised him at once as the embodiment of the patriotic spirit
inside the Greek heart. So I set out to write a story about love for country.
Once I had Efimios fully formed in my head, the rest of the characters and
their situations just evolved naturally from there.
How
do you decide on the names for your characters?
I never have to think up a name for a main
character. They sort of ‘visit me’ as I like to say. It’s like they knock on my
door. They say their name so I just smile and say ‘welcome’! I do have to think
up names for some secondary characters though.
What
are you working on next? Do you have a WIP?
I am working on a historical novel called
“The Lady of The Pier”. It tells two different love stories and although the
two heroines live in different places and times, somehow they are connected. It
is set in Brighton, England in the 30’s and Corfu, Greece in the 80’s. The
backbone of the story is the famous ‘West Pier’ in Brighton, which sadly no
longer exists.
What
has been the best part of the writing process…and the worst?
The best part was when I was reaching the
end. The climax was rising all the more and the characters kept talking
insistently in my head. Sometimes I had trouble falling asleep because of that,
it was so intense. The worst part was once I had written the book and polished
it as well as I could which was the time I had to let it go. It was emotional
leaving my characters behind. They felt as dear as family to me by then.
Tell
us about your travels.
I visit Corfu every year (my favourite
place on earth!) as it is my mother’s homeland and I have family there. I also love
to travel around Greece and especially to the islands such as Lemnos, Spetses,
Milos, Sifnos and Santorini. I have visited various European destinations too;
the most treasured ones being London, Brighton, Bruges, Rome and Paris.
Tell
us about your childhood.
My fondest childhood memories involve my
summers in Corfu in the company of my grandparents and cousins. Life in Athens
was mostly about school and it was a bit mundane as we lived in a flat.
However, during the weekends that we spent in our cabin on the seaside I
enjoyed nature and was always seeking to befriend stray cats and dogs as well
as play with the local children.
Do
you plot your novels or allow them to develop as you write?
For my fantasy novel I didn’t plot a thing.
I started with the first two chapters that were sort of ready in my head and
then I took it one chapter at a time. However, the historical novel took a
tremendous amount of research so I had to plot around various historical facts.
I think it made me more organised in the process but I felt it restricted me
somewhat too. Between the two, I definitely prefer having free reigns and to
start on the journey of creative writing mystified, not having a clue what is
to come next.
What
book(s) are you reading at the moment?
It’s been about a year now that I’ve been
reading a lot of historical fiction by British authors. I am currently reading
‘The Secret Keeper’ by Kate Morton. She is one of my favourites across all
genres by the way.
If
you were stranded on a desert island and could only take three books with you,
what would they be and why?
The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien
because it is the best escapism I have ever experienced, any book by Dan Brown
to get the blood flowing when I feel bored and a Caveman Diet recipe book.
Entertainment is important but let’s be practical: I’d also have to eat at some
point!
Do
you have any advice for new writers?
Follow your instinct. Don’t research for
emerging trends and for what is fashionable. That would make you an imitator and
what you want is to be original and fresh. You are unique and your book should
reflect that. Don’t think what others would say about your book. Just write for
YOU! When you write without passion, it shows. When you write with love in your
heart, again it shows. Stephen King said it best: “You cannot hope to sweep
someone else away by the force of your writing, until it has been done to you.”
You can catch up with Effrosyni at the following sites:
Trailer: http://animoto.com/play/R6lOrVY5BxvumgOpaAqJxQ
