Wyrmling (Whispers of Lumene, #1)
by Ariel Ceylan
Published July 31st 2013
Book Description:
Dragons aren't real, or at least that's what Yukio thought until she met one who placed an enchanted bracelet on her that could only be removed in another world, Kineta. The dragon dropped Yukio off outside the gates of Lumene, a city of smiles and lies. She is forced to lie about her identity since no one believes her when she says she's never heard of Kineta. During her stay in the city, she finds herself learning secrets about the Prince of Lumene who is trying to reclaim his throne from the usurper, the Leader of the Lumenian Faction. The usurper so happens to be the only person in the city Yukio feels comfortable with to tell the truth and maybe even love. She is told that her arrival marks the return of the Esau, the great beasts of Lumene that were banished in the empire. Everyone expects her to do something great. How does skin turning into scales sound? Yukio is changing into something she's not sure of what she will become. She needs to take the bracelet off, but if she slips into the middle of the night, will she start a war within the city walls?
Q & A with Ariel Ceylan
Q: Tell us a little bit about your main character, Yukio.
A: Yukio is a college student with angst left over from her childhood. She grew up in an area where it wasn't normal for her to be in a one-parent household and that experience continued until she went to college. At school, Yukio lives in an experience where she thinks people don't like her and as such, she prevents people from getting to know her. It's not until she snaps and decides she wants to bury the issue of her missing father that she focuses her energy on trying to find him. And that focus of energy is where the story begins.
Q: What is your favorite part about writing?
A: My favourite part of writing is when the characters start authenticating the story by taking it down emotional roads I did not foresee. I normally plan things. I know the characters' personalities, I know their histories, and I know the story-arc. When I sit down and write and the characters start controlling the story-arc is when I get excited. It means that the story has personal veracity and that's my favourite part of writing.
Q: How long have you been writing, and when did you first consider yourself an author?
A: Oh geeze! I think I started writing poetry and lyrics when I was in second grade. I remember I had poetry published really young. I mainly wrote poetry until the summer where I was a rising seventh grader. I found a writing prompt notebook from the previous year and poured through it. I found a story, a picture prompt of the Eiffel Tower that I really liked. Then I asked myself where were these characters coming from, why were they doing what they were doing, and most importantly, why did I stop writing? You see, I never enjoyed writing papers that lasted about two pages. I decided I just wanted to try to just write and see how far I could go. And before I knew it, my first book was written when I was twelve-years-old.
As per your question of when I considered myself an author, I really don't know. I know it was some time after I self-published my first book, but it took me a while to realize that's what I was becoming. I think I became an author and I forgot to let myself know!
Q: What is the best advice you have been given?
A: My mother told me that hard work creates opportunity. I am just beginning to understand what that means and implement the necessary actions that reflect that ideology it into my life.
Q: What do you keep yourself busy with when you're not writing?
A: Right now, it's school (Philosophy major and Humanities Honors minor). I'm going into my last year of college and I'm glad it's almost done! With homework out of the way, I can spend my free time writing!
Q: If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?
A: Everyone asks me that question! I suppose my persona lends itself to that question. I read a poem called Thanatopsis (by William Cullen Bryant) in high school and was fascinated with the idea that everywhere around us there is death and that we are not alone when we die. We lay next to kings and commoners. Something about that stuck with me. So I would say I'd go for Necromantic powers in that I'd reanimate the dead.
Q: Hard/paperbacks or eBooks?
A: Gosh! Each one of them has their merits. I think if I'm reading a hefty book like The Brothers Karmazov, I'd go for a hardback. It would just add to the epicness of, "Yeah, I'm reading this big-butt book! Deal with it!" I think for a standard novel, I like paperbacks, but when I'm out travelling, I have to have eBooks. We have weight restrictions. As much as I love cracking book spines and smelling pages, sometimes one just needs to be practical and go for the eReader.
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: Right now, I'm reading Leviathan by Hobbes, but then again, I also am taking two Political Science courses for funsies overseas. In the fall, I'll immerse myself in Aristotelian philosophy.
About the Author:
Ariel Ceylan is a teen author who self-published the books: The Assignment and The Power of a Vision. Ceylan started writing when she was thirteen years old. She wanted to see how much she could write in one plot line and The Assignment was born. She wrote a total of six books before her eighteenth birthday and a current total of seven books. Her favorite genre to write is fantasy. There's something about a magical setting that Ceylan loves. The first two books she published are high fantasy; they take place in a world where the rules are centered on magic. Ceylan is also broadening her writing repertoire by experimenting with urban fantasy, angst, humor, mystery, and the supernatural.
Writing is not Ariel Ceylan's only accomplishment. She seeks to be an artist in everything she does. She has thirteen years of dance experience, six of those years being competition, and she choreographs numbers to perform at school functions. Ceylan has taken up make-up artistry and garment design as an aside. She also is working on developing a cartoon and manga crossover style for the comics she intends to create.
Ariel Ceylan also has participated in community projects with Girl Scouts. She has earned her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. Ceylan also participated in New Jersey Girls' State and was elected Freeholder in 2009. Also, Ceylan worked with various members from Girl Scouts of New Jersey to help plan, organize, and execute, the first Girls' Advocacy Forum.
Currently, Ariel Ceylan is working on a variety of projects like books, fanfictions, plays, songs, and comics. She is working on these projects as she is studying English and Philosophy at William Paterson University. She hopes to graduate in 2014 in the Honors College.
Check me out on:
http://ceylanthewriter.wordpress.com
Goodreads
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