Interview With Author Erik Daniel Boudreau

Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Erik Daniel Boudreau, author of the thriller Tidal Force.  Erik has now delved into the fantasy genre with his latest offering, Mystic Pursuit, the first book of The Inner Realm trilogy. In this interview he talks about Mystic Pursuit and events in his life that became part of its creation.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

My name is Erik Daniel Boudreau, and I’m a Naturopathic Doctor by day, using holistic strategies

(including nutrition, natural supplementation and exercise) to help patients lead healthier, more balanced lives. The rest of the time, I’m busy writing, keeping in shape, and spending time with my family.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

Author Erik Daniel Boudreau

My new book is book one of The Inner Realm trilogy, and is titled Mystic Pursuit. I suppose the main driving force behind the story relates to what was going on in my personal life at the time. Around two years ago, while contemplating the subject of my next book, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Shortly thereafter, I underwent an extensive surgery as well as a radiation treatment that was followed by an eight day period of “contact isolation” (essentially spending a week living in seclusion in my guest bedroom, with my very supportive wife leaving plates of food outside my door three times a day). During that time, propelled both by a desire to undertake the most ambitious project I could think of—an epic fantasy trilogy—as well as a need to escape from the stress and monotony of my seclusion, I began writing Mystic Pursuit. In fact, over those eight days, I completed two-thirds of the first draft, completing the rest over a two-week span after my “release” back into society. Luckily, I now find myself in great health and in possession of a story that I’m quite proud of.

How would you categorize your book?
Mystic Pursuit is the opening act of an epic fantasy, serving both to establish the world and the characters within it, and to provide its own, discrete adventure.

How does the title relate to the story?

Available May 30, 2016

The title Mystic Pursuit pertains to three of the world’s four unique groups of beings, with the fourth being humans. The three mystic groups, or orders, consist of the spirit mystics, the life mystics, and the matter mystics, with each in possession of a specific innate ability that, in concert with the other orders, helps to keep the world in balance. When a fateful premonition throws this balance into disarray, a human named Thayliss must confront a sinister force bent on harnessing the power of all mystics.

Describe your writing process.
My writing process involves incubating a few key ideas for a while until a coherent story starts taking shape, with the central characters at least generally sketched out. At that time, I begin plotting the story’s main events as bullet points, gradually filling the spaces between them with additional plot developments. Once I feel that I’ve got enough of a skeleton in place (typically 1-2 pages of notes) I start the actual writing process, simply working my way from point to point, fleshing out the ideas and building the story. Of course, I’ve learned to always be ready to take the story in an unanticipated direction if that’s what feels right, even if that contradicts my original outline.

What is the best advice and the harshest criticism you have received as an author? What have you learned from either?
My best advice and my harshest criticism are basically the same observation, given with varying degrees of tact. “Show don’t tell!” is something that’s come up several times, and has been an invaluable lesson. I think that giving your characters motivation, history, and perspective, regardless of the genre, is crucial to creating a rich, detailed, interesting story. However, I know too well the tendency to simply devote page upon page to divulging this information. A valuable lesson for me has been to show the reader what your characters are thinking through their actions, and how they speak as much as the words they say. Similarly, it’s much more powerful to build a back story by gradually revealing small fragments, little by little, as opposed to kicking off the story with a long-winded, almost academic introductory chapter.

What is next for you?
I’ve since completed a literary work that I’m currently editing, and have also just finished the first draft of The Inner Realm, book two!

Mystic Pursuit

It was a world like our own, in an age lost to time. For millennia, humans co-existed peacefully with three distinct orders of sentient beings, or mystics, each helping to maintain balance by governing either life, matter or spiritual energy. Overseeing this was one solitary being, the Voduss Grei--the Gray Mystic. Acting upon a premonition of the world's end, the last of the Gray Mystics, Noryssin, decimated a peaceful human village, setting off thirty years of chaos. Lakos, one of the few survivors from the tragedy, emerged seeking revenge against not only the Voduss Grei, but all mystics. Caught in the conflict was Thayliss, a human who had spent his life living peacefully among the Ohlinn, or spirit-mystics. Finding his adoptive family murdered and himself exiled from the only community he had ever known, Thayliss must try to stop Lakos from his plot to control all mystic orders and assume the throne of the Voduss Grei.

You can find Erik at the following:

Website:  www.erikdanielboudreau.com

Twitter: @edanielboudreau

Mystic Pursuit is available at Amazon:  ebook

                                                                paperback