I recently had the chance to talk to J.C. Hall, whose latest book, Lady of the Lakes, was just released by Zumaya Publications last August. J.C. talks about the creative process, writer's block, and her preference for strong female protagonists.

Why don't you start by telling us a bit about your latest book, Lady of the Lakes, and what inspired you to write such a story?

LADY OF THE LAKES is the story of Corryn, a young outcast from his village who encounters Jess Lochlen, Lady of the Lakes, so-called because she travels via the Silver Lakes in the land of Rogrovia. Jess is on a double mission--to recover her captured infant cousin, and to determine if treachery is stalking the Rogrovian throne. Fascinated by her and her silver sword, Corryn tags along, and gets much more than he bargained for as he gets swept up in political intrigue, high adventure and romance.

I love the fantasy genre, but much of what I read feature male protagonists. I wanted to read about strong female protagonists who have responsibilities, can wield a sword (preferably a magic one), and who actively participate in politics and high adventure. I also wanted to create a believable romantic relationship between my two main characters who are literally from different worlds.

A common theme in both Lady of the Lakes and my other fantasy novel, Legends of the Serai, is the difficulty the female protagonists have in reconciling their duty (responsibilities) with their personal relationships (romance).

How would you describe your creative process while writing this novel? Was it stream-of-consciousness writing, or did you first write an outline? How long did it take you to write it?

When I first began writing, I would simply have a good idea of my main characters and their motivation and several key-scenes in mind, and then proceed to find ways to get the characters to move from one key-scene to another. While fun, it's not the smartest way to write a novel. Now, I'm a believer in outlining. It may seem counter-productive to spend so much time on an outline when you could just jump in and start writing the first draft right away, but it's time well spent. It's much simpler and takes considerably less time to change things within an outline, and it forces you to think things through to the end. I'm still new at this, and seem to work best with both going at the same time. I start writing the first draft and soon the outline develops, and as I keep writing, the outline changes for the better and that keeps my first draft on the straight and narrow--no meandering, no side-tracking, no waste of time or effort.