Interview with Robert Newcomb
Debbie Ledesma: What led you into a writing career? Robert Newcomb: My path to a writing career was fairly circuitous one. Had you asked me earlier in life, writing fantasy novels would have been the farthest thing from my mind. I was a businessman in upstate New York. As a result of a fairly unique offer, I sold my businesses and moved to Florida. My wife had just read her first fantasy novel, and she liked it. She said that I should read it, and I must admit that at first I was hesitant. But to my surprise, I liked it too. My wife then challenged me to sit down and try to write one of my own, and I took the bait. At first I would write a bit here and there-mostly as the mood struck me, and the various ideas came along. Before too long, The Fifth Sorceress was finished. Frankly, I was surprised at how much I had enjoyed the process.
DL: How long did it take you to write the first book and how long did it take to get that book published?
RN: How long did it take to write The Fifth Sorceress? I always find it interesting that people ask this question-it is without doubt the one that is most frequently asked. When I was writing the book, my work habits were very erratic. Some days I would turn out one page, some days ten, and some days none at all. Overall, I suppose it took me about twelve months.
Finding an agent, selling the work, and seeing the first book on the shelves took longer. Including the editing, that process lasted about sixteen months, I'd say. But the time went by fast, because during that period we finalized the deal for the first three books and I had to begin writing the second volume, entitled The Gates of Dawn. I have been inordinately lucky, I know. This has been a magical time for me-a whirlwind-and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
DL: With three books published, you're relatively a new author to the genre. Why did you choose the Fantasy genre to write in?
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