Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Keith Fentonmiller

What inspired you to write “Fate Accompli”?

Fentonmiller: Often, my favorite stories are a blend of realistic, humorous, and fantastical elements, which is why I still rank Mary Poppins at the top. Fate Accompli follows a similar recipe. As for realism, my novel is about a brilliant but frustrated hatter whose life changes when he rescues an unconventional woman from a megalomaniac. On the fantastical front, the story is replete with curses, prophecies, a teleportation hat, water nymphs, and Olympian gods. Although I don’t expect Hollywood will make Fate Accompli into a musical extravaganza starring Julie Andrews, a guy can dream, can’t he?

How did you come up with the names of your main characters?

Fentonmiller: Andolosia Petasos: The Petasos family has been in the hat business for twelve centuries, stretching back to their roots in ancient Greece. They followed the tradition of adopting a surname indicative of their occupation. Petasos is the Greek word for sunhat. The name Andolosia is derived from the German legend of Fortunatus, who tricked a sultan out of his teleportation hat. Fortunatas had a son named “Andelocia.”

Carlotta Lux: In Book 3 of The Water Nymph Gospels, a descendant of Andolosia Petasos will hide the teleportation hat in an old Lux Soap box. The box is a not-so-subtle allusion to the linked fates of the Petasos and Lux families. Also, lux is the Latin word for light, and light is associated with the god Apollo. I picked Carlotta because it sounds like Charis, the Olympian water nymph from whom she descends.

Moira a/k/a Fate: In my fictional world, Fate is a single goddess. Moira is a variation on “the Moirai,” the three goddesses of fate who spun and cut the threads of human destiny.

Sansone de Medici: Sansone is a fictional member of the storied Medici family of Renaissance Italy. Sansone is the Hebrew word for sun — another allusion to the god Apollo.

When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?

Fentonmiller: Sometimes it’s helpful to use a favorite book as a template for whatever it is I’m struggling to write. I will find an excerpt, such as a description of a setting, an internal monologue, or a scene that seems to capture the flavor and rhythm of what I’m striving to write. I’ll then substitute my words to make the excerpt fit the particulars of my story. Usually, this exercise greases the creative wheels enough that I can carry on from there.

Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?

Fentonmiller: Take a long breath after receiving feedback on your work. After the swelling of your bruised ego subsides, soberly go through the criticism. Winnow out anything not offered in a constructive capacity, but be brutally honest with yourself, so as not to be too dismissive. If multiple readers are telling you the same thing, they may have a point. Ignore the rest. If you’re still feeling unsettled, uncork that bottle of pinot collecting dust in the pantry.

What are you working on next?

Fentonmiller: I am finishing the next four books in The Water Nymph Gospels series. I’m also writing a speculative fiction novel premised on the “many worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics. The story is set in the fictional metropolis of West Meropis. The protagonist is a lifestyle columnist for The West Meropis Observer whose world is turned upside down after a botched physics experiment causes three thousand scientists, including her husband, to vanish. She assumes they all died, but then she begins wandering into alternate versions of West Meropis neighborhoods inhabited by different versions of the missing scientists. Could her husband, or some version of him, be alive in one of these alternate realities?

Learn More About the Author and Fate Accompli here:

Website: http://www.keithfentonmiller.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.Keith.Fentonmiller/

Instagram: @kfentonmiller

Twitter: @kfentonmiller

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