Interview With Gillian Bronte Adams!

Welcome riders and writers! Today we have an awesome surprise as Gillian Bronte Adams agreed to do an interview with me on the topic of her equine fantasy series, The Fireborn Epic. Gillian has been writing from a young age and has won several awards for both Of Fire and Ash and her Songkeeper Chronicles, including the 2022 Realm Award and the Gold Medal Illumination Award. Of Fire and Ash‘s sequel, Of Sea and Smoke, is due to release November 21, 2023. You can preorder the book here.

Since Of Fire and Ash partially inspired my current WIP (and is just overall awesome). I have asked Gillian for an interview to learn more about how horses have impacted her writing journey, and how you too can write excellent equine fiction.

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Q1: When it comes to unique equine fiction, Of Fire and Ash would certainly take the cake as a beautiful and original story that delves away from the usual equine fiction tropes. What was the inspiration for The Fireborn Epic?

Growing up, I was a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings and of series like The Black Stallion and The Island Stallion. For years, I dreamed of having a black stallion of my own, but my dream horse actually turned out to be a fiery sorrel quarter horse, trained for reining and overlooked by just about everybody else because he was a bit on the small side. I’ve had him for fifteen years now, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

When I set out to write The Fireborn Epic, I wanted to combine all of those loves and write equine fiction set in an epic fantasy world. So I dreamed up a world where warriors ride to battle on magical breeds of horses—horses who can breathe fire, ride the stormwinds, shatter stone with their hooves, vanish into the shadows and more. Having spent a number of years working with horses, it was important to me to write horses who felt real, just with additional magical abilities. I wanted my magical horses to think, act, and react like real horses. So, early on, I ruled out including any sort of telepathic connections between riders and steeds, and instead tried to focus on recreating the trust-based relationship I’ve experienced with my own horse. 

Q2: In your bio it mentions that you were a youth director at a horse camp. Are any of the horses in The Fireborn Epic based on steeds you’ve met in real life?

Ceridwen, the main female character in The Fireborn Epic, rides a fireborn, which is a horse who can breathe fire and whose mane and tail ignite when his blood is up. His name is Mindar, and he is based on my horse. They both have the same fiery personality and inability to keep still. Natural sprinters, prancers, and highly intuitive, which also means they can be quick to overreact on occasion. All of Mindar’s quirks, his dislike of water and his grumpiness in the rain, come directly from my horse too. 

One of the things I find so amazing about horses is that they are all so unique and each possess their own distinct personality, so I tried to reflect that in the horses in The Fireborn Epic. Some of them are directly based on specific horses I’ve worked with, and others are a combination of the wide variety I’ve met over the years. In the second book, Of Sea and Smoke, Markham is adjusting to a new mare, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing his frustration with her headstrong nature and how she turns like a boat “drifting in a current,” because I have a ridden a number of horses like that over the years. 

Q3: The amount of work you have taken into developing your breeds of Solborn is spectacular. Where did you get the ideas for the different types of Solborn?

It all started with an idea for firebreathing horses about eleven years ago. It was during the summer, so I had spent all day in the saddle teaching kids how to ride, and I was also volunteering on a tiny, rural volunteer fire department that year, and somehow that combination of fires and horses stuck in my head, and before I knew it, I was scribbling down ideas for different magical horse breeds.

I wish I still had that notebook—I’m hoping it’s tucked away somewhere in a box—because once I started brainstorming, I just couldn’t stop! Some of the ideas I had that day for different magical breeds didn’t end up making their way into The Fireborn Epic. Some I moved away from because they felt too overpowered and would have given my warriors too great of an advantage. Others I shelved for the time being and may pull out some day.

But eventually, I whittled it down to seven magical breeds: fireborn, seabloods, riveren, stormers, earthhewns, shadowers, and dawnlings. Each has such fun and unique characteristics, and I love getting to write about all of them, but to this day, my favorites are still the fireborn.

Q4: Are any of your characters based on yourself?

None of my characters are specifically based on myself, but I often wind up putting a tiny piece of myself into each of my characters. So even though their personalities are very different from mine, I can still relate to each of them in a specific way. Ceridwen and I both share a stubborn determination and a sense of rightness. Rafi and I are both second born siblings and I can relate to his struggle to value his own strengths as much as his older brother’s. Jakim and I can both overthink all day long. But even though there’s that small piece of commonality, I love that they are each still so different from me that I can throw them into various situations and they’re each going to react in their own unique way! 

Q5: How have horses affected your writing journey?

Honestly, I think it’s impossible to extricate horses from my writing journey. I spent so many hours outdoors in the saddle, both growing up and on through my early twenties at my job, that horseback became the place where I solved story problems. There’s something about the pace of riding, the rhythm of the horse’s hooves, the music of the tack creaking and jingling beneath you, that I find unlocks my imagination and helps propel my thoughts onward. Because the world of The Fireborn Epic draws upon so many things that I love, including horses, every day that I get to write in it feels like a gift!

Q6: What advice would you give to a young, horse-crazy writer trying to write a compelling horse story?

Don’t be afraid to write the quirky, unique things that you love! Don’t be afraid to put your heart on the page. I was really nervous when it was time to release Of Fire and Ash. On the one hand, I thought this series had a lot of potential—magical horses are cool, epic fantasy is exciting! But at the same time, this series is basically my heart in book form. There’s so much of me and so much of the things I love bound up between these pages, and it was hard to allow myself to believe that maybe people could connect with that. With my quirky (and sometimes gritty), intense (but also heart-filled), epic fantasy story … about firebreathing horses.

And the truth is that not everyone does. But some people do. It’s been overwhelming to see just how many people love this series because of the things I was afraid were too unique and different. It turns out that those are the things that make them feel seen. That is a very special thing, and it makes me feel seen too because it wouldn’t have happened, if I hadn’t been willing to share my heart on the page.

So don’t be afraid to show up fully as your quirky, whole self in your writing. The story you create might not be for everyone, but it will mean so much more to the readers who are just like you.

Thank you for this amazing interview, Gillian! I know all of the readers appreciate you taking time to come talk to us.

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Gillian Bronte Adams writes epic fantasy novels, including the award-winning Of Fire and Ash and The Songkeeper Chronicles, and loves strong coffee, desert hikes, and trying out new soup recipes on crisp fall nights. Her favorite books are the ones that make your heart ache and soar in turn. When she’s not creating vibrant new worlds or dreaming up stories that ring with the echoes of eternity, she enjoys bringing life to the words on the page as an audiobook narrator. At the end of the day, she can be found off chasing sunsets with her horse or her dog, Took.

Author’s Note: You can check our Gillian’s website at gillianbronteadams.com and preorder the sequel to OFAA, Of Sea and Smoke, here. The book releases November 21.