In today’s blog post, I’m excited to share an exclusive interview with the talented Michael Young, author of The Wonderful Week for a Quest series! From creating quirky wizards to building immersive fantasy worlds, Michael gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. Whether you're a fan of fantasy or curious about an author’s journey, this interview offers valuable insights into Michael’s inspiration, his path to becoming a writer, and how his passion for music and world travel shapes his storytelling. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this fascinating conversation with an author on the rise!
You can read the full interview below or watch the full interview at https://youtu.be/giWufEgHqNo
You can also get your hands on Michael Young's books here: https://amzn.to/40NHXDn
DISCLAIMER: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Miloa: G'day, friends! Molloy here today. I have the awesome privilege of talking to Michael Young, a new and upcoming author, about his books and his wonderful week for a quest series. Welcome, Michael. How are you doing today?
Michael: I'm fantastic. Thanks so much for having me on. I grew up just devouring every fantasy book I could get my hands on, and then in high school I just decided, hey, I want to do that myself, and started writing and haven't stopped since. I live out here in Utah, in the United States, right by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I work at a university. I have three wonderful children, and I write in the evenings and just absolutely love it. I've written both fiction and nonfiction. I've done traditional publishing. I've done self-publishing. I've kind of done it all, but fantasy is really still my first love. When it comes to reading and writing.
Miloa: So is mine. I love fantasy. It's one of those things that I just love getting lost in a completely different world.
Michael: Amen to that.
Miloa: Everything is so different from normal life, and that I can just not be an adult for a couple of hours.
Michael: Yeah, we all need some escapism, right?
Miloa: Yes, exactly. Can you briefly share your journey to becoming a writer?
Michael: I started in high school. I had a really amazing writing teacher who told me, hey, you're good at this. You ought to do it more, basically. So I wrote my first novel when I was in high school, and looking back at it now, I have to snicker. Funny first attempt. But more than anything, it showed to me, I proved to myself that I could do it. So I just kept on going. In college, I actually had my first published novel that was picked up by a local press here in Utah called Canonical Kingdom. I pitched it to somebody at our university. They have a publisher's fair, and so I had pitched the book in person, and they loved it. That ended up being my first published work. Since then, I've gone on to do multiple series in the fantasy genre. I've also been published some nonfiction stuff. I'm a musician, so I like to also write about music and music history. So I don't know, kind of just tried it all, and I've enjoyed it all, and I have no intention of stopping.
Miloa: That's great. Yeah, I remember my first real aha moment as well was from my English teacher. I had written an essay. He was like, wow, this is the best essay he's read in 10 years. He's like, you totally have to become an author one day.
Michael: You know that there lights that spark, right?
Miloa: Yeah, and that's kind of always played in the back of my mind. It's like, should I do this? Should I not do this? But just that encouragement as a youngster meant the world to me, and still now, it's very encouraging to think that somebody, yes, did like my writing.
Michael: That's awesome.
Miloa: Your books feature many rich characters. Do you have a character you've created that was particularly challenging to write, or that you just absolutely adore, and why?
Michael: Yeah, you bet. So in this series, The Wonderful Week for a Quest, the narrator is a guy called Jackdaw the Wizard. I remember when I learned that a merlin is actually a bird. I didn't know that growing up. He's also named after a bird, but he's a relative of Merlin's, but kind of thinks Merlin is all high and mighty and gets all the attention, and people write books about him. I really like him because he's kind of an atypical wizard in a lot of ways. He's a bit of a bumbler, and I think the challenge there is to write someone who kind of looks like a typical Merlin-like wizard, but have things that surprise the reader. So a lot of things that he does are kind of poking fun at some of the tropes about wizards and whatnot, but still kind of mixing the familiar with the new and the novel, and he's just been really, really fun. My series eventually gets to present day, or actually, well, to more modern times, and he's still around. He's the only one that's still around, and it's been kind of fun playing with that, too, and seeing how he reacts to modern society as opposed to the more kind of typical medieval-ish setting in the early books. So it's a blast. So like how he would interact with modern technology? So he's actually, he's gotten up to 1984, and he's obsessed with playing Donkey Kong. He loves the arcade games but he can't be like, it's my quest to be on top of the leaderboard, but he can't quite make it. I always had that complex about kind of being second fiddle for a long time. So his dogged determination to be number one in anything, he wants to prove that he can be the first at something.
Miloa: How does your background with the Tabernacle Choir and Bells on Temple Square shape your storytelling?
Michael: Oh, you bet. So I've, gosh, it's been a huge part of my life. I started with the Bells in 2006, and then with the choir in 2010, but then they're all part of the same organization. So it's been almost 20 years being part of that and performing, I get to perform all over the world. I toured on several different continents. We're going down to South America next year for a couple major concerts. I think one of the ways that's helped me is just being able to travel and see other cultures and people interacting with these wonderful other things that I would never before. It's great as a fantasy writer to actually go see what's in our world already and to be inspired by these fantastical places. We toured Europe a few years back and just see all the history and the art and the architecture. There are all these things that kind of add to your imagination of what could be and that you can draw into your own writing. So that's one aspect. I think the other aspect has just been like the creative aspect. I think being around excellent performers and artists on a regular basis is really inspiring. It puts me in that creative mood that helps me you know have the motivation to keep writing all the time.
Miloa: You're also known for crafting vivid worlds. What inspires the fantastical elements in your novels?
Michael: I had the really wonderful privilege of living in Germany for a few years. In that time I got to explore all of these castles and cathedrals and these old buildings and get really up in this history. I think that's part of what really sparked my author imagination. I like to take little bits from actual cultures that I see but then like to put my own spin on them. I think it's one of my favorite things to do. Really think about their artists and their music and what would their religion be like. Since I've been exposed to so many cultures I feel like I can draw on that experience and say, like I was saying before, taking the familiar and the strange. The novel and the tried and true and bringing it together in an interesting way. I think that's a very good tactic just for creatives in general. If you have something that's just way too strange and out there it's not approachable for anybody, they don't recognize anything in it, that's a hard sell. But you also don't want to make something that's completely derivative either and make just like, oh you know I've seen this a million times before. But combining those two elements I think really helps create a world that is satisfying.
Miloa: Is there a particular place or event that has been like your favorite to lean into?
Michael: That's a really really good question. I'll tell you that there is a building in Germany that was kind of the spark for my first published novel. It's called the Canonical Kingdom where it's in this town called Ida-Oberstein in Germany. There's kind of this mountain face, it's like a mining town, and there is a church that is built into the side of the mountain, like halfway up the mountain. You have to climb up there and it's completely in the mountain. You can see the facade from the outside but the rest of it is like into the mountain. The folklore was that there was a guy who got in an argument with his brother and pushed him off the side of the mountain and he died. As penance he built the church at the side of the mountain. I don't know if that's even true but that's like the local legend. So I remember that actually is the setting for some of the characters in that book. It's that town of Ida-Oberstein and then that really fascinating looking church that's built into (10:38) the side of the mountain.
Miloa: What is your current book all about and when can readers expect to have it in hand?
Michael: I'm currently releasing the latter books in the Wonderful Week per Quest series. They're all written. I'm working with my wonderful audiobook narrator to put them on Audible. His name is Kevin Perkins and he's just phenomenal. So those are coming out slowly. What I'm working on right now is actually kind of the sequel series. The Wonderful Week for a Quest series is kind of lampooning a lot of the fantasy tropes and that sort of thing and it's a quest in its own right. It's seven shorter books so that hence it's a week. There's seven installments. I'm writing the follow-up series that I'm calling A Wonderful Week for a Launch and so it's set more in modern times and in the future. I'm going to be instead focusing on more sci-fi and space opera tropes instead in this follow-up series. It has the thread of having the wizard from the first one he is basically immortal and so he's still around in the next one. Instead of going by Jack Dye, he just goes by J.D. in modern times. So I'm working on that first one tentatively called Launch Time and that's probably going to be a few months. I hope to release that also in 2025, probably mid-year. But in the meantime I have books four, five, six, and seven of A Wonderful Week for a Quest will be coming out in the next few months.
Miloa: Where can the viewers go to learn more about you?
Michael: Two great places. AuthorMichaelYoung.com is my author website. I also have a YouTube channel where I do some author stuff, some music stuff, and that's called Mic Drop Music. So I call it Mike Drop Music and that's also just on YouTube.
Miloa: Thanks for hanging out with me today and just sharing your thoughts and your projects. They all sound super amazing. To get a sneak peek of my new book, Wings of Steel, head on over to my website miloascape.com and join the newsletter and be the first to know when we're actually going to be going live. I'm so excited for it. But as always folks, thanks for watching and happy hunting.
Thank you for joining me for this inspiring conversation with Michael Young! I hope you enjoyed learning about his creative journey and the magical worlds he brings to life. If you're as passionate about storytelling and fantasy as I am, make sure to stay connected by signing up for my newsletter. You'll get exclusive updates, sneak peeks at upcoming projects, and behind-the-scenes content delivered straight to your inbox. Don't miss out - click here to join now! Let's keep the adventure going!
Comentarii