Written Author Interview
- Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do outside of writing. What is a day in the life like for you?
A day in the life for me would be waking up at 5 A.M. (yes even on
weekends) and exercising, then I sit down and write until I have to go to the day job. Once the day job is done I usually am the one who makes supper for the family, then the evenings mine to just relax, whether that be more writing, reading, or playing Magic the Gathering with the kids. Or just chilling and watching a show. I also enjoy making my
own mead (wine made with honey)
2. What inspired your first novel? What was the thing that got you into writing in the first place?
Just reading in general, it was an escape for me and I wanted to offer that same escape to others. My first novel I wrote went through many revisions, but while I was doing that I entered a short story anthology. Once the rights to that story came back to me I turned To Save a King into a novella because so many people told me they wanted more. So I expanded it into seven books that were supposed to be novellas I could rapid release but they just kept growing into full novels.
3. How do you come up with characters? Are they spontaneous or meticulously planned?
I’m somewhere in the middle. I will have a fairly loose outline with a few main characters, but as I’m writing and they are going through the plot they sometimes will take control and go a different path than I expected. Some characters just pop up and I fall in love with them. Like Ruby in my third book. She was an eight year old deaf girl that wasn’t planned, yet she became a central character in that book.
4. What are some of your favorite genres to read? Are there any books you’d recommend to first time readers or people looking for something new?
I pretty much like anything fantasy, but recently have been trying to delve into different genres. I think more people should read The Fionivar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, its a very interesting story. Also
Where Demons Dance by Emma Briedis if you want to try historical Fiction.
5. What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer?
For me it would have to be battling Imposter Syndrome. Even though I have gotten great reviews on my novels I still feel like a fake. I even had someone burn through my three books and told me they couldn’t
wait for book four, and that they haven’t been excited about a series like this since the hunger games. That was an amazing thing to hear, but then my brain was like “Pft. There’s no way they meant that.” very frustrating to fight. haha
6. What is your process to completing a novel from outline to final product?
I carry post-it notes with me everywhere, I normally jot down my ideas on those. And as I said before, they are fairly loose outlines. Once I sit down to write I will write the novel straight through, from beginning to end. Once it’s written I will set it aside for a while, then print it out and take a red pen to it to revise it. Then it goes to alpha readers, more editing, then beta readers, more editing, then my editor will go through it and I’ll edit and polish it more. While I’m waiting for feedback from the various readers that’s when I will design my book cover, back blurb, all that sort of stuff, and usually work on another project depending on the timing of things.
7. What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve written in your novel? Don’t worry, we don’t judge here.
Not much I would consider unhinged in this series, I mean, it’s about a vampire apocalypse, so death and destruction are expected. But in that first book I wrote (which will be coming out in future years) one of the main characters gets tortured really bad, and I went into pretty graphic detail about how that went, and I’m talking like, being skinned, ripping teeth out, that sort of stuff.
8. What’s one thing about being a writer that absolutely drives you up the wall?
That’s easy, it’s marketing. It’s a love/hate relationship with it. I just hate how you can make a quick last minute post and it gets hundreds of views, and then you make another post you spent hours on and you’re lucky if you get 5 views.
9. What does being a successful writer look like for you? What type of life do you want to live as a writer?
I think it’s every authors dream to be able to do it full time, sitting at
home pumping out all their stories without being interrupted by a day job. But I would even consider myself successful if I could make enough from my novels to just have my day job as just part time, like work it 3 days out of the week and the rest of the time is being an author.
10. Describe your writing journey. If you had to write a story centered around it, do you think you could pull it off?
This is a tough one. My journey has been a roller coaster, from
being told I would never make it and that my ideas were dumb and a waste of time, to rising above that and trying anyways. I think I could pull off writing a story about it as it would be entertaining I would think. haha
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