Wow, that’s a challenging question, and one with many answers that have shifted over time. When I first started writing, my goal was to publish commercial fiction. I started writing decades before I published anything, working on novels and short stories. Thankfully, they never saw the light of day! I attended workshops and conferences, and joined writers’ groups. I wanted to learn about the business of publishing, as well as how to improve my fiction writing skills. I read and read and read. When attending a workshop in 2006, I came up with the idea for mystery, using the themes...
Interview: Nancy Wood, author of Due Date
Interview with Nancy Wood, author of Due Date, conducted by author J Dark
Interview: Andrea Monticue, author of Memory and Metaphor
Interview with Andrea Monticue, author of Memory and Metaphor, conducted by author J Dark
Interview: J Dark, author of Broken Bridge
How did you get the idea for Broken Bridge? The idea came late in the writing. The first few chapters were the characters establishing themselves. The antagonist’s trap came as a surprise to me. I could feel something, I just didn't have the real understanding what the character was up to until later in the book. It honestly felt like when you see a great movie and someone decides there has to be a sequel to it. That's how the first few chapters felt. Once I got into the story, things started clicking and the puzzle pieces fell in place....
Interview: Flavia Idà, author of Children of the Wrong Time
Children of the Wrong Time has a very thoughtful story, and at the same time, it feels that it is a warning. What brought about the idea for this book? The original “Ha ha!” moment was a line from the movie Parenthood. Not a particularly memorable movie, but this line struck me as the perfect summing up of a topic I’d been mulling over for a while. The line is: “You need a license to drive, you need a license to fish, you need a license to own a dog, but any moron can become a parent.” It got me...
Interview: L. A. Jacob, author of Grimaulkin
The first question I'd like to ask is about the book in general. If I remember correctly, Grimaulkin is written for Young Adults? Yes, mostly in the high-school plus range. The main character is 18 years old. Did you find that focusing on that particular age range influenced the style of your writing? Oh, definitely. My first draft, the one I wrote when I wasn't paying attention to words, had a lot more detail and swear words than the final version did. Since the time period is in the year 2000, I didn't have to worry about modern lingo and...
Interview: Leah RS Braun, author of Sex on Fire
This is probably one the most common question asked of authors: What made you decide to become an author? After working for 23+ years in the fitness/yoga/wellness industries, I had decided to write a book about creating a career in those areas. I had begun that project when Sex on Fire demanded to be written. You book is a very intense self-exploration of how trauma is begun and perpetuated over time. How did you step from recognition to writing? I had struggled a lot with elements of shame in my trauma experience, and it took me years of different therapy...
Interview: J Dark, author of Best Intentions
By your own admission, you say that you came late to the writing game. What prompted you to start and want to get published? I was having a rough go of it back in 2006 when, on a whim, I got into the online game City of Heroes. When I joined, this group called “Futura Force” that had these players, “Kill Favored”, and “Electroidium” that got me interested in posting short little stories on the forums. Then both of those players started talking about “National Novel Writing Month”, and how they were going to participate because they liked writing. I’d...
Interview: Niki Lenhart, Cover & Branding Design
We'll start with one of those questions that get asked every time in interviews: When did you realize you wanted to be an artist? When I was in second grade, I use to get my crayons taken away from me by my teacher, Mrs. Desilva. All I wanted to do was color and nothing else. I lost a lot of crayons that year <laughs>. My mom and I remained friends with her for many years and she would always bring up the crayons and how hard it was to keep me in the real world as opposed to my artsy...
Interview: Lisa Jacob, author of Homecoming (A War Mage Story)
What inspired you to get into writing? I was always a voracious reader. I had been surrounded by books since childhood, and my mother was always a big reader. In junior high, I started reading “adult” authors like Stephen King and Sidney Sheldon, books my mom read. I finished The Shining and I thought to myself, I can write like this. So I started writing fan fiction for a few TV shows—this was way before fan fiction was a “thing.” My first original novel was written during the summer from 8th to 9th grade, and really improved my typing skills....