Where are you from, and where do you call home?
I currently live in central Texas, but I've actually called quite a few places "home" over the past few years. I was born and raised in New England, primarily New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York. When I was ten years old, I decided I was going to move to California for college and when I turned eighteen, that’s exactly what I did! After living in California for thirteen years, I moved to Idaho, then New York, and finally Texas. Out of all those places, I would say I still consider California to be "home." It was where I truly discovered myself as a person, where I met the person who became my spouse, and the home of so many happy memories and experiences that I miss it the most out of every other place I've lived. It's not perfect, but it is the place I hold most dearly in my heart.
What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
The advice I would give to new writers is to never stop learning. I don't mean you need to sign up for additional writing courses, or listen to writer-specific podcasts, or read tons of nonfiction (although, doing any of those certainly wouldn’t hurt!), but take small opportunities to learn every day. When you read works by other authors, pose questions to yourself, or jot down memorable phrases or particularly beautiful prose. If there was an unexpected plot twist, try reflecting on any hints in the narrative that set up the twist. If there's a character you absolutely adore, ask yourself what you love about them specifically and how it made them endearing. When watching television shows or movies, pay attention to the storytelling, the fight scenes, the dramatic conversations and ask yourself what words you would use to describe the action, or the facial expressions, or even the music. One of my favorite mental games is asking myself how I would have changed the movie/TV episode if I had been the writer on it. Listen to stories you hear from family members, coworkers, even strangers in line for coffee. You never know where you might learn a new fact, or hear something that inspires you to create a story, a character, or a plot point. Don't get so involved in your own works that you forget other stories are out there, just waiting to teach you something new.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
For me, the characters almost always come first. I'll hear their voice inside my head as they tell me about themselves, personality traits, physical characteristics, where they came from and what they are proud of. I'll get my characters down on the page first, then let the plot unfold around them. It's not very structured, but it can be pretty fun! I almost always know how the ending will go, even if I don't know how my characters will get there. Sometimes I do have to go back and rewrite something because my characters have gotten into so much trouble that even they can't get out of it, so I have to help them out a little and put their journey back on course.
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?
Yes, I would love to tell you about my first collaborative series, co-authored by Andrew Rowe. Crystal Awakening is the first book of the new Shattered Legacy series, which is set in the universe of Andrew's series Arcane Ascension. As an avid video game enthusiast, I always envisioned Andrew’s continent of Kaldwyn as the map of a role-playing game, his complex magic system as the class system of an online multiplayer game, and his Soaring Spires like classic video game dungeons. When I was asked to contribute to Andrew’s expanding universe, my first thought was to write a dungeon-crawler series where a team of experienced adventurers embark on a quest that requires them to climb each of the spires across the continent. What I love most about this series is the complex and creative magic system, and creating the characters that make up the teams for each of these dungeons. It's a lot like a video game, where I get to create challenges that are meant to be difficult, but ultimately overcome. It's also about taking individuals and creating a competent team despite their differences. For anyone who enjoys the feel of a role-playing video game, the Shattered Legacy series will be a fun and exciting read.
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I have written five books in total and I am currently working on two more. It's so hard to pick a favorite, because each of them contains different favorites, like favorites characters, or favorite dialogue, or even favorite cover art. But if I had to choose, I'd say that the Mage-Born Anthology was actually my favorite book to write. The anthology is a series of short stories that feature Reshi's mage-born siblings and how they developed and hid their magical abilities in a time when magic was outlawed throughout the kingdom. What I loved most about this work was that it gave me the chance to explore different parts of the kingdom as well as portray different ways of life, from the highest of nobles to the traveling actor troupes who live each day as it comes. There was so much that I wasn't able to share about these characters in the main series and I loved each of them so much that each of these short stories really leapt straight out of my head and onto the page, making it a quick and fun book to write. It's still my favorite to pick up and read, too!
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